Prime House

Nathaniel I. Prime, a prominent New York City banker, purchased this property in 1807. According to the New-York Historical Society, "this was one of a cluster of early nineteenth-century country homes of wealthy New Yorkers situated on the Manhattan Island shore of the East River in the vicinity of Hell Gate" ("Nathaniel Prime Mansion, Hell Gate near Yorkville, New York," New-York Historical Society). In 1859, the building was converted and used by the St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum for destitute children of German parentage.