Block 88, Lot 1
Known as the Astor Building in 2002
217 Broadway, Manhattan, USA
(Return to the Case Study Project Page)
Human Land Use
10,000 B.C.E. - 1626 C.E.
Conveyances
1626 C.E. - 2002 C.E.
16 Exchanges
(Count based on confirmed documents as of 2002.)
Click on red links below to go to pdfs of the original documents.
Major Sources:
[1] New York City Office of the Registrar of Deeds, 66 John Street, 13th Floor, Manhattan
[2] Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909, Volume 6, I.N. Stokes, Martino Fine Books, The Law Book exchange, Ltd., 1998 (1915-1928).
[3] Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Burrows, Edwin G. and Mike Wallace, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
[4] New York City Department of Records and Information Services Municipal Archives, 31 Chambers Street, Room 103, Manhattan
Human Land Use
10,000 B.C.E. - 1626 C.E.
10,000 – 7,000 B.C.E. – The first people to arrive at the island of Manhattan appear to have been hunters who followed big game into the area as the Ice Age ended, glaciers receded, and the ocean rose. They also appear to have simply passed through the area moving south as the warming continued. [3]
5,500 B.C.E. – 1626 C.E. – A second group followed later, settling into a series of seasonal encampments at various locations throughout the region including a site just north of what is now City Hall Park (Block 122, Lot 1). Eventually known as the Lenape peoples, they consisted of about a dozen small groups who hunted small game, fished, gathered naturally occurring produce and planted small agricultural plots. Although estimates vary widely, there may have been 15,000 people in the area when Europeans first began to arrive. [3]
The Lenapes made use of a trail whose approximate route proceeded from Bowling Green and the Battery up Broadway, turning at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street and continuing up what is currently Park Row. [3]
May-June 1626 – The First Exchange involving Europeans.
In 1621, the States-General, the legislative body of the United Provinces of the Netherlands chartered Geoctroyerde West-Indische Compagnie, commonly known in English as the Dutch West India Company. Capitalized at 7.5 million Guilders, the Company was a corporate entity with sole Dutch rights to develop trade in West Africa and the Americas. It had its own structure of governance and its own military forces. Aside from trade, the Company was able to pay its shareholders massive dividends through the organized seizure of Spanish shipping vessels, a common practice during the seventeenth century when nations were at war. [3]
Unlike the purchase of Staten Island, which is detailed in an August 10, 1626 deed, there is no extant document of the purchase of Manhattan. Mythology (and a second-hand hearsay account contained in a contemporaneous letter) has Dutch West India Company Director Peter Minuit purchasing, on behalf of the Company, parts of Manhattan in May-June 1626 from on-site natives later determined to be simply traveling in the area. The price was apparently similar to the Staten Island purchase - a technology transfer of “Some Duffies [duffle cloth], kittles [kettles], Axes, Hoes, Wampum, Drilling Awls, Jew’s Harps and Diverse Other Wares” worth about 60 Dutch Guilders (the proverbial $24). [3]
Minuit likely believed he had purchased a clear, permanent deed to the land. It is unlikely that the Lenape leaders who participated in a later “re-purchase” agreement (after pointing out that the first deal was cut by non-Manhattan visitors) had any such conception of absolute property rights of the kind that Europeans had devised after a thousand years of argument, adaptations and precedents. [3]
Block 88 Lot 1
What is now called Manhattan Block 88 Lot 1 was part of what was once known as the Bowerie (Farm) of the Dutch West India Company. The farm was laid out by Cryn Frederickson in 1625 - apparently before the purchase by Minuit. [2]
1664, March - [GRANT] King Charles II of England made his younger brother, James Stuart, the Duke of York (later King James II), proprietor of most of the lands then known as New Netherland. [3]
GRANTOR: King Charles II of England
GRANTEE: James Stuart, the Duke of York (later King James II) younger brother
of King Charles II
PRICE: 40 beaver skins per year
The duke sent troops to seize control of New Amsterdam, taking possession of the city from the Dutch West India Company on September 8, 1664. [3]
1664, September 8 - [ARTICLES OF CAPITULATION] By the terms of the surrender, Dutch settlers were allowed to keep their “Estate, life, and liberty.” However, property owned by the Dutch West India Company eventually become property of the English Crown. Block 88 Lot 1 then became known as the Duke’s (after the Duke of York), the King’s (when the Duke became King James II) and the Queen’s Farm. [2][3]
GRANTOR: Dutch West India Company
GRANTEE: James Stuart, Duke of York
1697, August 19 - [LEASE] [2]
GRANTOR: New York Governor Benjamin Fletcher; Trinity Church
GRANTEE: LEASE
RENT: 60 bushels winter wheat
1705, November 23 - [GRANT] [2] Trinity Church’s title to land in Manhattan has been the subject of hundreds of years of debate with some vigorously challenging its claims.
