Boskowitz Building

704 Broadway | NoHo | built 1895

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1833

    City Postmaster Samuel L. Gouverneur lives at 704 Broadway when it is still a residential street

    In the early 1830s this part of Broadway was entirely residential, lined with Federal-style mansions. In 1833 the city postmaster, Samuel L. Gouverneur, lived at 704 Broadway, in a house on the lot long before the present tower. Over the next sixty years the avenue became a major commercial thoroughfare and the old houses gave way to loft buildings.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1871

    Sculptor Vinnie Ream, whose Lincoln statue was unveiled in 1871, later opens a studio at 704 Broadway

    Vinnie Ream was 23 when her marble statue of Abraham Lincoln was unveiled in the Capitol rotunda in January 1871. She later opened a studio at 704 Broadway in New York, in a building that predates the present one, and in 1871 she exhibited at the American Institute Fair. She then returned to Washington to open a studio and salon there.

    “She later opened a studio at 704 Broadway, New York City. In 1871, she exhibited at the American Institute Fair.”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1895

    Adolf Boskowitz completes a ten-story loft building with reclining nudes on its pediments

    Developer Adolf Boskowitz began the building in 1894 from plans by De Lemos & Cordes that put the cost at $150,000. The Renaissance Revival loft is faced in gray brick above a limestone base, with terra-cotta trim and a three-story angled bay. High above the street, nude figures recline on the pediments at the seventh floor, and few passersby notice them.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1896

    July

    Simon Ross & Sons, a clothing firm here, is burgled twice and gets its goods back after the "Silent Burglar" is caught

    A burglar hit the clothing maker Simon Ross & Sons in June 1896 and returned two weeks later, taking $1,000 in men's clothing. On July 17 Detective Larkin traced buttons stamped with the firm's name to a tailor, who said he bought the goods from salesman August Von Farnish. The 24-year-old refused to give his name, so police called him the Silent Burglar, until a letter in his pocket identified him.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1933

    April

    The building's owners answer a bank foreclosure with a "novel defense"

    The 704-706 Broadway Corporation faced foreclosure by the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank in April 1933 and told the judge that renting space in the Depression was nearly impossible, which made paying the mortgage equally hard. Its attorneys argued that the bank should pay a fair market price instead of simply seizing the property. The Daily Record called the argument a novel defense.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1985

    September 20

    Bayamo, a Cuban-Chinese restaurant here, is the New York Times's example of the "LoBro" scene

    The New York Times columnist Michael Gross wrote on September 20, 1985 about LoBro, the blurred area where NoHo, SoHo, Little Italy and the East Village meet. His example was Bayamo, a restaurant and bar in the Boskowitz Building, where businessmen and punks mingled. The Cuban-Chinese spot was a hot spot for about a decade, and in 1996 announced plans to add a brewery.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1996

    Architect Arpad Baksa converts the Boskowitz Building to artists' lofts and a triplex penthouse

    A two-year renovation begun in 1996 produced artists' lofts and a triplex penthouse of 11,000 square feet. When the penthouse was listed in 2007 at $18.75 million, it came with a rooftop pool, and California grocery executive Ron Burkle bought it for $17 million, according to a luxury-real-estate report. The same report says it appeared in Sex and the City and hosted Jerry Seinfeld's wedding.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo