Puck Building
About this property
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, New York, U.S. The building was designed by Albert Wagner in the Romanesque Revival style, with elements inspired by the German Rundbogenstil style. It is composed of two sections: the original seven-story building to the north and a nine-story southern annex. The Lafayette Street elevation of the facade was designed by Herman Wagner in a style similar to that of 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 red brick facade is divided vertically into bays of uniform width. The facade 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 crafted 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 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 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 the Puck Building in 1986 and carried out additional renovation. 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 converted the upper stories to penthouse apartments between 2011 and 2013, constructing a dormer for one of the apartments.
Location
Categories
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Puck Building
This page lists Puck Building. A full Aubrey report for an address near it pulls together this listing alongside battlefield records, land patents, and every other historical record within a chosen radius:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Questions about this property
When was Puck Building listed on the National Register?
Puck Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 20, 1983.
What type of historic resource is Puck Building?
Puck Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Puck Building?
The period of significance for Puck Building is recorded as the industrial era.
Can I research the history near Puck Building?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Puck Building will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
More in New York County
Historic places, battles, and census history across New York County.
Explore New YorkCounty ›More historic places in New York
Browse all historic places in New York.
View New Yorkhistoric sites ›Research the history near this site
An Aubrey US report for an address near Puck Building will include this listing alongside battlefield records and other historical sources within your chosen radius.