154 Grand Street

also 171 Lafayette Street, 167 Lafayette Street, 173 Lafayette Street | Little Italy | built 1891

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1890

    O. G. Bennet designs a six-story neo-Grec factory for William F. Chrystie

    Architect O. G. Bennet designed this six-story brick loft building at Grand and Elm Streets, built in 1890-91 for owner William F. Chrystie. It rose as large factories and stores were going up around Broadway and Elm Street, turning SoHo from an entertainment district into a center of the dry goods trade. Incised lintels and a corbelled brick cornice mark the neo-Grec style.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1894

    Cloak makers, woolens dealers and underwear firms fill the Grand Street loft

    The building housed clothing and textile trades: Meyer Jonasson & Co., cloak makers, in 1894, then Tiedemann & Co., wholesale woolens, in 1900. Jacob Caplan, another cloak maker, was a tenant in 1908, and Rabinowitz Bros., an underwear maker, followed in 1914.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1897

    Elm Street's widening cuts the factory back, and a new section is added in 1899

    During the widening of Elm Street into Lafayette Street in 1897-98, the building was reduced in width and its west facade was rebuilt to match the one on Grand Street. In 1899 the owner extended it north, with a new facade that copied the existing ones. No architect is recorded for either job, though Chrystie may have rehired Bennet.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1930

    A cafeteria, a tool company and plastics and leather makers use the building

    Later occupants included the Sunshine Cafeteria in 1930, Arc Tool Co. in 1945, Alda Plastics in 1957 and Jewel Leather Goods Co. in 1985. The upper floors were later converted to offices.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 76 buildings with stories in Little Italy