A. A. Low Building 167-71 John Street Architect unknown 1850 Owned by the South Street Seaport Museum, this structure was built by traders who parked their China clipper ships across South Street. It was commissioned by the famous export firm of Abiel Abbot Low and Brother, illustrious merchants who amassed a fortune in trade between New York and China (A. A. Low was the father of Seth Low, whose career included serving as Mayor of Brooklyn, Mayor of New York City and President of Columbia University, among other things). This building, which was the firm’s home until well after the 19th century, is five stories high and eight bays wide. Many layers of stucco and paint were removed to uncover and restore the brownstone underneath. The cast-iron double storefront is notable because it was produced by Daniel D. Badger of the renowned Architectural Iron Works firm. As a whole, the building represents the success and importance of the company. The A. A. Low Building is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

Cellar doors at 165 John Street, ca. 1975. The five-story building at no. 165 dates to 1811. It was constructed for George Codwise Jr., and was one of a row of six countinghouses. The buildings original tenants were flour merchants. Likely built in a Federal style, the building underwent a reconstruction in 1835. That alteration gave it a Greek Revival facade to match its newly built neighbors, both the new building (at 181 Front Street) and the redo of 165 John were undertaken by a commission merchant firm. Once only four stories it had a fifth story added at some point in the late 19th century. It still remains shorter than its larger neighbor at no. 181, which had a sixth story added in 1917. It it unclear if the cellar door that remains extant dates to the building's earliest years or its reconstruction.

Bogardus Building 15-19 Fulton Street Designed by Beyer Blinder Belle 1983 This reinvented, four-story, white-gray building honors James Bogardus, who was instrumental in the introduction of cast-iron construction in the United States. The Laing Stores (1848-49), also known as the Bogardus Building, was initially located at the northwest corner of Washington and Murray Streets, an intersection that no longer exists due to urban renewal projects in the 1960s. In 1967, the area was surveyed by the LPC to determine potential landmarks before the demolition of blocks in what is now Tribeca. The LPC recommended that the façade of the Bogardus Building, the city’s oldest cast-iron structure, be dismantled and salvaged for use on a new building at Manhattan Borough Community College (which would occupy part of the urban renewal site). In 1971, the parts were catalogued and stored, but in 1974, some of them were famously stolen and sold to a Bronx junkyard. The LPC then moved the remaining parts to a secret location in a city-owned building, but when architects went to retrieve them in 1977, they had again been stolen. This shocking sequence of events is an often-told story in New York City architecture and preservation lore. Despite the lack of a connection to the South Street Seaport, an homage to the Bogardus Building was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle as part of the historic reinterpretation and revitalization of the Seaport in the 1980s. The new Bogardus Building reinterprets the original façade with its curved corner, ground-level canopy, columns and cornice, but the ensemble was executed with a modern twist: its outer walls are made of aluminum rather than cast iron. The Bogardus Building is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

Sol Libsohn was a New York-born early documentary photographer whose large body of work chronicles, amongst others, the American oil industry, the life of the Ringling Brothers' and Barnum and Bailey circuses, and New York's working class. In addition to his work under the WPA, Libsohn co-founded the New York Photo League with Sid Grossman. This story showcases Libsohn's work in New York City.

100 Gold Street, ca. 1921. When completed in 1920, the Hide and Leather building had the distinction of being the tallest concrete building in the world. Constructed by the Hide and Leather Realty Company, an association of merchants in that trade, the 17-story building was designed by the firm of Starrett & Van Vleck. The firm was best known for designing a series of department stores, including the flagship stores of Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Abraham & Straus, and Alexander's. A mix of offices, showrooms, and lofts the building was demolished in the mid 1960s as part of the Civic Center urban renewal project. It was replaced in 1969 with the nine-story Tishman Downtown Center Building. Though the new building could hardly be called a skyscraper, as its predecessor was when completed in 1920, it is none the less considerable in size, with each floor covering more than an acre and a half.

Railroad sheds at Pier 21 on the East River, March 30, 1937. Berenice Abbott's photo captures the pier shed of the Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio Railroads at Pier 21 with the Brooklyn Bridge immediately above and Manhattan Bridge in the background. The pier was removed in the late 1960s.

Titanic Memorial Lighthouse Titanic Memorial Park, Plaza bounded by Pearl, Beekman, and Water Streets Designed by Charles Evans Hughes III 1913 This 60-foot lighthouse located within Titanic Memorial Park was originally installed in 1913 atop the Seamen’s Church Institute, then located at the corner of South Street and Coenties Slip. The lighthouse overlooked the East River and signaled noon to ships in the harbor with the falling of a black ball. In 1968, upon the Institute’s demolition, it was taken down and stored on a pier by the South Street Seaport Museum, and was then reinstalled in its current location in 1976. The lighthouse serves as a tribute to the passengers, officers, and crew who perished when the Titanic sank in 1912. Today, it sits at the main entrance to the Seaport. The Titanic Memorial Lighthouse is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

Schermerhorn Row Bounded by Fulton, Front, John and South Streets Designed by William W. Berwick 1811 This row is named for Peter Schermerhorn, a prominent New York merchant and ship owner who commissioned the Georgian-Federal style buildings to serve as ware- and counting-houses. Originally, the façades were made of soft, hand-molded brick in Flemish bond, though parts of the row have been altered and expanded. While the show windows at ground level were added later, originally there were arched brownstone entries with side quoins. The upper stories feature Federal style double-hung windows with splayed stone lintels. Dormer windows on the Fulton Street side were later additions to the steeply pitched roofs, and chimneys and party walls were built tall in order to inhibit fire from spreading across rooftops. Schermerhorn Row was restored by Jan Hird Pokorny Associates in 1983 and again in 2001 by Beyer Blinder Belle, when its interior along Fulton Street was renovated extensively to internally link the buildings for the South Street Seaport Museum. Schermerhorn Row is has the great distinction of being a New York City Individual Landmark, listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places as well as being located in the South Street Seaport Historic District, and the State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport Historic District.

Located in lower Manhattan along the East River waterfront, the South Street Seaport provides a pivotal connection to New York City’s early days as a center of maritime industry. Indeed, the city’s settlement and growth were inextricably linked to its success, and this history remains embodied in the area’s low-scale, early 19th century commercial buildings, as well as its historic piers and streets, complete with historic Belgian blocks. The area around Peck Slip was for centuries a Native American trading destination; its proximity to Long Island and the presence of a cove made this a natural landing point for canoes, linking footpaths on either side of the East River. Settlers of New Amsterdam took advantage of this geography by establishing the colony’s first official ferry service in 1642, linking Brooklyn to what became Peck Slip. The marshy shoreline was once peppered with inlets that became docks and wharves for the shipping industry, and the ferry service allowed for the transportation of agricultural goods from Long Island, spurring the creation of one of the city’s first farmers’ markets. In 1647, the Englishman Isaac Allerton constructed a warehouse here, apparently to store Virginia tobacco being shipped to Europe. The banks of the cove were filled in and extended to ease loading and unloading from the ships’ sides. This marked the beginning of the landfilling process, which extended from Pearl Street to South Street, forming the foundation of the low-rise “Seaport” district. The locations of the slips are discernible today as extra wide streets right at the edge of Manhattan, like Peck Slip. Despite lagging behind Boston, Philadelphia and Charleston for much of the 18th century, by 1797, South Street Seaport was the nation’s leading port. Several factors contributed to its success, including the opening of a trade route between New York and Guangzhou, when the Empress of China embarked on its maiden voyage in 1784. Soon after the Revolutionary War, the British re-established trade with the United States, and determined New York to be the most ideal export location. These international voyages aided the city tremendously in becoming a global force in maritime commerce. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal opened shipping routes between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes, further cementing the city’s importance as a maritime trading center. The Seaport experienced a building boom at this time, and many of these structures still exist, providing today’s visitors with a clear reading of the area’s past as an early 19th century maritime neighborhood. Its range of buildings was largely designed in simplified forms of the Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate and Romanesque Revival styles. Only a minority of early stores and warehouses were the work of professional architects, but by the late 19th century, architects including Stephen D. Hatch, Richard Morris Hunt and George B. Post, had designed buildings here. The second half of the 20th century brought much change to the Seaport, with efforts at urban renewal and its transformation into a tourist-friendly “festival marketplace”. In 1972, the South Street Seaport Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (expanded in 1977). The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the South Street Seaport Historic District in 1977, followed in 1989 with the designation of the South Street Seaport Historic District Extension. The buildings in these historic districts date from a period of roughly 200 years, and serve to tell a rich and complex story about New York City’s roots.

Robert L. Bracklow Stationary Store, 1916. This stationary and printing shop, specializing in legal wares, was owned by Robert L. Bracklow, a photographer. He sold prints of his photographs entitled "Glimpses through the Camera."

Bridge Cafe 279 Water Street Architect unknown 1794 Adjacent to the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bridge Café is the district’s only extant wood-frame building. The building originally housed a grocery and a wine and porter bottler, and was initially only two-and-a-half stories high with a peaked roof. In 1888, the exterior was altered: its peaked roof was removed and the façade was covered with novelty Victorian-era siding. At present, the façade is painted brick red with black trim. The building has retained its commercial use for over 200 years. In fact, the Bridge Café was the oldest continuously running tavern in New York City until it closed in 2012 after Superstorm Sandy. Former Mayor Edward Koch was a regular customer in the 1970s. The owners are currently repairing the building and are hoping to re-open the Café in 2016. The Bridge Café is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

70 Pine Street ARCHITECT: Clinton & Russell; Holton & George DATE: 1930-32 STYLE: Skyscraper The Cities Service Building is a 66-story skyscraper that rises from a trapezoidal site bounded by Pine Street, Cedar Street, and Pearl Street. At the time of completion it was the tallest structure in lower Manhattan, and at 952 feet, the third tallest structure in the world. It was commissioned by a major American corporation and was an expression of the owner’s success. The Cities Service Company w quickly grew to become one of the largest corporations in the United States, controlling approximately 200 energy firms in thirty states, including numerous oil and power suppliers.

146 Beekman Street, date unknown. Constructed in 1885 as a smokehouse, the building at 146 Beekman has been tied to the NYC fishing industry, centered in this neighborhood, since its construction. By 1904, the building was also the headquarters of the New York Wholesale Fish Dealers Association. The painted signs on the facade that read "Fresh, Salt Smoked Fish" were in place by the 1930s, though likely were painted earlier. From 1914 to 1997 the building was home to the The Meyer and Thompson Smoked Fish Company. In 2004 a bar and cafe called Fresh Salt opened in the ground floor space and, despite damage endured during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, remains open, serving the neighborhood under its historic sign.

214 Front Street Architect unknown 1802 214 Front Street was built for merchant William Shotwell, and has been altered many times over the years.The cast-iron façade is ornamented with decorative, paneled square columns and a modillioned metal cornice. On the four upper stories, the smooth-pressed bricks were assembled in a stretcher bond pattern and several gudgeons from the 19th century shutters still remain at the windows. 214 Front Street is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

Downtown Skyport, August 12, 1936. The Downtown Skyport was a water landing airport on the East River between Piers 11 and 12. The municipal facility was largely used by wealthy businessmen who lived on Long Island and commuted to their jobs on Wall Street via private seaplanes. The facility also was used for docking private speedboats for the same Long Island to Manhattan commute. In 1937 there were 1,068 plane landings at this skyport. Other skyports, used for similar functions, were opened at 31st Street and the East River and at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn during the 1930s.

120 Wall Street embodies a more utilitarian approach to high- rise architecture than the Art Deco extravaganzas of the central financial district with its simple pyramid-like massing. The marble, limestone and white brick of 120 Wall Street is left unadorned, with the gold metallic grille directly above the main entrance as the one dramatic exception to this simple decorative program. This architectural restraint can in part be ascribed to 120 Wall Street’s location at the eastern fringe of the financial district. Wall Street east of Pearl Street was heavily populated with coffee, tea, and sugar importers, which were situated between the ships and docks to the east and the financiers to the west. 120 Wall Street’s original anchor tenant was the American Sugar Refining Company.

One of the most interesting structures in the State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport Historic Districts is the Romanesque Revival building that was erected in 1885 for Ellen S. Auchmuty, a Schermerhorn family descendent. It was designed by George B. Post, an architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition, who also designed the old New York Times Building (1889) at Printing House Square, Bronx Borough Hall (1897), and the New York Stock Exchange (1904).

Water Street, South from Fulton Street; January 15, 1928. The barber's pole is outside a storefront barbershop in the United States Arcade Building, a 1898 commercial building occupying a site on the south side of Fulton Street, between Water and Pearl Streets. In 1961, U.S. Arcade was sold and razed to developers Meyer Bros., who put up a parking lot. Later, the site would become part of the full-block footprint of 127 John Street (a.k.a. 200 Water Street), an International Style high-rise designed by Emery Roth & Sons and completed in 1971.

