N. Brody & Co. Skirts, 17 E. 16th St. (2007)

15-17 East 16th St. was a newly constructed building in 1909 when N. Brody & Co. Skirts moved in. The company had been located almost next door at 9-11 E. 16th St. from 1905 to 1909. N. Brody was Nathan Brody (1866-1933). He was born in Poland/Russia and immigrated to the U. S. in the early 1870s. His business can be traced from 1886 through 1932, and he is very possibly the Nathan Brody who was in the drygoods business with his father Samuel L. Brody at 24 Eldridge St. in 1886. (Nathan Brody himself had a son Samuel L. Brody: Samuel Lawrence Brody (1895-1952).) Samuel L. Brody pére can be traced back as far as 1875 when he is listed as a pedlar living at 21 Catharine St.

A partner with Nathan Brody was Louis Saxe (1873-1960s?). He worked with Broady from around 1908 until the early 1920s. Louis Saxe began life as Louis Isaacs and is found as such in the U. S. Census reports of 1900 and 1910. Saxe seems to have changed his name around 1916/17. He is listed as Isaacs in city directories through 1916. In 1917 the name changes to Saxe. Louis Saxe lived at 255 W. 90th St. from as early as 1916/17, and was listed in the Manhattan telephone directory at this address through 1965. In the telephone directory Saxe's first name was consistently spelled Lewis, but I did not find it in this form in any other source. He registered for the World War I draft in 1918 as "Louis Saxe, 43, born 1 Jan 1873, living at 255 W 90 NY NY NY." He was a manufacturer in business for himself at 12 W. 27th St., which was the address of N. Brody & Co. at this time.

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