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NoHo Historic District 25th Anniversary Tour, Part II
The NoHo Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on June 29, 1999, with the NoHo East Historic District designated in 2003 and expansions to the original district boundaries approved in 2008. This virtual walking tour features 25 buildings within the approximately 130-building original NoHo Historic District, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The highlighted buildings represent the range of construction periods and array of building types, styles, and uses that occur throughout the district. We encourage you to explore this fascinating stretch of Manhattan virtually, or to use this tour as a jumping-off point as you take your own walk through the historic district!
The three-part tour is organized by phases of development, based upon the same categories found within the LPC NoHo Designation Report. Part II includes buildings constructed in the 1870s and 1880s:
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Cast-Iron-Fronted Buildings in NoHo (Cont'd.) a) 7-9 Bond Street b) 622-624 and 626 Broadway (aka 156-158 Crosby Street)
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Post-Civil War Expansion c) 10-20 Astor Place (aka 444 Lafayette Street) d) 668-674 Broadway, the Brooks Brothers Store
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Commercial Development in the 1880s e) 393-399 Lafayette Street (aka 21-23 East 4th Street), De Vinne Press Building f) 628-630 Broadway (aka 160-164 Crosby Street), The New York Mercantile Exchange g) 644-646 Broadway (aka 71-73 Bleecker Street) h) 9 Great Jones Street i) 687-691 Broadway (aka 250-254 Mercer Street)
-- To return to Part I of the tour, click here. To progress to Part III of the tour, click here.
7 BOND STREET
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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7 BOND STREET
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
Nos. 7-9 Bond Street are prime examples of New York City's cast iron architecture. While 7 Bond Street was designed by Stephen Decatur Hatch for Robbins & Appleton American Waltham Watch Company in 1871, and 9 Bond Street was designed by Griffith Thomas for the attorney W.J.A. Fuller from 1872-73, the two buildings have many similarities. Both six-story structures feature Second Empire-style cast iron facades with mansard roofs, including dormers and oculi.
By 1921, the buildings came under the same ownership, and were combined at the interior. The expanded structure served as a factory until around 1980, when it was converted into condominiums.
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622 Broadway
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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622 Broadway
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
Built in 1880-82 for Jacob Rothschild, this cast iron, double store and lofts building was designed by architect Henry Fernbach in two phases. It replaced the popular Keene's Variety Theater, in part, which had opened in 1856 and burned down in 1881, and had occupied a portion of the lot.
The building was occupied by a variety of small manufacturers well into the twentieth century. In 1971, it was also severely damaged by fire, and was thereafter rehabilitated for use as an office building at its upper floors. The capping cornices of the south portion of both the Broadway and Crosby Street sides (Nos. 622-624) may have been modified at that time, while other sections of the bracketed cornice appear to be original.
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14 Astor Place
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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14 Astor Place
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
10-20 Astor Place was built in 1875-76 for prominent New York Democratic politician Orlando B. Potter, who had a number of other real estate holdings both within and outside the historic district. Potter achieved recognition for his national banking system that was adopted by Congress in 1863; in 1886, he founded the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company, which supplied materials for numerous buildings throughout New York City.
This Neo-Grec loft building was designed by Griffith Thomas, originally as a factory and printing office. Manufacturing lofts above the first
floor were in use until at least 1965. The upper floors have since been converted to office space, with a commercial ground floor.
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670 Broadway
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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670 Broadway
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
This Romanesque style store building was designed by architect George E. Harney (his first work of many in New York City) and constructed by John J. Tucker in 1873-74 for Adele L.S. Stevens, at a time when this section of Broadway was becoming increasingly commercial in character. Three subdivided bays are separated by wide brick piers with elaborate iron tie plates and intricate cast iron columns at the storefront level, capped by a decorative stone cornice. The distinctive ironwork at the base of the building is attributed to Michael Grosz and Son.
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670 Broadway
Brooks Brothers, gentlemen's clothiers, occupied the grand store building upon its completion, from 1874 to 1884, as illustrated in this sketch of the store when it first opened at this location. Henry Sands Brooks had opened his first store in 1818 on the Lower East Side, when that neighborhood was the center of the wholesale clothing trade. Later, 668-670 Broadway was occupied for many years by another men's clothing manufacturer, Hornthal & Whitehead & Weissman Co. The building has housed smaller manufacturers above the first floor ever since.