In 1711, New York's first slave market opened in downtown Manhattan. Introduced by the Dutch, Slavery had become an active part of New York's life. Brooklyn and Long Island numbered among the Northern regions with the largest captive populations. An estimated 40% of New York households contained an enslaved person. From farming to carpentry to blacksmithing, blacks worked a number of trades and were a vital source of labor. Situated next to the piers on the East River where the ships were moored, captives would be unloaded from the hellish conditions on the ships and sold. Previously, enslaved people had been sold informally, but a city 1711 ordinance established that they should be sold through this market. Though many of the people sold at the New York Slave Market were black, the market also sold Native Americans into slavery. In 1726, the market was renamed the Meal market due to the fact that grain, corn, and meal were also sold exclusively at the market. By the mid-18th Century, one in five New Yorkers was enslaved. Meanwhile, New York began to grow into the financial and trade center of the colonies. Blocks away from where men, women, and children were sold, their labor, bodies, and futures were financed and insured. The meal market itself would be closed in 1762, but that didn't mark the end of the slave trade throughout the city. Men, women, and children would continue to be sold. The abolition of slavery in New York in 1827 didn't even mark the end as non-resident Slave owners could maintain enslaved people until 1841. The city would continue to be interlinked with the South. Mayor Fernando would even suggest succeeding in 1861 in order to maintain the profitable cotton trade with the Confederacy.

122 William Street ca. 1913 This Dutch colonial building was made of brick imported from Holland and in 1913 was said to be one of the oldest homes still standing from the New Amsterdam settlement. Located near the site of the pre-Revolutionary War Battle of Golden Hill, the building housed the Golden Hill Tavern, which was a popular rendezvous for Revolutionary figures like George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette and Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War. The building was demolished in 1919.

Berenice Abbott's photo of the "Mary P. Mosquita", a trawling vessel, at Pier 17. November 26, 1935. In the background, the chimney of the New York Steam Corporation at 130 John Street is visible, as well as the tallest buildings of the Financial District (from left to right): Farmers Trust, 60 Wall Tower, Bank of Manhattan, 116 John Street, and 111 John Street.

The Enduring Issues Practice set is designed to help students analyze documents for Enduring Issues to help prepare them for the NYS Regents Exam. Use the attached handout to answer the questions following each document. At the end, determine what the one Enduring Issue is and create a topic sentence that is supported by evidence from at least 3 images. Enduring Issues Practice Set 1 Handout

174 South Street, 1934. No. 174, a four-story brick building which sat directly under the Brooklyn Bridge, was the home where Al Smith, four-time New York State Governor, was born in 1873.

Several buildings in the South Street Seaport District are considered to be some of the oldest standing structures in Manhattan. From taverns to warehouses, built by the most famous American architects of the 19th century, the buildings of the Seaport have big stories to tell. Take a walk with us and discover the origins of New York's greatness.

EXCELSIOR POWER COMPANY BUILDING, MANHATTAN Address: 33-43 Gold Street Constructed: 1888 Architect: William Milne Grinnell The Excelsior Power Company Building is the oldest power generating station in New York City. 11 power plants, whose energy helped grow New York into the city that it is, have been demolished throughout the five boroughs. The monumental Romanesque Revival style building, complete with rough-cut ashlar and rounded, springing arches, features Queen Anne terra cotta details, while the Art Nouveau letters that read “Excelsior Power Co. Bldg 1888 A.D.” add the final touch. The building, an architectural anomaly in the Financial District, has overcome functional obsolescence in its conversion to residences. Its successful adaptive reuse is a gift to Gold Street. The Excelsior Power Company Building at 33-43 Gold Street is a Romanesque Revival structure designed by the architect William G. Grinnell. The Excelsior Steam Power Company acquired this Gold Street property in 1887 from the Columbia Heating and Power Company. Two buildings from the 1840s were on the property and were altered to meet the needs of the Excelsior Company. The red brick facade is distinguished by ornamental terra cotta detail. Incorporated in the terra cotta design detail is the name of the building and the date--"A.D. 1888."

Strand Book Store, South Street Seaport, ca. 1991.

