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.

The area south of Union Square contains a stunning array of residential and commercial architecture from the 19th through the early 20th century. There is a particularly rich array of late 19th and early 20th-century factory/loft/warehouse architecture, in every style from Italianate to Gothic and Romanesque Revival, Neo-classical, Queen Anne, Victorian, and Byzantine. Work by some of America’s greatest architects, including James Renwick Jr., Henry J. Hardenbergh, Emery Roth, Griffith Thomas, Napoleon LeBrun, Harvey Wiley Corbett, David, and John Jardine, George B. Post, Carrere and Hastings, John Kellum, and Charles Rentz, among others, can be found here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

Many of the most prominent publishers in America and the world were located here, producing some of the most significant works of literature of the last two hundred years. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.

These five-story Old Law tenements were constructed in 1881 by architect Henry J. Dudley for Samuel Simmons. Although stripped of their original brownstone Neo Grec detail, they still retain their original fenestration. A passenger who perished in the General Slocum disaster lived here, the "King of Greenwich Village Bohemians" died here, and a pioneer army-navy store was also located at this address.

This lot is made up of multiple combined buildings. The 5-story brick and terra cotta building at 87-91 Third Avenue combined two Pre-Law tenements, located at 91 and 89 Third Avenue, with a new building at 87 Third Avenue in 1902. These tenements were originally owned by A.C. Gale & Company, and by 1902 were owned by the trustees of the Hamilton Fish Estate. The newly conjoined three buildings were designed in the English neo-Classical style by Myron E. Evans of Ballantyne & Evans Architects. The adjacent now-adjoining building at 201-213 East 12th Street was constructed c. 1860 for industrial use. As early as 1860 a piano factory was located here. Trow’s Directory Printing and Book Binding Company, which was responsible for printing and binding the New York City Directories, was located in both the Third Avenue and East 12th Street buildings. Go back and click on the tours the building is featured in for additional information and history.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the area south of and around Union Square was the center of piano manufacturing in New York, a huge industry in the city at the time. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.