Robbins & Appleton Building

History and architecture

The Robbins & Appleton Building at 1-5 Bond Street, an excellent example of cast-iron architecture, was designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch. Built between June 4, 1879, and April 30, 1880, it served as a factory for the manufacture of watchcases for the American Waltham Watch Company founded by Daniel F. Appleton and Henry A. Rabbins. This building replaced an earlier cast-iron store, also designed by Hatch and built for Robbins & Appleton in 1871, which was destroyed in a spectacular fire on the night of March 6, 1877.

Bond Street, opened in 1805, had been one of the most fashionable residential streets in the city during the second quarter of the 19th century. Many of New York's prominent families built their elegant Federal and Greek Revival town houses along its tree-shaded length between Broadway and the Bowery.

Within the span of a single generation, the quiet dignity of the street began to change, reflecting the trans formation taking place in the larger city surrounding it. By the 1850s, most of Broadway, from the Battery to Union Square, had become commercial in character, and the side streets leading from it were beginning to shift from residential to business uses.

Many of the houses on Bond Street became dentists' offices at this time, foretelling what was soon to happen to the street. In January 1860, the New York Times reported that, "...two or three business establishments have already invaded [Bond Street's] precincts," and, "No. 1 is occupied as a restaurant, and a new hardware-store is soon to be opened next to the residence of Dr. Francis." Dr. Francis sold his house six months later. Within the next few years, most of his neighbors did the same, migrating to the newer fashionable area—Fifth Avenue. An interesting reminder of the original residential character of the area is Shinbone Alley, opening onto Bond Street next to the Robbins & Appleton Building and running behind the existing buildings through the center of the block. This alley originally provided access to the stables behind the houses on Bleecker and Bond Streets.