Fulton Fish Market, ca. 1935. The origins of the market that would become the well-known Fulton Fish Market date to 1807, when the market opened on land that was donated to the city. In 1822 a new market building was constructed and opened on South Street between Fulton and Beekman Streets, selling fish and other goods. In its first decades the market largely sold to individual retail shoppers. After 1850 the enterprise become a majority wholesale market. In 1924, 25% of all seafood sold in the United States passed through the Fulton Fish Market. The market occupied two open-air structures, including the 1907 Tin Building. In 1936 the original 19th century market building slid into the river after its pilings failed. Mayor LaGuardia advocated for and opened the "New Building" in 1939. Still the largest consortium of seafood wholesalers in the country, the Fulton Fish Market left its lower Manhattan home of 180 years in 2005 when it was relocated to the Bronx.

Paris Cafe certainly fits the bill of New York's oldest watering holes. The pub has proudly served beer since 1873, as is noted on the building's facade. The bar was founded by Henry Meyers, an alcohol merchant, who opened the pub to accompany his hotel upstairs. In its heyday, the Meyer Hotel hosted numerous celebrities, including a young Theodore Roosevelt, the cowboy Buffalo Bill, and outlaw Butch Cassidy, to name a few. However, once passenger ships diverted traffic by docking at the Chelsea Piers rather than the Seaport, the hotel briefly fell into obscurity. Shortly after, the mob took over the business and the Meyer Hotel saw a rotating cast of mafiosos use its quarters. In 1951, the building was purchased from the Meyer family estate by Silvio (Steve) Schiaffino. It was Schiaffino who christened the establishment with its new name. At first, he renamed the eatery "Paris Bar and Restaurant," after his prior business which he lost to the city. The name has since been simplified to Paris Cafe. Schiaffino made extensive updates to the kitchen and dining area of the Cafe. Despite renovations, the longshoreman's pub kept its original ornate polished wood bar that was shipped from Germany. Both the bar and the sparkling mirrors behind it have maintained their illustrious sheen for almost 150 years, even surviving a devastating flood brought on by Hurricane Sandy. Sadly in 2020, the fabled bar was forced to close its doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Did you ever wonder about how historic City records make their way to the Municipal Archives? Did you assume that all the documents, photographs, maps, ledgers, plans, etc. in the Archives had been dutifully maintained in their “creating” City offices, and then carefully transferred to their permanent home at 31 Chambers Street?

This historic masonry, cast iron, and timber-framed landmarked building, located at 167-171 John Street, was built in 1850 for the A.A. Low & Brothers, a famous export firm until well past the end of the 19th century. Founded by Abiel Abbot Low (1811-1893), the company was New York’s most successful firm in the China trade importing cinnamon, pepper, silks, porcelain, firecrackers, and tea. A.A. Low & Brothers occupied the building well into the 20th century, and as a whole, the building represents the success and importance of the original builder.

The Fish Market on South Street between Peck Slip and Beekman Street, November 26, 1935. By the time Berenice Abbott took this picture in 1936, the South Street fish market filled a six-block area and was the largest wholesale seafood market on the Atlantic Coast. At the southern end of the block (Nos. 116-119) is Meyer's Hotel, notorious for selling alcohol during Prohibition.

Titanic Memorial Lighthouse and stores on Fulton Street, ca. 1976. Originally installed on the top of the Seaman's Church Institute in 1913, the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse has stood on the corner of Water and Fulton Streets since 1976. The 60-foot-tall structure was installed at the insistence of Titanic survivor, socialite, and philanthropist Molly Brown. Originally the ball on the top of the structure dropped every day at noon as a remembrance of the victims. The ball drop stopped in 1967 and the Seaman's Institute moved locations in 1968. The lighthouse was donated to the South Street Seaport Museum and was installed near the entrance of the museum's complex of buildings.

"Backed by popular support, the City devised a plan to build a new market at the Fulton Ferry landing, on the block bounded by Fulton, Beekman, South, and Front Streets. This block had already been developed, and its lots and buildings were all privately owned; to take the property, the City would need permission from the State Legislature, which had the sole authority to grant the use of Eminent Domain. The Common Council submitted its request in January of 1816, and in March of that same year the Thirty-Ninth session of the Legislature passed a Law allowing the City the right to condemn and take the properties — with fair-market compensation to each owner — for the purpose 'of erecting thereon an extensive and commodious public market.' … It opened its doors as Fulton Market on January 22, 1822. It went on to become New York City’s premier destination market for several generations, then gradually transformed into the Fulton Fish Market — one of the largest and most renowned wholesale markets in the world, which remained at the Seaport until 2005 until its move to the Bronx. It continues generating business and employment for the city after 186 years of active trade." For more on Fulton Market, check out this article by Robert LaValva in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

Though now populated with shops and restaurants, the South Street Seaport used to be a bustling hub of commerce and enterprise. Come with us as we walk you through its historic past.

