79 Worth Street
also 81 Worth Street, 80 Leonard Street, 78 Leonard Street | Tribeca | built 1880
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1812
A converted circus building opens as the Olympic Theatre on Anthony Street, now Worth Street
An earlier building on this site, a circus house used by Pepin and Breschard at 79-85 Anthony Street (today's Worth Street), was converted into a theater that opened on May 22, 1812 as the Olympic. Its first night paired the play The Way to Get Married with grand feats of horsemanship. After a renovation in 1813 it took the name Anthony Street Theatre and later carried other names before reverting to that one in 1820.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1820
Edmund Kean makes his New York debut as Richard III at the Anthony Street Theatre
An earlier building on this site, the Anthony Street Theatre, housed the Park Theatre's acting company during the 1820-21 season while the Park was being rebuilt. In November 1820 Edmund Kean made his first New York appearance here in Richard III. Manager Edmund Simpson wrote that Kean was drawing about $1,000 a night. The theater was demolished in 1821 and the plot was bought for Christ Episcopal Church.
“With this company Edmund Kean made his first appearance to much acclaim in New York in November 1820 in Richard III.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1860
Henry Young builds a five-story marble-faced Italianate loft building at 79-81 Worth Street
Henry Young erected the building in 1859-60 as a store and loft structure about 48 feet wide, matching its twin at 83-85 Worth Street. Above the first story the facade is marble, with molded window surrounds, flat pediments and bracketed sills. It replaced the Protestant Episcopal church that had stood on the former theater lot, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission later included it in the Tribeca East Historic District.
“It was constructed in 1859-60 for Henry Young and is identical to its neighbor, 83-85 Worth Street, which was built at about the same time.”
- 1928
The Farish Company, a dry goods house dating to 1835, occupies the building as its ground floor is refaced in stone
By the late 1920s the building was home to the Farish Company, a dry goods dealer established in 1835 as Clark & Hunt, which then sold wool blend blankets for Arnco Mills. In 1928-29 the original cast-iron storefront was removed up to the second-story sills and the ground floor was refaced in stone, to designs by architect Jean Jeaume.
- 1994
An arsonist sets fire to 79 Worth Street a month after torching a Leonard Street building
On May 30, 1994, 22-year-old Alberto Raposo burned the loft building at 80-82 Leonard Street out of anger at its supervisor, Hector Ruiz. A month later he set fire to another building Ruiz looked after, 79 Worth Street. Across the two blazes, 33 firefighters were injured and one was killed.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The Marble-Faced 1862 80-82 Leonard StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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