There is a short run of mid-size buildings on Broadway between Cortlandt and Dey Streets downtown — some of them have been around for nearly 150 years despite all the skyscrapering going on along Broadway north and south of them.
The Germania Building at 175 Broadway handily notes the date of construction on the cornice, as many late 19th Century buildings do. 1865 was the year the Civil War ended and Lincoln was killed. It was built by the Germania Fire Insurance Company; its cast-iron tower turns 148 in 2013.
The World Trade Center rose and fell just southwest of the Germania, and the Fulton Transit Center is rising just to its north, but the Germania has fallen through the real estate cracks and carries on.
7/1/13