A building application was filed to add three floors to a converted turn-of-the-century loft building at 165 William Street. The handsome, albeit worn structure rises near the corner of William and Beekman Streets, two New Amsterdam thoroughfares named after the learned Wilhelmus Hendricksen Beekman. The enlargement will raise the building’s 120-foot roof height an additional 55 feet, and nine additional apartments will be carved throughout, bringing the total to 19.
Frank Savino of William 165 LLC is listed as the owner and per city records, closed on the property for an even $19 million in February 2017. Daniel Kohs’ SYNTHESIS is listed as the architects of record. They were responsible for the design and development of an eight-story private mansion at 178 East 94th Street on the Upper East Side. For this downtown project, there will be no more than two units per floor and the three new floors will have 5 apartments including a full-floor penthouse.
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Google Earth aerial
Wilhelmus Beekman was a Dutch immigrant who sailed to the trading colony with Peter Stuyvesant. He ultimately became the Treasurer of the Dutch West India Company, Mayor of New York City, and Governor of Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Beekman’s family residence was located near the present corner of Beekman and Pearl street and as early as 1656, farmers were allowed to drive their cattle across the land to get to the Commons, a communal pasture where City Hall Park sits today. The path later became Beekman Street.
1915 Land map showing 165 William outlined in lower center. Published by G. W. Bromley & Co. via Historical Map Works
As the city usurped the pastures, the area just east of City Hall became the printing district or “Newspaper Row,” due to its proximity to City Hall and government offices. In 1879, German-born Johann Most opened the editorial office of Freiheit at 167 William Street. The popular anarchist journal promoted revolutionary violence that they hoped would inspire people towards revolution.
In 1907, construction was finished on the existing 10-floor building at 165-167 William Street. Built as commercial lofts, the stalwart gem was designed by Bannister & Schell and known as the Reed Building — a name that still emblazons the entryway today. The Neo-Classically-styled building has a rusticated stone base and a symmetrical, five-bay fenestrated façade of red brick and stone voussoir lintels. The building now shoulders a banal white-brick Pace University building to the south, and a plaza belonging to the world’s tallest dormitory to the north. The building was converted into rental apartments in 2005 by Joseph Pell Lombardi and its ground floor is home to Downtown Pharmacy.
165-167 William Street (Photo via Ariel Property Advisors)
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