H. B. Claflin & Co. Annex

71 Thomas Street | also 151 West Broadway | Tribeca | built 1891

Open on the map3 entries

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

1. 1861

   H. B. Claflin & Co. moves into a new store at 40 Worth Street and keeps enlarging it

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   Horace B. Claflin founded his dry goods firm in 1843, and in 1861 it left Pearl Street for a large building at 40 Worth Street, taking the northern half of the block enclosed by Worth Street, Thomas Street, Church Street and West Broadway. The firm kept adding to the store until it covered the whole block. According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Claflin led the American wholesale dry goods trade for the next three decades and was the biggest such business anywhere by the 1890s.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1891

   Samuel A. Warner designs a seven-story annex at West Broadway and Thomas Street

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   The annex added in 1891 was the last piece of the Claflin store, standing where West Broadway meets Thomas Street on the northeast. It runs about 100 feet along West Broadway and 150 along Thomas. Architect Samuel A. Warner, who had designed the first section in 1861, repeated that earlier Italianate design so the whole block would read as a single facade, which is why the 1891 building looks old-fashioned for its date.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1926

   Claflin's main store is torn down, leaving only the 1891 annex of the old building standing

   H. B. Claflin & Co. lasted until 1914, when the textile trade was hurt by America's entry into World War I, and a reorganized Claflins, Inc. continued until 1926. That year the older sections of the store were demolished and replaced by a sixteen-story office building by Jardine, Hill & Murdock, leaving the annex alone. From the 1920s to the 1950s the annex was leased to Endicott Johnson, shoe manufacturers; it now houses state courts.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

• The Odeon145 West Broadway | 3 entries
• 70 Thomas Street3 entries
• 68 Thomas Street1 entry
• 141 West Broadway3 entries
• 60 Thomas Street1 entry
• 137 West Broadway2 entries

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca