The Schepp Building at 165 Duane Street was completed in 1881 for the businessman Leopold Schepp who needed a large manufacturing building for his spice business. His main commodity was coconut, which was processed and packaged here (millions passed through the building each year 🥥).

Schepp was an interesting character who according to the NY Times in the later 1880s had "a temper that would make the North Pole melt." In the 1920s, he began giving away his large fortune: gifts up to $5,000 to his employees and the establishment of a foundation to assist boys who pledged "to abstain from bad habits." By the time of his death in 1926, he had given away more than $7 million. The Leopold Schepp Foundation continues to award educational scholarships to this day.

The building lost its mansard tower between 1915 and 1928, according to a 1991 Christopher Gray Streetscapes article. The building has been co-ops since 1980 and is part of the TriBeCa Historic District.