George Wheeler House

13 Bleecker Street | NoHo | built 1825

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1832

   Merchant tailor George Wheeler buys 13 Bleecker Street and keeps it for 43 years

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   Stephen J. Brinckerhoff built the house around 1822-25 for the area's expanding middle class. George Wheeler, a merchant tailor, bought it in 1832, lived here through at least 1851 and also owned No. 15 next door. The Landmarks Preservation Commission says he added the third story and bracketed cornice in 1869-70. His family sold the house in 1875.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1876

   Henry Bohler converts the ground floor to a store, then loses the building within a year

   Real estate operator Henry Bohler paid $12,500 for the house in 1876 and hired builders to turn the first floor into a store. The investment failed: in August 1877 he lost the building to Catharine E. Stewart for $8,500, far less than he had put in. Her boarders were mostly low-income immigrants, and Stewart's estate still owned the building in 1913.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1898

   Furriers fill the upper floors of 13 Bleecker Street

   By 1898 the upper floors held four fur firms, including William Gangel and Feller & Jawetz, with machinists on the ground floor. Five years later the names had changed but not the trade, with Geller & Madler making fur garments and Zwerdling & Benjaming dealing in lamb plates. The building kept fur firms into the 1920s, and in 1925 a new storefront with basketweave brickwork was installed.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1960

   Loft dwellers begin taking over the upper stories

   Through the early and middle decades of the twentieth century the building housed mostly fur businesses, the trade that clustered in this part of Manhattan. By the 1960s manufacturing in the city was shrinking and commercial space stood empty, and people began moving into the upper stories as lofts. The Landmarks Preservation Commission notes that the building remains in residential use.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

• The George Wheeler House -- No. 13 Bleecker StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

• 11 Bleecker Street3 entries
• 15 Bleecker Street2 entries
• Yippie Museum and Café9 Bleecker Street | 6 entries
• 17 Bleecker Street2 entries
• Lorillard House7 Bleecker Street | 4 entries
• Former Free Circulating Library branch49 Bond Street | 3 entries

All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo