Wanamaker Garage and Warehouse

726 Broadway | also 418 Lafayette Street, 730 Broadway | NoHo | built 1919

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

1917
Wanamaker's tears down part of Colonnade Row to build a huge garage and workshop on Broadway
In 1917 Wanamaker's department store began a reinforced-concrete garage, repair shop and warehouse, running through the block to Lafayette Street, with over 231,000 square feet of floor. To make room, Greek Revival town houses on Lafayette Street belonging to Colonnade Row were demolished. William Steele & Sons designed two neo-Classical facades, which the Landmarks Preservation Commission suggests may have echoed the lost houses.
“Several Greek Revival style town houses on Lafayette Street, which were part of Colonnade Row, were demolished for the new Wanamaker building…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1918
Wanamaker's fills 726-730 Broadway with carpenters, upholsterers, piano tuners and delivery trucks
John Wanamaker, whose department store stood two blocks north, had the building made to house work the store needed done. It held carpenters' and upholsterers' shops, a piano repair and tuning workshop, and three floors given over to Wanamaker's own delivery trucks. By the mid-twentieth century the garage portion was leased to United Parcel Service, and around 1980 the building became offices when a three-story addition was put on the roof.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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