{"nrhp_refnum":"78001885","name":"Stewart, A. T., Company Store","other_names":["Sun Building","Marble Palace"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"280 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.714245991500036,"lon":-74.00565764452608,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-02","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1978-06-02","areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story marble-fronted commercial building at 280 Broadway, Manhattan, begun in 1845 and completed in 1846 as A. T. Stewart's department store, later enlarged and converted to offices. It is also known as the Sun Building and the \"Marble Palace.\"","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the only surviving property prominently tied to Alexander T. Stewart, a pioneer of the department store, and calls it \"the cradle of the department store.\" It was also the first American commercial building with marble exterior walls and plate glass windows, and one of the earliest Romano-Tuscan Renaissance Revival structures in the country.","narrative":"Built in 1845-46 at 280 Broadway in lower Manhattan, this marble-faced building was merchant Alexander T. Stewart's first great store, nicknamed the \"Marble Palace.\" Architects John B. Snook and Joseph Trench designed the original section, with Stewart closely involved in specifying the Romano-Tuscan Renaissance Revival design, Tuckahoe marble walls and plate glass windows. It was the first American commercial building to use marble walls and plate glass, and the style and materials were widely copied. Stewart enlarged it in 1850-53 to Chambers Street and added a fifth floor. Henry Hilton bought it in 1884, added two stories and a rear extension, and converted it to offices. The New York Sun later owned it and its name and clock remain on the facade. The city bought it in 1966 and uses it for offices. The nomination presents it as the cradle of the department store, where Stewart developed the one-price system and departmentalized merchandising.","period_of_significance":"1845-1876","architect_builder":"John B. Snook & Joseph Trench; stonework by Ottavino Gori","architectural_style":"Romano-Tuscan Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and structurally sound; used by the City of New York for municipal offices. Exterior largely intact except for the street-level entrance doors, windows and columns.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.640033-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001885_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001885/e4c143827a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001885/e4c143827a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A.T._Stewart_Dry_Goods_Sun_Building_280_Broadway.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A.T._Stewart_Dry_Goods_Sun_Building_280_Broadway.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315856","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/280_Broadway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2127737"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/stewart-a-t-company-store-78001885/"}