Aldrich Court in World War I

I am often amused and amazed by the connections that crop up during my research.

In the book I'm currently reading about World War I - The Last of the Doughboys - I have just come across a reference to 45 Broadway in New York City.  That same address featured heavily in my post just last week as the location of the offices of Union Iron Works and Youngs & Cable.

Apparently, that same building was a center for German espionage and sabotage efforts during the war.  How did that come about?  In 1905, it was purchased by Germany's Hamburg-American steamship line and was renamed from Aldrich Court to the Hamburg-American Building.  It housed some German government offices, including those of Heinrich Albert who was suspected of organizing sabotage efforts on American soil.  The best known of those was the destruction of a munitions depot on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in July 1916 (a fascinating tale on its own).  The building was seized by the U.S. government in November 1917, seven months after the U.S. entered the war.


Sources:
Richard Rubin, The Last of the Doughboys, Mariner Books 2014.
The New York Times, 29 Oct 1905 and 9 Nov 1917.