Every time I walk up Lafayette Street, it catches my eye: the stark imprint of a small house or building between Spring and Prince Street at what would be number 246. (Seen here in a 2013 photo.)
Short but with a sharply outlined chimney and slightly steeped roofline, It’s like a phantom from another New York, perhaps the mid-19th century. Who lived or worked here?
Lafayette Street has a long history. The stretch south of Prince was originally part of Elm Street, which began at Chambers Street and became a tenement district as the 19th century continued. (A sliver of Elm Street still exists near the Municipal Building.)
In the early 1900s, Elm Street was extended and connected to the former Lafayette Place—an elite enclave built by John Jacob Astor in the 1830s from Astor Place to Great Jones Street. The wide new thoroughfare was renamed Lafayette Street and became much more commercial.
The street name changes complicate unsolving the mystery. But according to a 2010 report by the Soho-Cast Iron District Extension prepared by the NYC Landmarks Commission, what was once number 246 was “a brick nineteenth century” demolished in 2008 to become a “dining pavilion” for a hotel on the other side on Crosby Street.
This 1940 tax photo (and a closeup) shows what the little building looked like. Perhaps it began as a house like so many other commercial buildings did in the mid-19th century, then changed as the neighborhood went out of fashion and became rougher around the edges.
[Tax photo: NYC Department of Records and Information Services)
Tags: 246 Lafayette Street, Elm Street Lafayette Street NYC, Ghost Buildings Downtown NYC, Lafayette Street Buildings, Lafayette Street history, Old Building Outline Lafayette Street
February 3, 2020 at 3:29 pm |
Ah, that’s my old building in the foreground of the second photo. Wish I could walk inside and see the place and the people who inhabited it in those days.
February 3, 2020 at 4:00 pm |
Visible on Google Street view
https://www.google.com/maps/place/246+Lafayette+St,+New+York,+NY+10012/@40.7230037,-73.9968438,3a,75y,258.71h,104.29t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sd7n_CwoqTM9MDPUBPMWU2w!2e0!7i3328!8i1664!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c2598f2e4cda8f:0x3acb4498f976399e!8m2!3d40.7229763!4d-73.9971043
A shame to demolish an old structure just so that big building can feel more like one in Atlanta or Columbus.
February 3, 2020 at 6:36 pm |
Yes it seems like a waste
February 3, 2020 at 6:14 pm |
I think maybe you meant Elk Street that still has “A sliver of Elm Street still exists near the Municipal Building.” It’s still located on the west side of the Surrogate’s Court building between Reade and Chambers Streets.
February 3, 2020 at 6:34 pm |
Actually, Elk Street used to be all that remained of Elm Street! The street name change was a nod to the first Elks Lodge, which was on Elm in the 1860s. I should have included this link:
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2017/09/04/a-short-history-of-short-elk-street-near-city-hall/
February 4, 2020 at 7:53 pm |
It’s “solving” not “unsolving”. To “unsolve” would be to obscure the answer. You mean the opposite.