Daily Times Building at 113 Nassau Street

Illustration published in 1870 in the Henry J. Raymond and the New York Press... by Augustus Maverick. Engraved by Richardson N.Y., based on a George G. Rockwood (1832-1911) photograph.

No sign of the New-York Daily Times on the building, meaning that the illustration was drawn after the newspaper left, possibly about 1870, for the publication in the book. The Leggat Brothers Old & New Books is on the ground floor. It was founded in 1855 and opened their store at 113 Nassau Street in the 1860s. In the 1870s they moved to 3 Beekman Street and, in 1881, to a store on 81 Chambers Street, then considered to be one of the largest book-selling houses in the country.

In the early 19th century, other newspapers with the name "New York Times" were published for a short time and did not prosper. The (renowned) New York Times began in 1851, as the New-York Daily Times, by journalist Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820-1869), George Jones (1811-1891), a banker in Albany, Edward B. Wesley (1811-1906), an Albany businessman, and five other small investors. They founded the Raymond, Jones & Co. to publish the newspaper.

The prospectus of the publication of the New York Daily Times, signed on August 30, 1851, was advertised in all the leading journals of New York. It included the statement: "The subscribers intend to make the Times at once the best and the cheapest daily family newspaper in the United States. They have abundant means at their command, and are disposed to use them for the attainment of that end".

The first issue of the New-York Daily Times was published on September 18 of that year, in the basement of 113 Nassau Street. The Raymond, Jones & Co. (Raymond was editor) also published the New-York Evening Times (from 1851 to 1857) and the New-York Weekly Times in the same year. The Daily Times was the morning edition, the Evening Times was the evening edition, both published daily, except Sundays. The Weekly Times was a very large newspaper for the country, published every Saturday morning.

The Raymond, Jones & Co. took over this 6-story building at 113 Nassau Street (illustration above) for their first headquarters, when it was still under construction. It was located between Ann and Beekman streets, behind the old Park Theater (built in 1797), adjoining the American Bible Society and near the Mercantile Library Society. One of Hoe's steam cylinder presses was set up in the basement of the building. For a few weeks, however, the publication office of the newspaper was temporarily open in a small shop on the opposite side, at 118 Nassau Street (see a map).

The office building was still unfinished when the first edition of the Daily Times was being prepared. They worked by candlelight on the night of September 17 and the windows had no glass yet. A notice in the first issue explained the poor quality of the printing: "The Press is one of the finest ever built, but as it is perfectly new ... its work is not as good as it will be after a while".

The company expanded its multiple formats. The Campaign Times, a weekly publication edited by Henry J. Raymond during presidential canvass, began to be published on June 19, 1852. The Times for California began to be published on October 11, the same year. This was an eight-page newspaper made up expressly for circulation in California, Oregon and Sandwich Islands, containing only news of interest of readers in those parts of the United States.

In April 1853, the name of the company changed to Raymond, Harper & Co. On May 2, 1854, the newspaper began to be published at 138 Nassau Street. In February 1856, the company's name changed to Raymond, Wesley & Co. On September 14, 1857, the newspaper was renamed The New-York Times. The first New York Times Building owned by the newspaper was completed in 1858, at 41 Park Row.

The six-story building at 113 Nassau Street became a McDonald’s in the 1970s and the property was offered for sale in 2004. The building was demolished in 2007. Now, the site is occupied by The Lara, a 30-story luxury apartment building, erected in 2012.

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