Puck Building
from Houston Street (2021)
Location295–307 Lafayette Street
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°43′29″N 73°59′43″W / 40.7248°N 73.9953°W / 40.7248; -73.9953
Built1885–86
ArchitectAlbert Wagner and Herman Wagner (later expansion)
Architectural styleRundbogenstil
NRHP reference No.83001740[1]
NYCL No.1226
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 21, 1983
Designated NYCLApril 12, 1983

The Puck Building is a historic building in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the block bounded by Lafayette, Houston, Mulberry and Jersey Streets. The building is owned by Kushner Properties, the company of Charles Kushner and his son Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. president Donald Trump.

An example of the German Rundbogenstil style of architecture,[2] the building was designed by Albert Wagner,[3] and was constructed in two parts. The north section was built in 1885–86, and the south addition in 1892–93.[3] The front of the building on Lafayette Street was relocated in 1899 when the street – then called Elm Place[4] – was widened, this was supervised by Herman Wagner.[3] The building was rehabilitated in 1983–84 and further renovated in 1995 by Beyer Blinder Belle.[3] The building sports two gilded statues by sculptor Henry Baerer of Shakespeare's character Puck, from A Midsummer Night's Dream, one on the northeast corner at Houston and Mulberry, and one over the main entrance on Lafayette.[3]

History

The Lafayette Street entrance (2003)
Gilded statues of Shakespeare's character Puck can be found in several places around the building's exterior.

The building was constructed as the printing facility of J. Ottmann Lithographic Company as a seven-story structure. A nine-story annex was added in 1892.[5]

The building was the longtime home of Puck magazine, which gave the building its name; Founded in St. Louis in 1871, the magazine moved into the building in 1887 and remained there until it ceased publication in 1918.[6]

A June 1887 fire caused significant damage, estimated as high as $30,000, including water damage to Puck magazine's editorial rooms.[7] A fire in November caused $50,000 in damage after a can of turpentine caught on fire inside a finishing room where workers were producing Christmas cards.[8]

The building later housed numerous independent printing firms and related printing services such as typesetters and a printing ink company, Superior Printing Ink. The odor of printing ink permeated the building for many years. An office stationery company, S. Novick & Son, once occupied the second floor. Notable among that firm's salesmen was Alger Hiss, the former Assistant Secretary of State, who was brought down in a spy scandal in the 1950s.[9]

The Serra family bought the building in 1978 and allowed the building to empty out as tenants left over the years as their leases expired.[5] A proposed 1981 conversion of the building eliminated the inclusion of residential space based on the economics of paying displaced commercial tenants a fee of $9 per square foot.[10] The building reopened in April 1983 after an $8 million renovation and restoration project that created condominium spaces for businesses primarily related to the arts.[5]

On November 5, 1982, author and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was raped and killed by security guard and serial rapist Joey Sanza in The Puck Building. Cha had gone there to meet her husband, photographer Richard Barnes, who was documenting the renovation of the building.[11] Cha died a week after the publication of her book Dictee.[12] Sanza was convicted after five years and three trials.[11]

Owner Jared Kushner sought approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission to erect six penthouse apartments at the top of the red-brick building. After initially being turned down in October 2011, Kushner made two modifications and his plans were approved. The first of the six units closed in May 2014, selling for $28 million.[13]

Tenants

In the 1980s, the Puck Building was the original home of Spy Magazine.[14] Starting in 1986, the building housed the Manhattan Center of Pratt Institute.[15] Pratt used the additional space for computer and technical labs for the School of Computer, Information, and Library Science (SCILS).

Since 2004, the building has been used by New York University for the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the department of sociology.[16]

The building contains both office and retail space as well as ballrooms for large events on both the top and ground floors. The Skylight Ballroom can accommodate 250 guests, while the Grand Ballroom can fit up to 1,000.[17]

The retail space was added when the building underwent a large-scale renovation beginning in October 2011.

In 2011, REI opened a 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) store spanning the building's first three levels.[18] The renovation was designed by architects Callison and includes an area that showcases the history of the Puck Building.[18]

Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm run by Charles Kushner's son and Jared Kushner's younger brother Josh, has its office in the building. Several portfolio companies in which Thrive is invested are also headquartered in the Puck Building, including Cadre and Oscar.[19]