251 Water Street, door detail, ca. 1960. Constructed in 1888 for John N. Eitel, a clothing merchant, the Romanesque Revival and Italianate building is a striking structure. The main entrance facade (at 22 Peck Slip) opens up into three sweeping archways and the residential entrance on Water Street features a detailed terra cotta plaque above the door, as seen here. Suffering through the middle of the 20th century, along with the rest of the Seaport area, the building lost some ornamentation, including its cornice. A more recent renovation has restored the facade of the building, and the once seafood wholesale market now has a bar and restaurant on the ground floor.

Mac Lac Shellac, November 29, 1935. Mac Lac Shellac was an early 20th-century shellac manufacturer that during the 1920s and 1930s (as shellac was utilized on more products) grew through a number of mergers. They had their headquarters at 80 Cliff Street before moving to 127 Maiden Lane. The streets depicted here, Cliff Street from Ferry Street, no longer exist. They were demapped in the 1950s and 1960s for the Brooklyn Bridge-Southwest Urban Renewal. Today the former location of this section of Cliff Street is on the land occupied by the Southbridge Towers.

142-144 Beekman Street Designed by George B. Post 1885 This fine Romanesque Revival style building was designed by George B. Post for Schermerhorn descendant Ellen S. Auchmuty. Post, who trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition, also designed such notable works as the New York Stock Exchange, Bronx Borough Hall and the Fifth Avenue mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The Beekman Street façade is ornamented with sea motifs, a fitting theme given that its first occupants were businesses associated with the Fulton Fish Market. The four stories above the cast-iron ground floor are decorated with starfish tie rod washers, fish keystones and a cockle-shell roof cornice made of terra cotta. 142-144 Beekman Street is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

127 John Street, 1971. Designed by Emery Roth & Sons, 127 John Street fills the full block from Fulton to John Street and Pearl to Water Street. The architects employed the corporate modernist style they were well known for in this period. The building was rendered in a straightforward and somewhat simple International style. The building's developers, though, hired an innovative designer named Rudolph de Harak for the graphic components. In fabricating the building's address on the facade, de Harak used four-inch diameter, pin-mounted silver balls in the typeface Microgramma. Microgramma was created in 1952 by Aldo Novarese and Alessandro Butti and was popular for use in technical illustrations, packaging, and science fiction films. The oversized addresses no longer grace the facade of 127 John Street; the 32-story office building was converted to residential use (an NYU dorm) in the late 1990s and was renamed 200 Water Street. ⠀ One of de Harak's other major design features does still remain on the site, though. No. 127 was constructed hugging a pair of low-rise 19th century brick buildings that stood on the northeast corner of John and Water Streets. Here on the Water Street facade of the old corner building the designer constructed a massive digital clock, 48 feet long and 24 feet high. Using Helvetica Medium for the numerals, the clock illuminates the hour, minute, and second. Current reports suggest that the clock no longer keeps accurate time. ⠀

331 Pearl Street, ca. 1870. In 1854, Harper & Brothers, the preëminent publishing house of 19th century New York, retained architects James Bogardus, the pioneer of "fire proof" architectural cast iron, and John B. Corlies to design a new building for its offices and printing operation. Facing what was then Franklin Square, the Harper & Brothers building was located where the Manhattan approach to the Brooklyn Bridge lies today. "The Harper Establishment; or, How the Story Books Dre Made," an illustrated guide to the state-of-the-art building and the company's printing processes, was published in 1855 by — who else? — Harper's. Although the historic building was razed in 1925, its legacy lives on: the New York Public Library's DeWitt Wallace periodical reading room includes a 1982 mural by Richard Haas documenting landmarks in the city's publishing history, in which Bogardus's facade is featured.

"Rudy’s Lunch, Hungarian American Home Cooking,” the Prohibition-friendly guise of the tavern at the corner of Water and Dover Streets, 1932. Built in 1794 (though the historic district designation report lists 1801), 279 Water Street is the only surviving wood-frame house in Manhattan’s Seaport district. Originally home to a “grocery and wine and porter bottler,” the building’s 19th-century tenants included a variety of alcohol-serving establishments and a brothel, matching the area’s reputation for vice and depravity. The building’s Victorian details date to an 1888 renovation — 5 years after the adjacent Brooklyn Bridge opened — and many of its interior features date to the original construction. The Bridge Cafe opened in 1979 but has been shuttered since Hurricane Sandy, when it was inundated with nine feet of floodwater.

