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NoHo Historic District 25th Anniversary Tour, Part II

The NoHo Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on June 29, 1999, with the NoHo East Historic District designated in 2003 and expansions to the original district boundaries approved in 2008. This virtual walking tour features 25 buildings within the approximately 130-building original NoHo Historic District, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The highlighted buildings represent the range of construction periods and array of building types, styles, and uses that occur throughout the district. We encourage you to explore this fascinating stretch of Manhattan virtually, or to use this tour as a jumping-off point as you take your own walk through the historic district!

The three-part tour is organized by phases of development, based upon the same categories found within the LPC NoHo Designation Report. Part II includes buildings constructed in the 1870s and 1880s:

  1. Cast-Iron-Fronted Buildings in NoHo (Cont'd.) a) 7-9 Bond Street b) 622-624 and 626 Broadway (aka 156-158 Crosby Street)

  2. Post-Civil War Expansion c) 10-20 Astor Place (aka 444 Lafayette Street) d) 668-674 Broadway, the Brooks Brothers Store

  3. Commercial Development in the 1880s e) 393-399 Lafayette Street (aka 21-23 East 4th Street), De Vinne Press Building f) 628-630 Broadway (aka 160-164 Crosby Street), The New York Mercantile Exchange g) 644-646 Broadway (aka 71-73 Bleecker Street) h) 9 Great Jones Street i) 687-691 Broadway (aka 250-254 Mercer Street)

-- To return to Part I of the tour, click here. To progress to Part III of the tour, click here.

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628 BROADWAY icon

628 BROADWAY

LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999 This six-story office building was designed by H. J. Schwarzmann & Co. and built between 1882-83 for Henry Newman, owner of Henry Newman & Co., an importer of tailors' trimmings and clothiers' supplies. Not long after construction was completed, Newman faced financial struggles and had to liquidate his business. The building, an example of late cast iron construction in the historic district, showcases unusual oriental ornamentation on a commercial façade, with embellishments including bamboo reeds, palm trees, and lilies. The upper piers of the Broadway facade feature floral and foliated motifs, while the top-story fenestration is capped by filigree arches. Spandrels above the second and fourth stories display the name "The New York Mercantile Exchange."
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4 West 4th Street icon

4 West 4th Street

LPC Designation Photograph, June 1999 Though attributed on the map to part of the combined, full-block modern-day lot that contains 4 West 4th Street, this building's address is actually 687-691 Broadway (aka 250-254 Mercer Street). It was built in two phases, in 1885 and 1888, for owner Albert Tower of Poughkeepsie, New York. Designed by J.A. Wood in the Neo-Grec style, the Broadway facade features brick fronted with slender cast iron Ionic columns and wider piers, and a galvanized iron roof cornice with curved brackets, dentils, and paneled friezes. By 1910 the building was occupied by various manufacturers, primarily purveyors of hats and other clothing. The facade was somewhat simplified between 1910 and 1937, including the removal of some cast iron details and the original elaborate roof balustrade, which had included a decorative sunburst design. By the 1970s, the occupants were more industrial, including makers of screws, fireplace equipment, and belt buckles. Click here to proceed to Part III of the NoHo Historic District 25th Anniversary Tour
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