81 Leonard Gallery
79 Leonard Street | also 81 Leonard Street | Tribeca | built 1861
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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.
- 1861
Walker and Penman's marble-faced Italianate loft replaces two masonry stores
Merchants William C. Walker and Marion Penman built the five-story building in 1859-61 where two masonry stores had stood. Its marble facade has six window bays per story, split into two sections by quoins, with alternating triangular and rounded pediments on the second and third floors. An inscribed foundry mark on the cast-iron storefront records two patent dates, February 19, 1850 and May 5, 1857.
“…constructed in 1859-61 for William c. Walker and Marion Penman, both merchants…”
- 1876
Textile makers stage an auction meant to set prices at Townsend & Montant
Townsend & Montant, mercantile auctioneers who leased a large space here in 1871, held a notable sale in May 1876. The New York Herald reported on May 24 that directors and treasurers of many leading manufacturing companies ordered it to establish prices for their goods, at a time when dry goods merchants distrusted unstable prices. The paper judged it unprecedented in the annals of the trade.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1977
Artist Raquel Rabinovich lives and lectures in a loft here
By January 1977 Argentine-born artist Raquel Rabinovich had a loft in the building. The New York Times profiled her on January 19, describing her subdued abstractions in oils and large glass sculptures; she had studied at the Sorbonne and the University of Edinburgh. She held a lecture in the loft on the third Thursday of each month. In the basement, Marina Urbach opened the C Space gallery that same summer.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1990
A socialist bookstore becomes the New York Marxist School and the Brecht Forum's stage
In fall 1985 the Socialist Bookstore took the store space at 79 Leonard Street, stocking left-wing books and records, according to the New York Times. By 1990 the New York Marxist School had replaced it, and its Brecht Forum doubled as a theater. On April 17, 1990 the Times described tap dancer Jane Goldberg as its resident topical tapper, drawn by the school's special floor.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1992
TriBeCa Lab stages Upright Citizens Brigade and Criminals in Love
The Brecht Forum gave way around 1992 to the TriBeCa Lab, which was a small theater. Upright Citizens Brigade performed there in May of that year, and Criminals in Love opened in October. The upper floors were not officially converted to residences until 2011, when a duplex took over the second and third floors and a penthouse level was added on part of the roof.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The 1861 Nos. 79-81 Leonard StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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