Pioneer Building (New Rochelle, New York)
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Pioneer Building | |
 The building as seen from across Lawton Street | |
   | |
| Location | 14 Lawton Street, New Rochelle, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°54′36″N 73°46′56″W / 40.91000°N 73.78222°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1892 |
| Architect | John New & Son |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 83004217[1] |
| NYSRHP No. | 11942.000656 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 29, 1983 |
| Designated NYSRHP | November 23, 1983 |
The Pioneer Building is a late nineteenth-century commercial/office structure located on Lawton Street in the Downtown business district of the City of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York. The building is a good example of Neo-Italian Renaissance commercial style and represents an important aspect in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century history of New Rochelle. John New & Son, the New Rochelle builder responsible for its construction, is credited with its design.[2]
The Pioneer Building is considered significant, partly because other historic buildings that once surrounded it have been demolished and replaced by newer construction.[2] It was added to the Westchester County Inventory of Historic Places on January 5, 1988, to the New York State Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1983, and to the National Register of Historic Places on December 29, 1983.[3][4]
In 1892 Henry Sweet, editor and publisher of the New Rochelle Pioneer, felt that the newspaper' deserved a home of its own. The Pioneer had been founded in 1860 by an exiled Irish writer named William Dyott. Originally one of several of New Rochelle's weeklies, it had grown and prospered enough by 1885 to become the community's first daily. It had always been published in rented offices, however, and sweet decided to erect a new building on Lawton Street to serve as its headquarters.[5] The paper was published in the building until 1920 when it was forced to close due to increasing competition. From that point onward, the building held a variety of tenants but generally declined. Lawton Street, between Huguenot and Main Streets, was a fully occupied block of commercial buildings through much of the 20th Century. In the 1970s, much of the block was leveled to make way for the New Rochelle Public Library. The Pioneer building remained, but in isolation, no longer related to its former setting. In the late 1970s, the building was vacant and was considered a candidate for demolition.[2] Sylvia Schur acquired the building from the city of New Rochelle to house her business, Creative Food Services, and undertook an extensive restoration project that was completed in 1981.[6]
