Kitchen, Montross & Wilcox Store

85 Leonard Street | Tribeca | built 1861

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

1861
James Bogardus builds a cast-iron dry-goods store with 'sperm candle' columns
Dry-goods firm Kitchen, Montross and Wilcox commissioned this five-story cast-iron building from ironworks pioneer James Bogardus in 1860-61. Its facade mimicked neighboring stone buildings and featured two-story column arcades nicknamed "sperm candle" arcades for their resemblance to whale-oil candles.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1883
A clerk is arrested for stealing thousands of dollars in silk
In 1883, clerk James L. Sheerer was arrested for stealing about $2,400 worth of silk from commission merchants Whitney & Matthews, tenants in the building. The dry-goods firm that had commissioned the building was already gone by around 1868, and the address had since passed through a series of importers and manufacturers.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1974
November 26
The city designates the building a landmark
New York City designated 85 Leonard Street a landmark on November 26, 1974, and it joined the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1980. By then the building, once home to dry-goods and garment firms, had been converted into artist studios.
Source: Wikipedia

Nearby