Built during a period of great enthusiasm for expanding the city, the entirety of Schermerhorn Row took only two years to complete. The man behind the largest commercial building project in New York at the time was Peter John Schermerhorn (1749-1826). He was a captain, merchant, investor, and real-estate developer eager to take advantage of the trade boom on South Street at the time.

Schermerhorn Row (visible here on the right, in front of the Fulton Fish Market building) quickly filled with tenant merchants. With so many traders working in close proximity, the Row’s convenient location near the piers, and its cutting-edge design for the rapid processing of cargo, Schermerhorn Row quickly became the commercial heart of South Street. It was New York’s first world trade center.

Starting in the 1850s Schermerhorn Row’s appearance, both inside and out, began to reflect the shift in usage from trade to lodgers. The buildings were converted into a series of hotels, and today the remains of some of these old rooms and walls are cherished by Seaport Museum and its visitors. These remains are a testimony of the changing fortunes of the building, and the rapid evolution of the seaport during the 19th and 20th centuries. If you are interested in learning more about their history and care, read our blog about the up-keep of our old hotels.

Towards the end of the 19th century, South Street became a victim of its own success. The continued increase in the volume of shipping traffic and size of steamships was too much for the old seaport to handle alone. The Hudson River waterfront became the new maritime trading hub of the city, and the East River commuter ferries struggled to compete with the Brooklyn Bridge after it opened in 1883. With reduced commercial activity (excepting the famous wholesale Fulton Fish Market) and travelers in the area, Schermerhorn Row entered a period of decline.

Many fish distributors and processors gained occupancy in the Row in the second quarter of the 20th century, exercising major impacts on building interiors, as well as the character of Fulton Street. Remaining floor-framing systems and other ground floor architectural fabric from previous shops or restaurants were removed to make space for cement floors and refrigerators. Second floors were often converted into offices, and the upper floors were generally abandoned.

In the 1960s the Schermerhorn Row Block reached a critical point when the area was nearly leveled for new developments, but saved by the grassroots preservationists who would become our Museum’s founders. The buildings that composed the Row of counting houses were individually landmarked in 1976, and in 1977 the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation commissioned Jan Hird Pokorny Associates (JHPA) to provide a master plan and design documents for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the block.

Between 1977 and 1984 JHPA implemented the stabilization of the buildings, researched the reconstruction of missing historic elements, and installed extensive mechanical systems. The project received the prestigious Bard Award for excellence in design from the Municipal Arts Society. In the late 1990s-2003 Beyer Blinder and Belle were commissioned to redo the Museum’s spaces and galleries, resulting in its current layout.