15 Union Square West is a residential building on East 15th Street overlooking

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Originally

Tiffany & Company Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, watc ...

’s 19th-century headquarters, it was refurbished and reopened in 2008 as high-end apartments. Commissioned by

Charles Lewis Tiffany Charles Lewis Tiffany (February 15, 1812 – February 18, 1902) was an American businessman and jeweler who founded New York City's Tiffany & Co. in 1837. Known for his jewelry expertise, Tiffany created the country's first retail catalog and ...

in 1869,

John Kellum John Kellum (1809–1871) was an American architect in practice in New York City. Kellum, born in Hempstead (town), New York, Hempstead, Long Island, was trained as a carpenter; he was largely self-taught in architecture, and was taken int ...

designed the original structure, which included 16-foot cast-iron arches that rose above the park. The building cost $500,000 and opened in 1870.Christopher Gray (July 2, 2006
"Before Tiffany & Co. Moved Uptown "
''The New York Times''. Retrieved 2013-09-25. At the time, the store was described as “the largest of its kind devoted to this business of any in the world,” and dubbed the “palace of jewels”. Tiffany & Co. stayed there until 1906. By 1925 the building was occupied by the

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) was a United States labor union known for its support for "social unionism" and progressive political causes. Led by Sidney Hillman for its first thirty years, it helped found the Congress of Indus ...

trade union. 1-15 Union Square West

By 1952 it was owned by

Amalgamated Bank Amalgamated Bank () is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate. Founded on ...

. After a fatal accident where a pedestrian was struck by a falling piece of cast iron, they stripped the original façade and covered it with white brick. The building then stood unchanged for more than 50 years. Brack Capital Real Estate purchased the property in 2006, and restored the original six-story structure and added six newly constructed floors to create a boutique condominium with 36 residences. The brick façade was dismantled and the original arches were reconditioned and wrapped behind a façade of glass and black anodized aluminum. The original structure was topped by an additional six stories of all glass residences. Designed by Eran Chen of ODA-Architecture, previously of Perkins Eastman, the building blends historic and contemporary elements.Dana Rubinstein (April 25, 2011
"Opulently Hidden, In Plain Sight"
''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved 2013-09-25.Josh Barbanel (June 4, 2011
"Condo Doubles for Tennis Star"
''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved 2013-09-25. In 2011, two of the two-bedroom apartments were purchased by tennis player

Caroline Wozniacki Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...

for $9 million. Earlier that year, the retail portion of the development was purchased by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) for $57.88 million.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 40.73584, -73.99168, format=dms, display=title 1870s architecture in the United States Apartment buildings in New York City Commercial buildings completed in 1870 Commercial buildings in Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 1870 Residential buildings in Manhattan Retail buildings in New York (state) Union Square, Manhattan Victorian architecture in New York City