Houston and Mulberry, 1893

References

Maps published in 1894 (top) and 1905 show the Puck Building, lower right, before and after Lafayette Street (formerly Marion Street) was cut through the block, necessitating the relocation of the western wall.
  1. ↑ "National Register Information System – (#83001740)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ "New York Architecture Images- Puck Building". nyc-architecture.com. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5.
  4. ↑ Friedman, Walter; and Opdycke, Sandra. "Puck" in Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 961. ISBN 0300055366.
  5. 1 2 3 Gaiter, Dorothy J. "Restored Puck Building Opens Today", The New York Times, April 20, 1983. Accessed May 9, 2016. "The landmark Puck Building in SoHo that was once the largest in the world devoted to lithography and publishing will reopen today after three years of restoration as a condominium for arts and industry."
  6. ↑ Haden-Guest, Anthony. "The Magazine That Made—and Unmade—Politicians", The Daily Beast, November 2, 2014. Accessed May 9, 2016. "Puck, a humor magazine that was known for its cartoons of pointed political satire, was launched in St. Louis in 1871, but moved to New York a few years later to begin publishing out of the splendid steel-frame building in 1887.... Puck was a waning force by then. It went to black and white in 1916, died in 1918."
  7. ↑ "Fire in the Puck Building; Much Damage Done by the Water Thrown Upon it", The New York Times, June 26, 1887. Accessed May 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ Staff. "PUCK BUILDING BLAZE FOLLOWS FACTORY FIRE; Croker's Men Kept Busy in the Downtown District. GIRLS IN PANIC ON LADDERS Three Firemen Caught in a Nasty Trap, but Were Rescued – Damage, $150,000 in All.", The New York Times, November 4, 1905. Accessed May 9, 2016.
  9. ↑ White, G. Edward (November 17, 2010). "Alger Hiss's Campaign for Vindication (PDF)" (PDF). Boston University Law Review. HeinOnline. 83 (64): 77. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ Oser, Alan S. "Real Estate; SoHo Loft For Use as Galleries", The New York Times, November 25, 1981. Accessed May 9, 2016. "The Puck building was at first going to be a mixed-use building. But the higher costs of residential development, and the new loftlaw requirement that would have forced the sponsor to pay relocated commercial tenants $9 a square foot, have changed the economic balance, said Aaron Gelbwaks, the sponsor's attorney."
  11. 1 2 "Tributes & Obituaries: Theresa Cha, Keith Haring & Barbara Lehmann". Homicide, Homelessness & Winged Pigs. The Village Voice. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  12. ↑ Yi Kang, Hyun; Kim, Elaine H.; Lowe, Lisa; Sunn Wong, Shelley (1994). Writing Self, Writing Nation: A Collection of Essays on Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Third Women Press.
  13. ↑ Horsley, Carter. "The Puck Penthouses, 293 Lafayette Street". City Realty.
  14. ↑ Riley, Sam G.; and Selnow, Gary W. Regional Interest Magazines of the United States, p. 320. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1991. ISBN 9780313268403. Accessed May 8, 2016. "Spy was originally housed in the Puck Building in Downtown Manhattan."
  15. ↑ Kennedy, Shawn G. "Real Estate; A New Use For Puck Building", The New York Times, August 20, 1986. Accessed May 8, 2016. "Pratt has taken the second floor and will move its Manhattan Center there from 160 Lexington Avenue."
  16. ↑ "NYU Inks Deal for 'Dream Space' in Puck Building", New York University, June 21, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2016. "New York University and Kushner Companies announced that the University has signed a 15-year lease for three floors, comprising 75,000 square feet of contiguous space, in the historic Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood."
  17. ↑ "The Puck Building", New York (magazine). Accessed May 9, 2016. "This landmark Soho building boasts more than 14,000 square feet of event space. The high-ceilinged Grand Ballroom is vast—it can hold 1,000 guests—with white walls and columns, two chandeliers, and white curtains that can be parted to yield an incredible amount of natural light. The seventh-floor Skylight Ballroom seats up to 250 guests."
  18. 1 2 Mao, Tien (December 2, 2011). "Photos: REI SoHo Opens Its Doors in the Puck Building". Gothamist. New York. Archived from the original on February 10, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  19. ↑ "The Puck Building". Kushner. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  20. ↑ "On Set in the Village", Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, September 30, 2011. Accessed May 8, 2016. "Let's start with Will & Grace. Where was Grace Adler Designs located? Why, in the Puck Building of course."
  21. ↑ Alleman, Richard. New York: The Movie Lover's Guide: The Ultimate Insider Tour of Movie New York, p. 284. Crown/Archetype, 2013. ISBN 9780804137782. Accessed May 9, 2016.
  22. ↑ Ellis, Bret Easton (1991) American Psycho New York: Vintage. p.126 ISBN 0-679-73577-1
  23. ↑ "Brassland | Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers". brassland.org. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  24. ↑ "6 Music Artist Collection – The National – The National: Their Albums In Their Words – BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
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