The New York City Unit of the WPA Federal Writers’ Project provided meaningful employment for more than 300 writers, journalists, editors and photographers during the Great Depression. Although the collection includes research materials and draft manuscripts for 64 books, only a handful were published, notably the New York City Guide, and New York Panorama. This week we are posting an article about the Fulton Fish Market from one of the unpublished manuscripts – Feeding the City. As is typical of many FWP manuscripts, the name of the author is not clear (it may have been “McLellan”), but it is dated: October 1940. The original format of this story can be found with other excellent blogs: here.

"Looking across South Street and down the narrow DePeyster Street. At the left, 70 South Street is the Marine, Firemen, Oilers and Watertenders Union headquarters and at 71-72 South Street (right) is a tobacco warehouse. 60 Wall Tower and the Bank of Manhattan Building rise in the distance, November 26, 1935."

251 Water Street Designed by Carl F. Eisenbach 1893 In 1788-89, Water Street was widened to its current size and paved with cobblestones, but Belgian blocks have since replaced them. John Eitel commissioned this tenement for eight families with stores on the ground floor. This building is an impressive example of the Romanesque Revival style, and features gracious terra-cotta ornament, especially above the entrance on Water Street. The building is separated into three tiers, demarcated between the second and third stories by a stylized foliate band course, and between the fourth and fifth by a geometric-patterned band course. The ground floor features a wooden entrance door in the style of a double-X brace barn door, as well as a set of double doors and wide fanlight enclosed within a large horseshoe arch. The fourth story round-arched windows feature terra-cotta keystones with faces peering down to the street below. The great variety of window treatments and decorative motifs enliven the façade and allow this former tenement building to shine. 251 Water Street is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

Schermerhorn Row is a collection of individually New York City Landmark buildings, located within the National Register-listed South Street Seaport Historic District, and home of the South Street Seaport Museum. It is one of the most significant examples of early 19th century commercial architecture in New York State.

82-78 Beaver Street, adjoining and east of the S. E. corner of Hanover Street. At the left is an excavation that extends to Pearl Street, tho the latter is not shown. July 6, 1903.

View from Pier 11, March 26, 1936. "View of the contrast of 19th century dockside buildings and 20th century skyscrapers taken from Pier 11 on the East River, between Old Slip and Wall Street. The four tallest buildings are (from left to right): The Farmers Trust Building, the Bank of Manhattan, 60 Wall Tower, and 120 Wall Street."

This trompe l'oeil conceals what author Glenn Palmer-Smith called a "twentieth-century utilitarian intrusion," a Con Edison substation. Artist Richard Haas was commissioned by both energy company and City Walls Inc. to paint this Landmarks Commission-approved mural depicting a revivalist Greek facade with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. The real bridge is, of course, blocked by the building.

Metal Exchange Building ca. 1910 Today we see only the stuccoed remains of this small masterpiece. Built as the Seventh Ward Bank, it later became the Metal Exchange, housing the Lion Brewery in its basement. This building with its delicate Corinthian pilasters is a fine late example of the Classic Revival in Manhattan, as it comes closer to Roman precedent than it does to Greek.

R. G. Hutchinson Stationer and Printer, 1897. Robert L. Bracklow worked as a clerk at this stationery store and printer in his early 20s. He soon took over ownership of the business and moved the store to 18 John Street. Bracklow was a member of the Camera Club of New York, known for his photography of New York in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Robert L. Bracklow Stationary Store, 1909. Pictured is Robert L. Bracklow's Stationary and Dutton's Restaurant. Robert L. Bracklow was a member of the Camera Club of New York. He sold prints of his photography at his store.

The Walter Franklin House (also known as the Samuel Osgood House), where President George Washington lived between April, 1789 and February 1790, making it the First Presidential residence. The building was demolished in 1856. Today, the Brooklyn Bridge approach rises over its site.