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De Vinne Press Building
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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De Vinne Press Building
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
393-399 Lafayette Street, the De Vinne Press Building, was designed by architecture firm Babb, Cook & Willard and built in 1885-88, with an addition in 1890-91. Its Romanesque Revival red brick facade features triple-height round-arched windows at the primary Lafayette Street facade, and iron, terracotta, and limestone details throughout. It was one of New York City's earliest individual landmark designations in 1966.
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De Vinne Press Building
The noted printer and expert typographer Theodore De Vinne commissioned the building for his printing company. De Vinne was among nine men who founded the Grolier Club, an organization devoted to the history of printing. His press also printed several leading magazines, including the St. Nicholas Magazine, Scribner's Monthly, and The Century.
The building remained as a printing house until 1968. As of 2024, its primary retail tenant was Astor Wines, with office space at the upper floors.
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628 BROADWAY
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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628 BROADWAY
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
This six-story office building was designed by H. J. Schwarzmann & Co. and built between 1882-83 for Henry Newman, owner of Henry Newman & Co., an importer of tailors' trimmings and clothiers' supplies. Not long after construction was completed, Newman faced financial struggles and had to liquidate his business.
The building, an example of late cast iron construction in the historic district, showcases unusual oriental ornamentation on a commercial façade, with embellishments including bamboo reeds, palm trees, and lilies. The upper piers of the Broadway facade feature floral and foliated motifs, while the top-story fenestration is capped by filigree arches. Spandrels above the second and fourth stories display the name "The New York Mercantile Exchange."
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644 BROADWAY
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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644 BROADWAY
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
This Queen Anne/Romanesque Revival style building was designed by architect Steven D. Hatch and built in 1889-1891 for the Manhattan Savings Institution (later the Manhattan Savings Bank). Click here to read the tale of a bank heist that occurred in the previous building on this site, which was long connected to banking history.
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644 BROADWAY
Manhattan Savings Institution building upon completion of construction c. 1891, courtesy Village Preservation's Historic Image Archive
The building's Broadway and Bleecker Street facades feature three and five bays, respectively, all with a two-story rusticated stone base with arches and a primary Broadway entryway featuring a distinctive wrought iron grille. The central pediment on the Broadway side still displays the initials of the Manhattan Savings Institution ("MSI"). A chamfered comer is topped by a round turret with a conical roof.
The upper floors continued to house various manufacturers until the 1970s, when the building was converted to loft dwelling. The ground floor retains commercial use.
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9 GREAT JONES STREET
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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9 GREAT JONES STREET
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
This Romanesque Revival style building was designed by architect Stephen D. Hatch in 1889-90, for the Roosevelt Hospital, which was founded two decades prior. The hospital took on ownership of this and several other properties for investment purposes.
The building served as a factory in the first half of the 20th century, and by 1966 was being utilized as artists' studios. In 1993-97, the building was converted to apartments. Note how the adjacent lot to the left of the building contained a one-story "tax payer" building in the designation photograph, which has since been replaced with a Landmarks Preservation Commission-approved new building.
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4 West 4th Street
Photograph by Village Preservation, June 2024
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4 West 4th Street
LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999
Though attributed on the map to part of the combined, full-block modern-day lot that contains 4 West 4th Street, this building's address is actually 687-691 Broadway (aka 250-254 Mercer Street). It was built in two phases, in 1885 and 1888, for owner Albert Tower of Poughkeepsie, New York. Designed by J.A. Wood in the Neo-Grec style, the Broadway facade features brick fronted with slender cast iron Ionic columns and wider piers, and a galvanized iron roof cornice with curved brackets, dentils, and paneled friezes.
By 1910 the building was occupied by various manufacturers, primarily purveyors of hats and other clothing. The facade was somewhat simplified between 1910 and 1937, including the removal of some cast iron details and the original elaborate roof balustrade, which had included a decorative sunburst design. By the 1970s, the occupants were more industrial, including makers of screws, fireplace equipment, and belt buckles.
Click here to proceed to Part III of the NoHo Historic District 25th Anniversary Tour
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