City Lens: The Cable Building

Being positively enthralled with NYC history for more than a decade, I have come to learn about so many interesting places lost to development, lost to technological advancement, lost to time. 

The Cable Building © Chelsea Pathiakis, 2023

The Cable Building, an imposing nine-story, beaux-arts style construction at 611 Broadway, comes to mind. Built in 1892 and still standing, its original use has been lost to all three factors. The Cable Building was the power station of the Metropolitan Traction Company, one of the city’s cable car companies that moved cars on Broadway from Bowling Green to 36th Street. The cables, housed in the basement of the building, were carried on four 32-foot wheels that pulled the cables which pulled the streetcars. The power station was in use until 1901, after the steel cables, rife with mechanical issues, were replaced with electric cables. Later that year, the Broadway line ceased operation. 

The building was sold in 1925 and was then occupied by offices and small manufacturing. Keith Haring had a studio in the building from 1982 to 1985. (According to Andy Warhol, Haring’s rent was $1,000 in 1983 and the large space did not have a bathroom.) In 1989, the Angelika Film Center moved into the west side of the building, at the corner of West Houston and Mercer Streets, and converted the basement space where the cable wheels were previously housed into its six-screen theater. The building is in the NoHo Historic District, designated as such by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1999. 

Keith Haring in his studio at 611 Broadway by Andy Warhol, 1983

There is something so gratifying in learning the history of spaces like this one. I was first drawn to the Cable Building because of its architecture; then learned of its connection to a lost form of public transportation, a constant interest of mine. Finding out Keith Haring kept a studio in the space was the cherry on top. Eleven years here, and there is so much still to discover.