Among the many industries which this area played a significant role in shaping and transforming was photography. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This area served as a home to many prominent German and German-American businesses which shaped New York in the 19th and 20th centuries. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This four-story building may date to as early as 1852, but does not appear to retain any mid-19th century detail.

In spite of massive waves of commercial construction, tenement building, and later hotel and apartment building construction which swept through this neighborhood, the area retains dozens of rowhouses from its early stages of development, dating from the early 1830s to the early 1850s. They range from modest to grand, most in the Greek Revival or Italianate style. Reflecting the vast forces of change which swept through the area, none remained single family houses, taking on new lives housing commerce, unions, theaters, art galleries, and multiple tenants. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

Multiple innovators in the field of commerce were located here, once the center of commerce in New York, along with the headquarters of several prominent businesses. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

This building was constructed as a three-story private rowhouse for J.F. Hart c. 1853-54. It later became the St. Lawrence Hotel, and housed the Gennert Brothers Photo Supply, founded by German immigrant Gottlieb Gennert and his brother. Go back and click on the tours the building is featured in for additional information and history.

The area around Broadway and University Place became home to some of the city’s most desirable hotels in the mid-19th century as this area began its transition from residential to semi-commercial district. This included the recently-demolished St. Denis Hotel at Broadway and 11th Street, and the Hotel Albert at University Place and 11th Street, now the Albert Apartments. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.