David S. Brown Store

8 Thomas Street | Tribeca | built 1876

Open on the map4 entries

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

  1. 1876

    A 23-year-old architect designs a store for the David S. Brown soap company

    Twenty-three-year-old architect Jarvis Morgan Slade is commissioned in 1875 to design a store and warehouse for the David S. Brown soap company, founded in 1808. Completed in 1876, the building mixes Venetian-style arches, carved sandstone, and intricate brickwork, an unusually showy design for a utilitarian commercial structure of its day.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1897

    David S. Brown pioneers giveaway premiums to sell soap

    By 1897 the David S. Brown Company, operating from its Thomas Street store, is offering customers premium gifts in exchange for wrappers saved from its soap, an early version of the giveaway marketing later common nationwide. Nine years earlier, the firm had sent a promotional wagon to Albany's bicentennial celebration to advertise its wares.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1910

    The Bustanoby brothers plan a cabaret inside the old soap store

    With the soap company long gone, the ground floor is home to Cafe Renel when the well-known Bustanoby restaurant family announces in 1910 that it will convert the space into the Cabaret des Beaux Arts. A dispute between the brothers forces the young cabaret to close again in 1912, just two years after it opened.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 2007

    A $1.6 million overhaul turns the soap store into condominiums

    The building had already been converted into artist studios with a ground-floor restaurant in 1984. In 2007, Ashnu International Corp. carries out a $1.6 million restoration and full interior renovation, converting the former soap company's store into residential condominiums while preserving its ornate Venetian Gothic facade.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca