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110-588: The Puck Building is a mixed-use building at 295–309 Lafayette Street in the SoHo and Nolita neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City , United States. An example of the German Rundbogenstil style of architecture , the building was designed by Albert Wagner and is composed of two sections: the original seven-story building to the north and a nine-story southern annex. The Lafayette Street elevation of

220-555: A New York Daily News writer referred to the Puck statues as "the most outstanding feature of the building". In his 1994 book New York, a Guide to the Metropolis , Gerard Wolfe wrote that the Puck Building was "a fine example of the industrial Romanesque Revival style" of the late 19th century; similarly, Eric Nash wrote in his 1995 book New York's 50 Best Secret Architectural Treasures that

330-449: A concierge . The penthouse lobby has an imported European cast-iron fireplace mantel , and the private elevator has a depiction of Puck. Each of the apartments is assigned a Roman-numeral apartment number (for example, penthouse VI). The penthouses range from 4,895 to 7,000 square feet (454.8 to 650.3 m). Each penthouse has a separate layout; three of the penthouses have outdoor terraces, and two units occupy two levels. The largest unit

440-428: A brownstone sphere. Above it is one of the Puck statues. which holds a mirror, pen, and book. The statue also included the inscription "What fools these mortals be", the phrase printed on Puck magazine covers; this inscription had been worn away by the 1950s. When the building's entrance was located at this corner, the column stood in front of the entrance. On the third to seventh stories, the piers are narrower than on

550-440: A fee of $ 9 per square foot. Additionally, Gee said "there are too many problems involved with the city and dealing with people's personal lives" when it came to residential tenancies. Serra and Gee converted the building to office and gallery space for graphic-arts firms. Workers regilded the Puck statues, renovated the elevator cabs, added interior wainscoting, and installed new wiring and HVAC systems; in addition, they preserved

660-472: A former stop at Worth Street . The westbound M22 runs on Lafayette Street south of Worth Street, while the full-route uptown M1 runs north of Spring Street. Notes Further reading 40°43′35.57″N 73°59′39.3″W  /  40.7265472°N 73.994250°W  / 40.7265472; -73.994250 Astor Library Building The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City . Founded by Joseph Papp , The Public Theater

770-571: A landmarked Romanesque revival structure at 425 Lafayette Street since 1967, built between 1853 and 1881 as the Astor Library, which later merged with the Tilden and Lenox collections to become the New York Public Library . The library was built by William B. Astor , son of the library's founder, John Jacob Astor . A German-born architect, Alexander Saeltzer , who had been the architect of

880-461: A large market garden in 1804, for $ 45,000, and leased part of the site to a Frenchman named Joseph Delacroix, who erected a popular resort and called it " Vauxhall Gardens " after the famous resort on the edge of London . When the lease expired in 1825, Astor cut a new street through, a 100-foot wide three-block boulevard with no cross streets, which began at Astor Place and ended at Great Jones Street which he named Lafayette Place to commemorate

990-563: A larger building. In February 1885, Keppler, Schwarzmann, and J. Ottmann agreed to acquire the Institution of Mercy at the southwest corner of Mulberry Street and Houston Street . The sale was finalized the next month; the three men paid $ 140,000 (equivalent to $ 4,748,000 in 2023) for the site. The men hired Albert Wagner to design a seven-story building, with two basements, on a site measuring 117 feet (36 m) along Houston Street and 138 feet (42 m) along Mulberry Street. As planned,

1100-533: A much of the original interiors as they could. During the building's renovation, in 1982, the author and artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha was raped and killed in the building by a security guard named Joey Sanza. The renovation ultimately cost $ 14 million and mostly involved cosmetic changes. The Puck Building's renovation helped spur the revitalization of Lafayette Street, which had been a frequent hangout for drug dealers. The Puck Building reopened in April 1983. The reopening

1210-528: A skywalk connecting the two buildings. The main store burnt down in 1956, but the annex and warehouse buildings remain extant on Lafayette. Landmarks along Lafayette Street include: In August 2008, the New York City Department of Transportation closed Lafayette Street, Park Avenue, and part of East 72nd Street to motor traffic for three Saturdays as part of the " Summer Streets " program to encourage non-motor uses. The program has taken place on

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1320-437: A staircase to its space. The Puck Building was again renovated in the mid-2000s, when workers replaced the windows and added some lighting. The building was fully occupied at the time. In addition, the building's owner sought to lease out the structure's 20,600-square-foot (1,910 m) event space to a food emporium. The outdoor-gear store REI leased 39,000 square feet (3,600 m) in the building in 2010, with plans to open

1430-497: A store operated by Olney & Warrin. A ladies' hat manufacturers' association moved into the building in the 1920s, and Comfort & Company, Inc., leased a large part of the building in 1935. The building's other tenants in the mid-20th century included the bookbinder J. C. Valentine Company (which moved out in 1931 after four decades there); the printing company Lehmaier Press; the Parker-Wilson Printing Company;

1540-468: A summer intensive exploring the rigors, challenges, and joys of performing Shakespeare. The Public Theater hosts educational programs for teenagers such as Shakespeare Spring Break, Summer ShakeUP, and A Midsummer Day's Camp programs, all for teenagers interested in learning about and performing Shakespeare. Suzan-Lori Parks , Pulitzer Prize -winning playwright and Master Writer Chair of The Public, debuted her performance piece Watch Me Work as part of

1650-484: A three-month hiatus during the summer of 2011 to allow for construction. The building re-opened on October 4, 2012 after a renovation designed by Ennead Architects costing $ 40 million. In 2013, The Public launched Public Works, which brings together diverse groups of people throughout the five boroughs of New York City to watch theater, participate in theatrical workshops, and perform in one full-scale Public Works production alongside professional actors at Shakespeare in

1760-433: A three-story store there. Kushner Companies refinanced the building with a $ 80 million mortgage the same year. Part of the ground floor was cut away to make way for a staircase, and some of the original lower-story finishes were restored. Some materials such as wood ceilings, floor joists , and wainscoting were removed and reinstalled elsewhere within the storefront space, while equipment like flywheels and printing tablets

1870-496: A workshop and a full production in front of an audience, as an opportunity to gage audience reaction and further develop their work. The Public Theater invests in theater education, training classical actors through the annual summer acting intensive known as the Shakespeare Lab. The Shakespeare Lab is The Public Theater's professional actor development program that immerses a selected company of professional, mid-career actors in

1980-540: A youthful exuberance". Office and commercial tenants continued to occupy the intermediate stories. In the 2010s, these tenants included NYU's Wagner Graduate School; a Warby Parker showroom; the Kushner family's firm Thrive Capital , along with numerous startups funded by Thrive Capital; and several media- and internet-related firms. Before sales had formally launched, penthouse IV was sold in December 2013 for about $ 28 million;

2090-449: Is Penthouse I, which spans 7,241 square feet (672.7 m) and includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and 5,100 square feet (470 m) of terraces. The Puck Penthouses retain the spaces' original large windows, cast-iron columns, and vaulted brick ceilings. As built, the units were fully furnished. The apartments have custom stoves, window frames, door hinges, and other appliances, and the bathrooms are clad in travertine . In addition,

2200-446: Is a lunette window. On either side of the entrance is a granite pedestal, above which are two stone columns and two pilasters, all in the Doric order . The columns and pilasters are all topped by capitals with wreath motifs. Above the columns is an architrave bearing the words "Puck Building" in all-capital letters, with a console bracket below the center and a balustrade above it. When

2310-709: Is a new platform for The Public's exploration of the Shakespeare canon. This expansion marks the growth of The Public's Shakespeare Initiative and provides more ways for The Public to produce American interpretations of Shakespeare's works. The first production of Public LAB SHAKESPEARE was Timon of Athens in March 2011, with Richard Thomas playing the title role. Since 2013, The Public's Mobile Unit has been bringing free Shakespeare performances to various locations throughout New York City's five boroughs, including prisons, homeless shelters, and community centers. The tour concludes at

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2420-428: Is a semicircular lunette window, which is divided vertically into three panes. A cast-iron transom bar separates the first- and second-story windows. The lunettes are surrounded by round arches with slightly projecting edges, and there is a horizontal string course made of brownstone above the second story. The Puck Building's main entrance is on Lafayette Street, within the fifth-northernmost bay. This entrance

2530-427: Is a single sash window on each of the fifth through seventh stories. As with the third-and-fourth-story windows, each arch is divided by narrow brickwork piers with patterned capitals. At the sixth story of the building's northeast corner, the chamfer has a massive console bracket, which originally served as the base of a flagpole. A patterned brick course, corbels, a brownstone sill, and a cornice run horizontally above

2640-457: Is also divided horizontally into several tiers of arcades , with wider arches at the top and narrower arches at the bottom. The sculptor Henry Baerer created two sculptures of the Shakespeare character Puck for the facade. The building is topped by a penthouse structure. The original interiors were arranged as open plan offices, which largely remained intact in the late 20th century. There

2750-415: Is composed of the original structure to the north, which dates from 1885, and the annex to the south, which dates from 1892. In both sections of the building, the western elevation of the facade, along Lafayette Street, dates from 1898. The Lafayette Street elevation is stylistically similar to the original facades of both the original building and the annex. The original building is seven stories high, while

2860-484: Is designed in the Romanesque Revival style, with elements inspired by the German Rundbogenstil style. It was constructed in two parts: The north section was built in 1885–1986 and the south addition in 1892–1993. The front of the building on Lafayette Street was relocated in 1899 when the street (then called Elm Place) was widened. Herman Wagner was the architect for the renovated facade. The current Puck Building

2970-517: Is directly outside the building to the north. There are glass-and-iron vaulted sidewalks around the building; the vaulted sidewalks on Mulberry Street have all been replaced, but those on Houston and Lafayette streets are largely intact. Prior to the construction of the Puck Building, the site had been occupied by St. Catherine's Convent, which was built by the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in 1848. The convent

3080-1118: Is located at 425 Lafayette Street in the former Astor Library in Lower Manhattan . The building contains five theater spaces, and Joe's Pub , a cabaret-style venue for new work, musical performances, spoken-word artists, and soloists. Additionally, The Public operates the Delacorte Theater in Central Park , where it has staged " Shakespeare in the Park " performances free of charge since 1954. Recent productions include: The Merchant of Venice (2010); Here Lies Love (2013); Fun Home (2013); Eclipsed (2015); and Hamilton (2015). In addition to each season of full-scale theatrical productions, The Public produces several different series, festivals, and programs each year. The Public presented its inaugural Public LAB series in 2008 with an annual series of new plays presented in collaboration with LAByrinth Theater Company . With each Public LAB show,

3190-406: Is made of red brick, except for window frames and statues made of cast iron , as well as entrance gates made of wrought iron . Some terracotta and sandstone is also used in the facade. All four corners of the building are chamfered , with small diagonal cutouts. On Mulberry Street, there are two wrought-iron fire escapes, one each in the annex and the original building. On the first two stories of

3300-407: Is retail space in the basement and first two stories; office and studio space on the intermediate stories; and six penthouse apartments on the highest stories. The building was the longtime home of Puck magazine, a humor cartoon whose founders Joseph Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann acquired the site in 1885 with J. Ottmann. The original building was completed the following year, and the annex

3410-408: Is separated vertically by a narrow brickwork pier with patterned capitals . In addition, there are corbels and brownstone sills running horizontally above the fourth story. The fifth through seventh stories of each bay comprise a third arcade. On these stories, each bay has three triple-height arches, which are each one-third of the width of the ground-level arches. Within each arched opening, there

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3520-410: Is shaped like a triumphal arch . At the ground story of the archway are two rectangular doorways, which are separated by a cast-iron column and flanked by smaller cast-iron piers. In front of each doorway is an ornate Art Nouveau wrought-iron arch with a set of wrought-iron gates. A transom bar runs above the doorways, and a statue of Puck stands atop the center of the transom bar. Above the transom bar

3630-602: The Anshe Chesed Synagogue , designed the building in Rundbogenstil style, then the prevailing style for public building in Germany. Astor funded two expansions of the building toward Astor Place, designed by Griffith Thomas (1856–1869) and Thomas Stent (1879–1881). Both large expansions followed Saeltzer's original design so seamlessly that an observer cannot detect that the edifice was built in three stages. In 1920,

3740-576: The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society purchased the building. By 1965, it was in disuse and faced demolition. The Public Theater, then the New York Shakespeare Festival , persuaded the city to purchase it for use as a theater. It was converted for theater use by Giorgio Cavaglieri between 1967 and 1976. The building is a New York City Landmark , designated in 1965. It was one of the first buildings to be recognized as such by

3850-469: The facade was designed by Herman Wagner in a similar style to the original building. The Puck Building is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . The Puck Building occupies the block bounded by Lafayette, Houston , Mulberry , and Jersey streets. The facade is made of red brick and is divided vertically into bays of uniform width. The facade

3960-711: The 2011 Under The Radar Festival. In the performance, Parks worked on her newest writing project in the main lobby of The Public Theater. A number of The Public's productions have moved to larger Broadway theaters upon the conclusion of their run at Astor Place. The three most commercially successful of these works have been Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), and Hamilton (2015). The Public Theater has won 54 Tony Awards , 152 Obie Awards , 42 Drama Desk Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes . Fifty-five Public Theater productions have moved to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones , That Championship Season , A Chorus Line , For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When

4070-467: The LPC five or six times. In the final plan, the dormer was downsized by 1,500 square feet (140 m) and shortened by 20 feet (6.1 m). In addition, the building's original parapet would be restored, preventing pedestrians from seeing the penthouse dormer from street level. Jared Kushner was involved with the design of the building's new apartments, to the extent that he mapped out their layouts and selected

4180-705: The Municipal Building. The change in Lafayette Street's history is epitomized by the construction of the Schermerhorn Building in 1888 to replace the Schermerhorn mansion, where Mrs. William Colford Schermerhorn had redecorated the interior to resemble Louis XV 's Versailles , it was thought, to give a French-themed costume ball in 1854 for six hundred New Yorkers, at which the German Cotillion

4290-603: The New York City government rented four floors, three of which were occupied by the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation ; the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board also had offices in the Puck Building, The New York Press magazine moved into the building as well. The Puck Building's ballroom became a popular venue for fashion shows, in part due to the ballroom's relatively low rental rates and plain architectural design. Other events hosted in

4400-527: The Park. Past Public Works productions include The Tempest, The Winter's Tale, and The Odyssey. The Public Forum, begun in 2010, is a series of lectures, debates, and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, a senior writer at Newsweek , Public Forum events explore issues raised by plays in The Public's season, as well as the political and cultural headlines of today's world. Notable participants in

4510-530: The Public Theater, having previously performed at notable venues such as Rikers Island , Borden Avenue's Veteran's Shelter, and The Fortune Society. The Public also launched its inaugural Public Works production in 2013. Public Works combines diverse groups of people throughout the five boroughs of New York City to watch theater, participate in theatrical workshops, and perform in one full-scale Public Works production alongside professional actors at Shakespeare in

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4620-512: The Puck Building in 1986 and renovated it further. Kushner Properties , a partner in the syndicate, took over the building in the 1990s. The lowest stories were converted to a store in 2011, and Kushner Properties added penthouse apartments there between 2011 and 2013. The Puck Building is at 295–309 Lafayette Street , in the Nolita and SoHo neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City . It occupies an entire city block between Lafayette Street to

4730-480: The Puck Building in 2001, and New York University leased 75,000 square feet (7,000 m) at the building two years later, becoming the structure's largest tenant. NYU relocated its Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and sociology department into the building; at the time, the other tenants included Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and the catering firm New York Caterers. NYU hired Suben/Doughtery to install raised floors , consolidate some offices, and add

4840-467: The Puck Building was a "premier example of the Rundbogenstil ". Before the Puck Building was preserved as an official city landmark, it was depicted in the Municipal Art Society 's 1982 exhibit "Landmarks That Aren't". The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated it as a city landmark in April 1983, and the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places

4950-461: The Puck Building. In 1986, a syndicate led by Harry Skydell paid $ 19 million for the building. Skydell's partners in the syndicate included George Gellert , Charles Kushner , and Joel Seiden , and Skydell's firm Hudson Park Management took over the building's operation. Skydell and his partners spent another $ 9 million on the building, which included new elevators and mechanical systems. Sonneblick-Goldman Corporation borrowed $ 26.3 million to pay for

5060-528: The Rainbow Is Enuf , The Pirates of Penzance , The Tempest , Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk , Michael John LaChiusa 's The Wild Party , The Ride Down Mt. Morgan , Topdog/Underdog , Take Me Out , Caroline, or Change , Passing Strange , the revival of HAIR , Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , The Merchant of Venice , The Normal Heart , Well , Fun Home , Hamilton , and Eclipsed . The Public has been housed in

5170-550: The Revolutionary war hero, who had returned to a rapturous reception in America the previous year . Lots along both sides of the new street sold briskly, earning Astor many times what he had paid for the land two decades before. The grandest was the terrace of matching marble-fronted Greek Revival houses on the west side of the street, called La Grange Terrace when it was built in 1833, but known to New Yorkers as " Colonnade Row " for

5280-443: The annex is nine stories high. The building's facade includes gilded statues of Shakespeare 's character Puck , from A Midsummer Night's Dream ; the sculptor Henry Baerer created two such statues for the building. Every elevation of the facade is divided vertically into bays of uniform width. The original building measures three bays wide (originally five bays) on Houston Street to the north, six bays wide on Mulberry Street to

5390-465: The building and hired PKSB Architects to design the residences. At the time, there was high demand for luxury residences in SoHo, and the Puck Building was among the neighborhood's most prominent structures. The original plans for Kushner's penthouses called for three apartments each on the eighth and ninth floors, as well as a single duplex apartment within a new dormer structure on the roof. The LPC rejected

5500-591: The building as being among the largest printing-plant structures in the world. A Puck magazine supplement described the structure as being the largest printing plant near the Astor Library. Most of the interior, including the open plan offices, remained intact in the late 20th century. A lobby for commercial tenants was added during the 1980s renovation. On average, each of the modern-day building's floors covers about 22,000 square feet (2,000 m) or 24,500 square feet (2,280 m). The building contains both office and retail space as well as ballrooms for large events on

5610-405: The building during the decade. After the city government stopped leasing space in the building in 1992, and Pratt subsequently expanded into some of the city government's former space on the fourth floor. Beyer Blinder Belle designed a further renovation of the building in the mid-1990s. The Bell Technology Group leased 25,000 square feet (2,300 m) in 1996, at which point the building's space

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5720-551: The building during the late 20th and early 21st centuries included the National Black Fine Art Show and the Outsider Art Fair . Skydell owed $ 2.2 million on the Puck Building and another structure by the early 1990s. Because of the ownership syndicate's financial troubles, Kushner's firm, Kushner Companies, had to take over the Puck Building, becoming the sole owner of the structure. Additional tenants moved into

5830-499: The building had changed ownership in half a century. By then, the building was cited as having 210,000 square feet (20,000 m) of space, and it was valued at $ 490,000 (equivalent to $ 6,686,000 in 2023). Marlow Handbags moved its factory to the Puck Building in the next year. By the 1950s and 1960s, the building also housed such tenants as the Empire Bookbinding Company, Prospect Press, Sample Service Corporation, and

5940-604: The building in 1912, followed by Teitelbaum & De Marinis the next year. The Puck Building remained Puck magazine's headquarters until 1917, when Hearst Communications took over the magazine. Puck was discontinued in September of the following year. After the discontinuation of Puck magazine, the building remained well-suited for firms in the printing industry, as its floor plates had been built to accommodate heavy printing presses . The building thus housed numerous independent printing firms and related printing services. Among

6050-399: The building was completed, Puck magazine described the structure as having round arches along both Houston and Mulberry streets, with a recessed wrought-iron entrance at the corner of these streets. The entrance at the northeast corner of the building, at Houston and Mulberry streets, included a pair of doorways until 1899. This entrance has been replaced with a double-height brick column with

6160-604: The building's penthouse in 2019 before reselling it; the couple purchased the last remaining penthouse two years later, which they also resold. The Chefs Club restaurant closed during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City , and the Major Food Club took over the space, opening the Torrisi restaurant there in 2022. After NYU relocated part of its Wagner Center out of the building in 2023, about 30,000 square feet (2,800 m) of its space

6270-489: The building's renovation and purchase. After the second renovation, the Puck Building was nearly fully occupied. The building was the original home of Spy Magazine , whose founders, Graydon Carter and Kurt Andersen , had specifically wanted to establish a magazine in the former Puck headquarters. The Pratt Institute opened its Manhattan Center campus on the building's second floor in 1986, relocating several of its graphics and illustration departments there. In addition,

6380-728: The building's tenants were the Keller Printing Company in one of the building's lofts, the Paulus-Ullmann Printing Corporation on the fifth floor, and the Paulus & Howell Press on the eighth floor. All of the rentable space had been rented by the end of 1917, when Acme Steel Goods Company took the seventh floor. Other tenants in the late 1910s included the American Paper ;Mills, clothing manufacturers Zeeman & Grossman, Raymond Engineering Corporation, and

6490-511: The building's westernmost section in 1897. A city commission was appointed to determine how much each property owner should be compensated. They determined that the owners of the Puck Building would receive $ 464,000 in compensation (equivalent to $ 16,994,000 in 2023). In September 1897, the Puck Publishing Corporation filed plans for $ 275,000 worth of alterations to the Puck Building (equivalent to $ 10,072,000 in 2023). Wagner

6600-423: The building. The two largest tenants moved out of the building in 1980, and all but one of the other tenants moved out during the subsequent months. The Serra family bought out the last tenant's lease and proposed converting the building into a commercial condominium. Initially, there were plans to add residential space, but this was canceled due to high costs, as the owners had to pay the displaced commercial tenants

6710-624: The building; two of its members, Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf , worked there at the time. The building is also depicted in a mural in the New York Public Library Main Branch 's Periodical Room. Lafayette Street The street is named after the Marquis de Lafayette , a French hero of the American Revolutionary War . The street originated as a real estate speculation by John Jacob Astor , who had bought

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6820-468: The city's Board of Street Opening and Improvement submitted plans for the project to the New York City Board of Aldermen for approval. Though the building's owners were still opposed to the street's extension as late as December 1894, they had come to support the proposal by the next year. To make way for the section of Elm Street between Houston and Jersey streets, the city government decided to raze

6930-603: The corresponding speaker series is presented as after-show talkbacks to discuss prominent themes, ideas, and topics in the plays. Several plays that have appeared in the Public LAB series have gone onto full-scale productions, including Tracey Scott Wilson 's The Good Negro , which ran at The Public in 2009, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson , which had a sold-out, thrice-extended off-Broadway run at The Public in spring 2010 and transferred to Broadway that fall. In 2011, Public LAB expanded to include Public LAB SHAKESPEARE, which

7040-407: The design. The northern part of the facade, originally five bays wide, was truncated to three bays. Heavy braces measuring 60 feet (18 m) long were used to temporarily shore up the northern and eastern elevations, and part of the remaining structure's facade on Houston Street was also demolished and rebuilt. A new main entrance was built to the west on Elm Street (later Lafayette Street). replacing

7150-400: The doors are made of nickel and glass, materials that were selected specifically to give the penthouses an industrial ambiance. The builders hardware is made of materials such as marble and nickel. There are also electronic devices, such as hidden televisions in the bathroom mirrors. One of the penthouses is within a dormer structure, which has a steel frame and is structurally connected with

7260-404: The east, and four bays wide on Lafayette Street to the west. The southern annex is five bays wide on Mulberry Street and six bays wide on Lafayette Street. The southern elevation on Jersey Street is clad in plain brick and has a small number of window openings with iron shutters. The bays are separated vertically by projecting brick piers , which rise atop granite pedestals . The rest of the facade

7370-490: The existing building; several property owners, including Keppler, expressed objections to the street's extension. The annex was ultimately completed in 1893. That year, Keppler, Schwarzmann, and Ottmann borrowed $ 300,000 for the building from the Brooklyn Savings Bank (equivalent to $ 10,173,000 in 2023). Meanwhile, there were still plans to extend Elm Street north through Marion Street and Lafayette Place. In 1893,

7480-430: The facade as giving an impression of "strength combined with lightness and graceful simplicity". Paul Goldberger wrote for The New York Times in 1978 that the Puck Building was a "fine Romanesque commercial building" with "amusing" Puck statues, and another writer for the same newspaper said in 1983 that the building "seems to fit right in with the cast-iron structures" around it. Following the building's 1983 renovation,

7590-527: The facade, there is one double-height arch in each bay. The piers between each bay are wider than on the upper stories, and there is a brownstone course at the bottom of each pier, just above the granite pedestal. On the first story, most of the bays contain rectangular openings, which are divided vertically into groups of three. Some of the first-story openings contain storefront entrances instead of windows; these entrances are accessed by small stoops , which are made of pieces of vaulted sidewalk. The second story

7700-576: The first, second, and third Saturdays of August every year since then. The New York City Subway 's 4 , ​ 6 , <6> ​, B , ​ D , ​ F , <F> , and ​ M trains intersect at a subway station complex at Bleecker Street / Broadway – Lafayette Street . The IRT Lexington Avenue Line ( 4 , ​ 5 , ​ 6 , and <6> trains) runs under Lafayette Street, with stops at Canal Street , Spring Street , Bleecker Street, and Astor Place , as well as

7810-740: The frames of the original structure and annex. The building was the longtime home of Puck magazine, a humor cartoon. Joseph Keppler and Adolph Schwarzmann had founded Puck as a German-language publication in 1876 and started publishing in English in 1877. Puck magazine was originally situated near the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge . Puck and the J. Ottmann Lithographing Company, which printed out Puck cartoons, were situated on Warren Street in Manhattan's Civic Center by 1880. The magazine's circulation had grown to 80,000 by then, and it needed

7920-400: The garment-industry-ticket producer Keller Ticket Company. After Coney Island 's Steeplechase Park was closed in 1965, part of the amusement park's fence was moved to the Puck Building. Paul Serra's family bought the Puck Building in 1978; at the time, the building was fully occupied. Serra and his partner Peter Gee , who ran a company called Peter, Paul and Puck, began planning to renovate

8030-566: The ground and ninth floors. The Skylight Ballroom can accommodate 250 guests, while the Grand Ballroom can fit up to 1,000. Large masonry walls, measuring 2 feet (0.61 m) thick, split the interiors into thirds. At the top of the building are six penthouse apartments collectively known as the Puck Penthouses; they were designed by Jose Ramirez and Sherida E. Paulsen. The apartments are accessed through their own entrance and are served by

8140-466: The ground floor would contain stores, the second and third stories would be used as offices, and the upper stories would be used as a printing plant. Demolition was underway by mid-1885. Keppler, Schwarzmann, and J. Ottmann borrowed $ 130,000 (equivalent to $ 4,408,000 in 2023) from the Franklin Savings Bank. The George A. Fuller Company was the main construction contractor. The Puck Building

8250-465: The home of the Emerging Writers Group, which seeks to target playwrights at the earliest stages in their careers. The Emerging Writers Group is a component of The Public Writers Initiative. The Public also fosters Public Studio, a performance series dedicated to developing the works of new and emerging theater artists. Emerging playwrights get the opportunity to stage a piece somewhere between

8360-501: The initial designs in September 2011. Kushner submitted revised plans for two glass penthouse dormers in October, but the LPC also rejected these designs, saying the dormers were too large. The agency declined to accept a further modification that November for a similar reason. The LPC conditionally approved a downsized dormer in December 2011 and formally approved the renovation later that month. Ultimately, Kushner Companies needed to meet with

8470-426: The lower stories. The third and fourth stories comprise a second tier of arcades . Within each bay, the third and fourth stories are composed of two double-height arches, each of which is half the width of the ground-level arches. The windows between the third and fourth stories are separated by patterned spandrel panels. Within each arched opening, there is a pair of sash windows on either story. Each pair of arches

8580-406: The materials with which they were decorated. His wife Ivanka Trump selected the materials for the apartments' bathrooms and closets. Kushner Companies renovated the remaining space in the building as well. Kushner began marketing the condos in September 2013, asking $ 21 million to $ 60 million. At the time, Kushner anticipated that the residences would attract "connoisseurs, collectors, and those with

8690-452: The neighborhood in part because of their proximity to the New York and New Haven Railroad 's freight terminal, which was several blocks south on Canal Street between Centre and Lafayette streets. At the time of the building's construction, Lafayette Street did not exist at the intersection with Houston Street. What is now known as Lafayette Street was two separate streets: Lafayette Place to

8800-418: The new street. That August, Keppler, Schwarzmann, and Ottmann acquired the site at 281 Mulberry Street, directly south of the Puck Building. At the time, the irregularly-shaped site on Mulberry Street contained a three-story tenement, which Keppler and his partners planned to demolish and replace with an annex to the Puck Building. Due to uncertainties over the subway line's construction, the annex's construction

8910-452: The newly formed Landmarks Preservation Commission of New York City. In 2009, The Public began its "Going Public" campaign to raise funds for a major renovation of the historic building. Groundbreaking for the $ 35 million renovation occurred on March 9, 2010, with notables such as Liev Schreiber and Philip Seymour Hoffman in attendance. Plans included a renovation of Joe's Pub; the Pub went on

9020-423: The north and Elm Street to the south. These two streets were connected between 1897 and 1905. Because of the construction of Lafayette Street, part of the original building has been demolished. Before the original building was truncated, it carried an address of 31–39 East Houston Street. The Puck Building was designed by Albert Wagner and was built for Puck magazine and the J. Ottmann Lithographing Company. It

9130-461: The north has a wood-beam and cast iron superstructure , while the southern annex has a brick- vault and cast iron superstructure. The brick vault were strong enough to accommodate the weight of the building's printing presses . The ground (first) floor was originally used by the J. Ottman firm, and it also included a stair leading to the Puck company offices on the upper stories. On the upper floors were

9240-579: The original building and the annex were originally topped by a parapet ; this feature was removed from the original building by the late 20th century but was restored in the 2010s. The ceilings on the first floor are 18 feet (5.5 m) high, shrinking to 10.5 feet (3.2 m) on the upper stories. The interior's architectural features included a cast-iron elevator. cast-iron staircases, wooden wainscoting, and open plan spaces with cast-iron columns. The columns were decorated with motifs such as rosettes , fluting , bosses , and bands. The original building to

9350-448: The original entrance at Houston and Mulberry streets, and Henry Baerer designed a Puck statue above the new Elm Street entrance. Materials salvaged from the building were reportedly reused in a four-story building at 163 Crosby Street. The modifications to the Puck Building were completed in 1899, though Lafayette Street was not completed until 1905. After Keppler and Schwarzmann died in 1894 and 1904, respectively, their estates took over

9460-478: The penthouses' original brokerage, Sotheby's International Realty , with the Corcoran Group the same year. With sales of the penthouse condos lagging, Kushner Companies decided to rent out three of the apartments in 2017. Kushner and Trump had originally wanted to move into one of the apartments, although they still had not done so by 2017. Kushner's brother Joshua and Joshua's wife Karlie Kloss bought one of

9570-476: The printing company Costa & Aliani; and the Pioneer Scientific Corporation. An office stationery company, S. Novick & Son, occupied the second floor; its salesmen included former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Alger Hiss . In addition, in 1937, the Puck statue above the main entrance was cleaned. In 1947, the Puck Building was sold to a client of David Rapaport; this was the first time

9680-540: The respective stakes in the company (including the Puck Building). A fire in November 1905 caused $ 50,000 in damage (equivalent to $ 1,696,000 in 2023) after a can of turpentine caught on fire inside a finishing room where workers were producing Christmas cards. In addition, six people were severely injured in 1912 after one of the building's elevators fell seven stories. The Manhattan Ladies' Hat Company leased some space in

9790-503: The sale was finalized the following year. The first completed penthouse was placed for sale in January 2014, and the remaining penthouses were finished that March. Kushner placed two more penthouses on sale for $ 57 million the same year. The Chefs Club restaurant opened within the building's first floor in late 2014. The next penthouse was not sold until early 2016, and the fourth penthouse was placed for sale that March. Kushner Companies replaced

9900-669: The same year. After Wagner designed the Puck Building, he reused its design details for a structure at 140 Franklin Street in Tribeca . The Puck Building has been shown in various works of popular culture, For example, an exterior shot of the Puck Building is seen in the American television sitcom Will & Grace , and it is also used as a setting in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally... . The band The National recorded parts of their 2003 album Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers in an empty penthouse in

10010-559: The series include Stephen Sondheim , Tony Kushner , Arianna Huffington , Alec Baldwin and Anne Hathaway . The Public hosts the annual Under the Radar Festival , a festival tracking new theater from around the world. Over the last 12 years, The Public's Under the Radar Festival (UTR) has presented over 194 companies from 40 countries. UTR has presented works by such artists as Elevator Repair Service , Gob Squad , Belarus Free Theatre , and Young Jean Lee . The Public serves as

10120-414: The seventh story of the original building. The annex rises another two stories; the eighth and ninth stories of the annex form a separate arcade. On these stories, each bay contains three double-height arches, which are the same width as the arches on the fifth through seventh stories. A cornice runs horizontally above the ninth floor, and each of the piers rises slightly above the level of the cornice. Both

10230-443: The two-story order of Corinthian columns that unified its fronts; the nine residences each sold for as much as $ 30,000; four that remain are the only survivors of the first fashionable residential phase of Lafayette Street, which gained its new name when the city extended the street south in the early 1900s. At that time its route was carved from the former Elm Street, Marion Street, and Lafayette Place and connected to Centre Street at

10340-404: The units were listed for sale at an average price of $ 125 per square foot ($ 1,350/m). To attract tenants, Serra and Gee offered to split up existing condo units and install new floors, and they gave commercial tenants their own lobby. The structure also hosted events such as dinner parties and balls . Three years after the renovation, none of the condos had been sold, prompting Serra and Gee to sell

10450-447: The upper floors (equivalent to $ 1,017,000 in 2023). There was also water damage to Puck magazine's editorial rooms when firefighters tried to put out the blaze. The building caught fire again in early 1888, although the blaze was extinguished before a large amount of flammable material in the basement could catch fire. By the late 19th century, Puck employed 400 people at the building. The Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners, which

10560-471: The west, Houston Street to the north, Mulberry Street to the east, and Jersey Street to the south. The land lot is quadrilateral and measures around 23,397 square feet (2,174 m). Across the street to the southeast are St. Patrick's Old Cathedral and St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School . In addition, an entrance to the New York City Subway 's Broadway–Lafayette Street/Bleecker Street station

10670-409: Was a reception area, a library, an office, a workshop and reception room, and a set of artists' ateliers . There was also a photographer's darkroom on the fifth floor. In addition, artists' sketches were reproduced in color in a transfer room on the sixth floor. The building had 24 or 30 printing presses as well. After the original building was finished, King's Handbook of New York City characterized

10780-399: Was again hired as the architect for these modifications, and Hanlon Brothers were hired to demolish part of the building. P. & J. Schaeffler received the masonry contract; Grissler & Son was hired as the carpenter; and Baker, Smith & Co. was hired to reconfigure the building's steam-heating system. After Wagner died in 1898, Herman Wagner and Richard Jahn took over responsibility for

10890-452: Was appointed in 1889 to plan a New York City Subway line, announced a tentative route for the subway's first line in June 1890. Part of the Puck Building would need to be demolished because the line would be built underneath a new street running between Elm Street and Lafayette Place, and the building stood in the line's way. The building would have to be reconfigured so that it had a facade along

11000-552: Was built between 1892 and 1893. When Lafayette Street was extended through the neighborhood in the late 1890s, the western section of the building was demolished, and a new facade and entrance were built on Lafayette Street. Puck magazine went out of business in 1918, and the structure was used by printing firms over the next several decades. Paul Serra's family bought the Puck Building in 1978, and Serra and his partner Peter Gee converted it to commercial condominiums , which were completed in 1983. A syndicate led by Harry Skydell bought

11110-574: Was celebrated with a temporary exhibit on the history of Puck magazine, which included artifacts from the building that were discovered during its renovation. Initially, the first two stories contained galleries, the midsection had offices, and the top stories had schools. One-third of the entire floor area was reserved for a design school operated by Gee, while the two men planned to sell the remaining space to designers, artists, and other tenants who wanted more than 10,000 square feet (930 m). The smallest condo spanned 4,000 square feet (370 m), and

11220-437: Was completed around 1886. The original building was much wider along its northern end, at Houston Street, than along its southern end. At the time, it had 231,000 square feet (21,500 m) of space. Originally, Ottmann's lithograph firm was located on the ground floor, while the Puck offices upstairs were accessed by a separate lobby. Shortly after the building was finished, in June 1887, a fire caused up to $ 30,000 in damage to

11330-421: Was delayed. B. B. Schneider sold Keppler and Schwarzmann the site on the northwest corner of Mulberry and Jersey streets in March 1892. This gave Puck 's executives full control of the western side of Mulberry Street between Houston and Jersey streets. The same month, Thomas Weatherby sold four houses on the north side of Jersey Street, immediately west of Schneider's plot, to Keppler and Schwarzmann. Wagner

11440-407: Was fully leased. By 1998, Kushner Companies contemplated converting the ballroom spaces on the lower stories into retail space, as the Puck Building did not have any stores at the time. The city government rezoned the building's land lot the same year, changing it from a manufacturing zone to a mixed commercial and residential zone. The structure was valued at $ 80 million by 2000. Pratt moved out of

11550-488: Was introduced in America. A sign of changing times, in 1860 the W.C. Schermerhorns moved uptown to 49 West 23rd Street . Before long, half of Colonnade Row was demolished to make way for a warehouse for Wanamaker's Department Store . Wanamaker's had taken over A.T. Stewart 's palatial dry-goods store that occupied the full block between Broadway and Lafayette and 9th and 10th Streets, and had also built an equally gigantic Annex next door between 8th and 9th Streets, with

11660-432: Was leased to the hedge fund Quadrature. In addition, OpenAI rented 90,000 square feet (8,400 m), nearly half of the building's space, in 2024. At the time, the building's other office tenants included Thrive Capital, Plaid Inc. , and Cadre . The 1893 King's Handbook of New York City described the Puck Building as "a fitting monument" to Puck magazine and the J. Ottmann Lithographing Company, particularly praising

11770-466: Was located at 35 East Houston Street, and the adjacent House of Mercy was at 33 East Houston Street. When the building was erected in the 1880s, it was at the southern end of Manhattan's printing district, which was centered around the Astor Library Building . Furthermore, there were numerous publishers, printing firms, and publications headquartered in the neighborhood. These firms had settled in

11880-468: Was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers. Its first production was the musical Hair in 1967. Since Papp, the theatre has been led by JoAnne Akalaitis (1991–1993), and George C. Wolfe (1993–2004), and is currently under Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham . The Public's headquarters

11990-551: Was preserved. The storefront renovation was designed by the architecture firm of Callison and included an area that showcased the history of the Puck Building. The REI store opened in early December 2011, becoming the building's first retail tenant in over a century. Meanwhile, the LPC issued a permit to Kushner Companies in May 2011, allowing the firm to begin renovating the facade. Kushner Companies' chief executive Jared Kushner announced plans that August to add penthouse apartments atop

12100-406: Was rehired to design the annex, which was to rise nine stories. W. Arnott was hired as the stonemason for the annex, which was planned to cost $ 365,000 or $ 400,000. Work on the annex began sometime in 1892; during the annex's construction, some workers went on strike. In January 1893, the city government agreed to widen and extend Elm Street northward, which would require demolishing about one-third of

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