The sidewalk shed at 280 Broadway between Chambers and Reade — the Sun Building — is coming down after 11 YEARS. You’d think this would be a city record among the 300 miles of sheds around town, but it turns out uptown has it worse: Crain’s reports there’s one in Harlem that has been up since 1990.

Tom Miller has one of his excellent posts on the building’s history dating back to 1823, which I will get to adding to the site soon. And Untapped Cities describes it this way: “This “marble palace” was once one of the most celebrated buildings in New York and is viewed by architectural historians as one of the most influential of the 19th century. It is credited as the first department store in the country, built by retailer Alexander Turney Stewart after his dry goods business, A.T. Stewart & Co., outgrew a smaller space on Broadway.”