Category:Triangle Shirtwaist Factory building

The Brown Building, at 23-29 Washington Place between Greene Street and Washington Square East in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was the site on March 25, 1911 of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 garment workers, mostly young women, died, due to there being no way for them to exit the building. In the wake of the fire, landmark legislation was passed to protect the health and safety of workers.

The Asch Building, as it was called, was built in 1900-01, designed by John Wooley in neo-Renaissance style. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the top three floors. The buildng's facade was relatively undamaged by the fire, and New York Univerity began renting parts of in 1916. In 1929, Frederick Brown, the owner at the time, donated the building to the university. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 and a NYC landmark in 2003. There is a memorial plaque on the building from the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, which was instrumental in getting the legislation passed, and historical plaques from the National Parks Service and the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation. (Source: Guide to NYC Landmarks (4th ed.))