Smith, Gray & Company Building ARCHITECT: attributed to William H. Gaynor DATE: 1870 STYLE: Cast-iron

The Smith, Gray & Co. Building is an early, significantly intact, 5-story and 25-foot-wide cast-iron-fronted store-and-loft building in Brooklyn. The firm was founded by tailor Edward Smith, who began his business in 1833. This structure, constructed in 1870, is attributed to William H. Gaylor, a prominent Brooklyn architect who designed three other cast-iron-fronted structures for Smith between 1873 and 1884.

This iron front was fabricated by George R. Jackson & Sons, and the builders were probably Thomas and William Lamb who, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, built all of Smith, Gray’s stores. Typical of cast iron designs in the Second Empire style, the building’s main facade features tiered upper stories with segmental-arched fenestration framed by Corinthian columns and pilasters.