Charles Broadway Rouss Annex
104 Greene Street | also 123 Mercer Street, 125 Mercer Street | SoHo | built 1908
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1895
The merchant Charles Broadway Rouss goes completely blind but keeps working; his son later builds this annex
Rouss, who had come to New York after the Civil War heavily in debt and built a vast Broadway store, began losing his sight in 1892. His doctors said retirement would save it, but he preferred to stay at his desk, and he was totally blind by 1895. He hired a blind man, James J. Martin, to test cures offered by quacks, then in 1900 announced he would die blind. His son Peter later built this annex.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1903
A jury awards $100,000 from Rouss's estate for a ten-year-old boy who called the late millionaire papa
After Rouss died in 1902, women began suing his estate. Edna Weller McClellan produced a letter promising her $35 weekly for life, and in May 1903 a woman calling herself Mrs. Eva Rousseau sued for her ten-year-old son's support. The cook testified that the boy called Rouss papa, and on May 21 the jury awarded the full $100,000 plus interest.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1907
Peter Rouss asks the city to dig a tunnel under Mercer Street, then refuses its terms
Possibly inspired by two Sixth Avenue department stores that linked their buildings under 21st Street, Peter Rouss applied on October 21, 1907 to build a tunnel under Mercer Street. It would have joined his new annex to the family's Broadway store. The city asked for a narrower tunnel, he refused several requests, and after a year of argument the engineer would not approve the application.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1908
William Dilthey completes a thirteen-story annex with an elaborate cast-iron storefront bearing the Rouss name
Peter Rouss hired architect William J. Dilthey for the thirteen-story red brick and limestone annex, projected at $250,000 and later $300,000. Completed on March 31, 1908, it concentrates its ornament on the lower limestone stories, where a cast-iron storefront has fanlights and stylized torches. The firm of Charles Broadway Rouss sold goods here and on Broadway until it closed in 1929.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The Charles Broadway Rouss Annex - Nos. 123-125 Mercer StDaytonian in Manhattan
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