339 Grand Street Designated a Landmark Yesterday; Tammany Hall, Too
This image has been archived or removed.
339 Grand Street
Two years of back-and-forth with the LPC regarding 339 Grand Street culminated in a victory yesterday for local preservationists. The Federal-style row house – a structure that dates back to 1832 (completed 1833) – was easily designated a city landmark by Commission Chairman Tierney.
“This understated row house, by far the most intact of the five that are there now, is a significant reminder of the period after the Revolutionary War when New York City was developing into a major port and financial center,” said Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney. “It retains a great deal of its original fabric, despite its age and profound changes to the surrounding neighborhood over a nearly 200-year period.”
More about row houses:
The designation brings to 18 the total number of Federal-style houses to which the Commission has given landmark status since 2002. The “Federal” style, which was fashionable from the 1780s to the early 1830s, takes its name from the then-new republic, yet is considered a continuation of the Georgian style of Great Britain. The houses were often constructed in rows, sharing party walls and chimneys, and featured details such as splayed lintels, cornices, dormers and doorways framed with columns and sidelights. They usually had a three-bay façade with two full stories over a high basement and an additional half story under a peaked roof with a ridgeline running parallel to the front façade. 
The row house at 339 Grand St. retains its original form, height, width, façade with Flemish bond brickwork, high-peaked roof and dormer. A full-lot rear addition fronting on Ludlow Street was completed c. 1855, and also retains a great deal of original fabric.
Also receiving landmarks protection yesterday was the original location of Tammany Hall in Union Square, at 100 East 17th Street. The decision was unanimous, “citing its distinctive architectural style as well as its historical associations, including its ties to the once-powerful Democratic Party political machine that dominated New York City politics in the 19th and early 20th centuries.”
Recent Stories
Demolition Begins at Fire-Stricken Dim Sum Palace Building in Chinatown
Demolition started this week at 6 Chatham Square, which, until this month, housed neighborhood favorite Dim Sum Palace. Early morning May 1, a fire in the kitchen spread throughout the building, triggering a five-alarm response from the fire department. All told, five firefighters were injured battling the inferno over several hours. And according to Red […]
Eldridge Street Development Sells for $19.24M
A major real estate deal to report on Eldridge Street. It took three years, but the eight-story mixed-use building at 165 Eldridge traded last week for $19.25 million. Just under the initial 2019 asking price of $21 million. Buyer of record is Meng Lee and Karim Elsayyad of FREO Management. The transaction is not yet […]
The ‘Barrier Reefs’ Coming to Clinton Street Bike Lane
The Department of Transportation has chosen a winner to decorate the traffic barrier protecting the Clinton Street bike line. The city agency awarded artist Alison Cynamon as part of the ongoing Barrier Beautification mural project. The concrete slab runs from Delancey Street to South Street; an 840-foot stretch with roughly 1,980 square-feet of canvas to […]
Redlining the LES: How Discriminatory Lending Policies Solidified Pre-Existing Inequalities
The following was written by Anna Sargeantson. All photos courtesy of Anna Sargeantson, except where otherwise noted. Home to dimly lit restaurants and bars frequented by NYU students and young professionals, the Lower East Side remains in many ways the epitome of New York City’s youthful heart. Under the surface, though, the neighborhood has historically […]
Ed Higgins Gets ‘Mail Art’ Retrospective at Van Der Plas Gallery on Orchard Street
Fresh off featuring his art in Ludlow Coffee Supply, the Van Der Plas Gallery of Orchard Street is now dedicating a full artist retrospective to the late Ed Higgins. Higgins, known as a pillar of the “Rivington School” movement in the 1980s Lower East Side, and for his unique “Mail Art,” died last December at […]