Tin Building Pier 17 at South Street between Fulton and Beekman Streets Berlin Construction Co., 1907; reconstruction: Wank Adams Slavin Associates 1995; reconstruction: SHoP Architects, 2016- The Tin Building site hosted the Fulton Fish Market from its inception in 1835, originally housed in a small wooden shed, which was rebuilt in 1848. In 1869, the Fulton Fishmongers Association constructed a more permanent building, though still made of wood. That structure was moved to Pier 18 in 1894 (since demolished), and the Tin Building was constructed on the site in 1907. Modeled after the 1869 building, the neo-Classical design of the structure consists of a corrugated metal façade with decorative two-story sheet metal pilasters. The building was largely destroyed by fire in 1995, but was reconstructed by Wank Adams Slavin Associates. In 2005, the Fulton Fish Market, which occupied both the Tin Building and the New Market Building, moved to Hunts Point in The Bronx, where it continues to operate today. In 2016, the Tin Building will be rehabilitated into a seafood-themed market. HHC plans to relocate and reconstruct the building about 18 feet southeast of its current location as part of its Pier 17 revitalization. SHoP Architects plans to restore historic features that disappeared in the 1995 fire and repair damage sustained during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The Tin Building is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

85 and 99 John Street, June 9, 1938. "Looking through the wrought iron railing on the roof of 60 Wall Tower (at 70 Pine Street). The buildings seen at center with the significant setbacks are 85 and 99 John Street at Gold Street. Generally from left to right: City Hall Park, the back of the Municipal Building (very top center), and the approach ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Third Avenue El is visible on the lower right."

"Manhattan’s major waterfront area in the late nineteenth century was located in the Fourth Ward, a district that formed an apron around the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1885, the Fourth Ward contained 30 acres of tenements that housed around 17,000 people. The area had been awash with cheap groceries, rat pits, and stale beer dives for years, and due to the growing population of transient sailors, prostitute traffic thickened exponentially; at this time in New York history, the Fourth Ward was, as historian Timothy Gilfoyle describes it, 'the most significant and the poorest waterfront zone of prostitution.' But the waterfront was also the centerpiece of an international trade city, signifying plurality and opacity. Significantly, the district appealed to no one ethnicity, class, race, or gender. Ethnically cohesive neighborhoods, or 'ghettoes,' would only emerge when jobs and industries became associated with specific ethnic groups–garments for the Jewish, cigars for the Bohemians, etc. But through the 1870s and ’80s, the East Side waterfront region of New York, though perhaps mainly Irish, was still composed of workers and unemployed groups that largely allied themselves with trade and the lifestyle of the wharves rather than with any particular language, religion, or national origin." For more on the Fourth Ward Waterfront, check out this article by Robert M. Dowling in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

Cities Services, a petroleum company, erected this tower to house its corporate headquarters as well as rental floors. The company’s founder and chairman, Henry L. Doherty, an eccentric engineer and inventor supervised the design of the tower and intended to live in the penthouse, although poor health prevented him from ever doing so. The skyscraper was originally known as 60 Wall Street, a more prestigious address that was justified by the tower’s connection by a footbridge to a building with that address, now demolished. The 63 story tower rises as a slender shaft that is articulated with a series of shallow receding planes and at the top steps back to crest in a glass observatory which is illuminated at night. The brick cladding lightens from a browny-beige to a creamy-tan as the tower ascends. The base of the building is clad in a luxurious polished pink and black Minnesota granite.

207-211 Water Street Architect- uncertain but probably David Louderback 1835-36 The three warehouses at 207-211 Water Street were likely built by David Louderback, a mason who owned one of them. Excellent examples of the Greek Revival style, they feature monolithic granite piers with Tuscan capitals, brick bearing walls and Flemish bond brickwork in a distinguished, warm orange color. The façades are unified by granite lintels above the six-over-six windows and the granite cornice that spans all three rooftops. The South Street Seaport Museum owns the buildings, which they adaptively reused: No. 207 is the Museum Visitor’s Center; No. 209 is the Museum Books and Charts Store; and No. 211 is Bowne & Co. Stationers, a 19th-century print shop where old printing techniques and equipment are still in use. 207-211 Water Street is is located in the New York City and State and National Register of Historic Places South Street Seaport historic districts.

South Street between Peck Slip and Dover Street, April 1, 1937. No. 45 Peck Slip is the last building on the left of the row. Towers in the background are (left to right): Farmer's Trust, 60 Wall Tower, Bank of Manhattan, and 116 John Street. The large chimney is the New York Steam Corporation at 130 John Street.