827-831 Broadway Buildings
827 Broadway | Greenwich Village | built 1910
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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.
- 1866
Griffith Thomas designs the marble twin buildings at 827-831 Broadway for tobacco heir Pierre Lorillard III
Pierre Lorillard III, heir to the Lorillard tobacco firm, put up the twin store buildings at 827-829 and 831 Broadway in 1866-67 as a speculative investment. Architect Griffith Thomas modeled the pair on Italian palazzi, and they belong to the Civil War-era group of marble commercial palaces along Broadway.
“…built in 1866-67 as a speculative investment for tobacco heir Pierre Lorillard III…”
- 1881
Vantine's Oriental Store opens at 827-829 Broadway in 1881, and Dr. Jaeger's wool shop follows in 1886
In 1881 A. A. Vantine & Company, which both imported and imitated goods from Asia and the Middle East, opened its Oriental Store here, aimed at the general public. Before that, from 1874 to 1881, the space had been Wilson's Sewing Machine Rooms, a carpeted showroom. In 1886 Dr. Jaeger's Sanitary Woolen System Co., a German clothing maker, opened its American flagship at the address and touted pseudoscientific claims about its wool clothing.
“…in 1886, German garment maker Dr. Jaeger's Sanitary Woolen System Co. opened its flagship American store at 827-829 Broadway to tout pseudoscientific claims…”
- 1962
Elaine de Kooning paints her portrait of John F. Kennedy in her third-floor studio at 827 Broadway
Elaine de Kooning rented an apartment at 827 Broadway from 1962 to 1966, one floor below her estranged husband Willem, with its own entrance. She painted her portrait of President Kennedy there, a commission for the Truman Library, after a two-week sitting at the Winter White House in West Palm Beach. She also began hosting regular parties she called brawls, for dozens of painters, poets and other friends.
“…rented an apartment one floor below his and with a separate entrance at 827 Broadway ... bimonthly parties known as “brawls”…”
- 1963
Elaine de Kooning's studio fills with Kennedy portraits, and she refuses to lend it to Paul Jenkins
After the president's assassination in November 1963, the painter Paul Jenkins arrived from a ship crossing, having lined up a three-month rental of Elaine de Kooning's studio. Irving Sandler met him at the dock and took him straight to the loft, where Jenkins found it crowded with her Kennedy portraits. She asked whether he now understood why she could not rent it out. She had painted and sketched the president from memory for months, and the news of his death left her unable to paint for a year.
- 1965
Sculptor Herbert Ferber, who also practiced dentistry, rents an apartment at 827 Broadway
From 1965 to 1970 the Abstract Expressionist sculptor Herbert Ferber rented an apartment at 827 Broadway. Trained at Columbia's dental college, he stayed a part-time dentist until 1977, well after his art had made him famous. In 1961 he had made one of the first indoor environmental installations, Sculpture as Environment, for the Whitney Museum.
“From 1965-1970, Ferber rented an apartment at 827 Broadway.”
- 1971
Painter Jules Olitski lives and works in a large apartment at 827 Broadway through 1980
Jules Olitski rented a big apartment at 827 Broadway from 1971 to 1980 and used it as both home and studio. He had been one of four artists chosen to represent the United States at the 1966 Venice Biennale, and in 1969 he became the first living American to have a solo show at the Metropolitan Museum. At 827 Broadway he moved to smaller, vertical canvases and scraped thick paint across surfaces roughened with gel.
“From 1971 to 1980, Olitski rented a large apartment at 827 Broadway as his residence and studio.”
- 1980
Howard Kaplan Antiques takes over 827-831 Broadway and stays 35 years
In 1980 Howard Kaplan Antiques replaced two earlier dealers, Sherbee Antiques at 827-829 and Michael Capo Antiques at 831, and stayed until 2015. Kaplan, an importer of French housewares billed as the antique dealer to the stars, bought the buildings then, and Art Nouveau storefronts went in during 1980-81. His partner David Kyner ran his own antiques shop at 827-829 from 1988 to 2009.
“In 1980, Sherbee Antiques at 827-29 Broadway and Michael Capo Antiques at 831 Broadway were succeeded by Howard Kaplan Antiques…”
- 2015
Investors buy 827-831 Broadway for $60 million and file plans for a 300-foot tower
Real estate investors Samson Klugman and Leo Tsimmer bought the buildings in August 2015 for $60 million. They filed plans to demolish them and build a retail and office tower 300 feet tall. Village Preservation asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission for emergency landmarking; the request was denied at first, and the group went on gathering support.
Source: Village Preservation
- 2017
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates 827-831 Broadway after 18 speakers back it
At the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on October 17, 2017, eighteen people spoke in favor of designating the pair, including a City Council member and representatives of the Willem de Kooning Foundation and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Two representatives of the owner offered other positions, and no one spoke in opposition. The commission designated the buildings an individual landmark on October 31.
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