Strackerjan’s Restaurant Intersection Maiden Lane & Liberty Street 1895

Looking west Liberty Street is to the left and Maiden Lane is to the right in this photo from 1895.

This photograph above is sharper than the one held in the collections of The Museum of the City of New York. The Museum’s was not airbrushed to eliminate the skyscraper in the background. Below is the Museum’s copy of the photo.

At the intersection of the two streets at 76 Maiden Lane is Strackerjan’s Restaurant owned by Uffo Strackerjan. Behind Strackerjan’s at 58 Maiden Lane is Theodore Ricksecker’s rooftop sign. Ricksecker was a manufacturer of perfumeries and wholesaler dealer of toilet articles.

Flatiron and Great American Life Insurance Building paperweights

In 1906 this valuable triangular plot of land was purchased by the German-American Life Insurance Company to erect its new skyscraper. The twenty story building was put up in 1908. Comparison was often made between The German-American Building and the revolutionary Flatiron Building at 23rd Street.

The German American Life was renamed The Great American Life Insurance Company during World War I due to anti-German sentiment. The sleek building was demolished in 1971 for the weakest of reasons: the widening of the street and the eventual creation of Legion Memorial Square, later Louise Nevelson Plaza.

Here is the same street today via Google maps.