GRANTOR: New York Governor Viscount Cornbury
GRANTEE: Trinity Church
1713, July 13 - [GRANT] [2] The Queen of England confirms Trinity’s holdings.
GRANTOR: Queen of England
GRANTEE: Trinity Church
1786, June 8 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 43: 398 [1] This is not the complete plot known today as Lot 1. The 1790 U.S. Census lists George Stanton as having three slaves during the time he owned this part of Lot 1. There are no identified records that indicate whether they lived on the property.
GRANTOR: Rector and Inhabitants of the City of New York in Communion
with the Church of England
GRANTEE: Stanton, George
PRICE: 380 pounds [$950]
1792, August 4 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 47: 424 [1]
GRANTOR: Stanton, George and wife Agnes
GRANTEE: King, Rufus, U.S. Senator and later Ambassador to the Court
of St. James, London
PRICE: 500 pounds [$1,250]
In August of 1803, Rufus King resigned his Ambassadorship in London and returned to New York to run for Vice President. He lost to Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. After selling his property to John Jacob Astor, he moved to Jamaica, New York.
1804, June 5 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 67: 15 [1]
GRANTOR: King, Rufus, former (and later) U.S. Senator and Ambassador
to the Court of St. James
GRANTEE: Astor, John Jacob
PRICE: $27,500
1832, March 15 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 283: 86 [1] This parcel completed what is now known as Lot 1.
GRANTOR: Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Trinity Church
GRANTEE: Astor, John Jacob
PRICE: $33,000
1834, April 5 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 310: 484 [1]
GRANTOR: Astor, John Jacob
GRANTEE: Astor, William B.
PRICE: One Spanish Milled Dollar
From 1834 to 1836, William Astor built the Astor House luxury hotel (architect Isaiah Rogers).
1955, September 28 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 4937: 208 [1]
GRANTOR: Astor, Vincent
GRANTEE: Javasile, John
PRICE: $100 plus other good and valuable consideration
1955, September 28 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 4937: 201 [1]
GRANTOR: Javasile, John
GRANTEE: Broadway Vesey Corporation
PRICE: $100 plus other good and valuable consideration
1956, February 1 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 4952: 507 [1]
GRANTOR: Broadway Vesey Corporation
GRANTEE: Franklin Society Federal Savings and Loan Association
1981, October 6 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 587: 1684 [1]
GRANTOR: First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Rochester
(formerly Franklin Society Federal Savings and Loan Association)
GRANTEE: Riley, Allan J.
PRICE: $10 plus other good and valuable consideration
MORTGAGE: $5,500,000
1983, January 5 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 660: 1650 [1]
GRANTOR: Riley, Allan J.
GRANTEE: Baugeselischaft, Sparrenberg, Rudolf A., Oettier, a foreign
limited partnership
1983, January 5 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 660: 1652 [1]
GRANTOR: Riley, Allan J.
GRANTEE: Columbus Properties, Inc.
1991, March 3 - [DEED] Liber Deeds 1766: 900 [1]
GRANTOR: Columbus Properties, Inc. (New York Based)
GRANTEE: Columbus Properties, Inc. (Alaska Based)
1994, June 22 - [LEASE] Liber Deeds 2107: 2485 [1]
GRANTOR: Columbus Properties, Inc.; Staples, Inc.
GRANTEE: LEASE