Forward Building

173-175 East Broadway, George A. Boehm, 1912

Located on a stretch of East Broadway once known as “Yiddish newspaper row”, this was the headquarters for Vorwärtz, or the Jewish Daily Forward, the most widely read Yiddish newspaper in the United States. First published in 1897, it was immensely influential on the Jewish community for its support of socialist causes and for its articles offering advice on everyday struggles, making the most of America’s opportunities and encouraging children’s education. The terra cotta-clad building features medallions with faces of socialist heroes Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Karl Liebknecht and Ferdinand Lassalle above the entry, Vorwärtz in Yiddish at the building’s crown, and a clock at the parapet. The paper moved uptown in 1974 and the building was converted to condominiums in the 1990’s. The Forward Building is a New York City Individual Landmark.

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