G. sent this pic: 10 Harrison, a beauty right in the heart of the Tribeca West Historic District, is for sale for $25 million. Since the building never made it’s way onto The History of Tribeca Buildings list, thought it was worth noting here.

The building is currently commercial — it was once owned by the late Tribecan and noted architect Thierry Despont, who sold it in 2019 for $20 million. (He died in August 2023, and left a mark on the neighborhood through several distinct restorations.) If I am reading the city records correctly, he bought it in 1998 with a mortgage of $1.2 million. He must have bought it from the Continental Cheese Company — a vestige of the Tribeca butter and egg district — had sold it in 1990.

It was built in 1889 as a store and loft, brick with cast-iron supports, six stories. The architect, Thomas R. Jackson, duplicated 12 Harrison, which he had designed in 1885 for the same client — W.H.B. Totten, a developer and produce merchant who was active in the Mercantile Exchange just down the street at 6 Harrison.

From the designation report in 1991:

The three-bay wide painted brick facade has a one-story base which retains its original cast-iron piers framing full-height cast-iron shutters with decorative moldings. Historic cast-iron transom grilles remain on one and part of another bay. Above the base the neo-Grec style is articulated by the staccato rhythm of the contrasting stone lintels and imposts and the continuous sills and by the crowning brick corbel table.

The windows retain historic two-over-two, double-hung wood sash. At the ground level a continuous stepped vault fronts the building and granite vault covers extend to the curb.

Totten sold the building in 1892 to Shepard Rowland, who was a butter merchant. In 1915 it was purchased by D.W. Whitmore & Co., butter and cheese distributors, who held the building until 1938. The building continued in use by butter, cheese and egg distributors. In 1964, it was acquired by the Columbia Cheese Corporation.

City records show that a different cheese company — Continental — sold it in 1990.

The real estate agents said the building could be “a club, a restaurant or a high-end retail store.” and of course it could also be converted. There is 15,000 square feet above grade and 2600 in the cellar, with full-floor layouts.