Sometime after the New York Sun moved into 280 Broadway between Reade and Chambers Street in 1919, it made its presence known by adding two things to the facade of this circa-1845 building: a fantastically gorgeous four-face clock and two-sided thermometer.

It makes sense for a storied publication in New York’s competitive newspaper world of the era to install these on the new headquarters’ Italianate facade.

Both the clock and the thermometer carried the Sun’s name, so it was good advertising on this busy corner north of City Hall Park. Also, as a newspaper, the Sun existed to inform—and that includes informing passersby about the time and temperature.
Long after the Sun closed up shop in 1952 and departed what became known as the Sun Building (though before that, it was A.T. Stewart’s first department store, his “Marble Palace”), the beautiful clock is still with us on the southwest corner.

The thermometer, on the northwest corner at Reade Street, was in its usual spot a few years ago. It was broken then, but that’s okay, I just hope it still exists.
[Third photo: New-York Historical Society]
Tags: 280 Broadway Marble Palace, 280 Broadway New York Sun, AT Stewart Marble Palace, New York Sun Building Broadway, New York Sun Street Clock, New York Sun Street Thermometer
November 16, 2020 at 12:21 pm |
Thank you for taking me there ! I love your posts ❤️
November 16, 2020 at 12:46 pm |
Glad you enjoy them! This was a fun one to research.
November 16, 2020 at 12:24 pm |
I believe the Sun folded in 1950, not 53.
November 16, 2020 at 12:53 pm |
It’s complicated. According to the Library of Congress, the Sun merged with the New York World Telegram in 1950. The article I linked to from the New York Times says the Sun folded in 1952.
November 16, 2020 at 1:13 pm
The Times is just wrong in that instance. It’s true that the combined New York World-Telegram and Sun continued for 16 more years, but the Sun was done in 1950.
November 16, 2020 at 1:21 pm
Yes, I guess they just kept the name in the combined newspaper to appeal to Sun readers.
November 20, 2020 at 7:05 am |
[…] around the city is to look for pieces of history that have outlived the people who built them. The New York Sun clock on Broadway between Reade and Chambers outlived two incarnations of the newspaper. Fun fact: I worked for The New York Sun during its last […]