13th Regiment Armory, 1927.

The 13th Regiment dates to 1847 and during its first fifty years served in national and international war efforts, and had a presence at smaller, more localized clashes such as the 1863 Draft Riots and the the railroad strike of 1877. In 1880 the Seventh Regiment completed their grandiose armory on the Upper East Side (today' Park Avenue Armory). Unsurprisingly, the 13th began to plan for their own epic edifice. Following petitions for funds by other volunteer regiments (who did not want to be showed up by the "Silk Stocking Regiment" of city elites on Park Avenue) the 13th was granted a $300,000 appropriation for a new building.

The resulting structure, medieval in milieu, was designed by a young, largely inexperienced architect named Rudolph L. Daus. At a cost more than double the original outlay, the massive structure was highlighted as an example of improper political power holding sway in the construction of new military facilities. Nonetheless the building opened in 1894 and was epic in scale and design. The two towers rose 200 feet over the street and the drill hall could hold more than 1200 parading soldiers (though a need for more space saw the doubling of the drill hall in 1906).

The 13th Regiment became the 245th Coast Artillery in 1920 as the National Guard underwent substantial changes to importance and functions. Taken out of military use by 1971, the building came under the control in city a few years later. The city leased the headhouse to a school while the drill hall was used as vehicle storage. Later as the homeless crisis escalated, the city converted this space (as well as all, or part of, at least 10 other armories) into emergency homeless shelters.