241-249 Centre Street (179-183 Lafayette Street)

179 Lafayette Street | also 181 Lafayette Street, 183 Lafayette Street, 247 Centre Street | Little Italy | built 1891

Open on the map3 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

    Architects DeLemos & Cordes build the seven-story through-block factory at 247-249 Centre Street for August Trenkmann

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission says August Trenkmann had the brick factory built by DeLemos & Cordes in two stages: 241-245 Centre Street in 1888-89 and 247-249 Centre Street, which runs through to Lafayette Street, in 1890-91. The Centre Street front is Romanesque Revival, with grouped windows set in broad multi-story arches. When the commission wrote its report, Trenkmann's estate still owned the building.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1897

    Widening of Lafayette Street forces the factory's Lafayette Street front to be rebuilt

    When Lafayette Street was widened in 1897, the building's Lafayette Street front was rebuilt. Trenkmann again hired DeLemos & Cordes, who gave it the Renaissance Revival look it has today, with rusticated brick, terra-cotta ornament and a pressed-metal cornice. The Landmarks Preservation Commission suggests the old facade may once have matched the Romanesque Centre Street side.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1921

    Old Town Ribbon & Carbon is one of many small manufacturers to rent space in the loft building

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission's report lists the building's tenants over the decades. They include an engraver in 1896, Crown Art Metal Works in 1912, Old Town Ribbon & Carbon from 1921 to 1928, the pen maker Blumenthal & Co. in 1936, and an ornamental leather embosser in 1950. Posterati Gallery appeared in 1998, and the upper floors were converted to offices in the late twentieth century.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 76 buildings with stories in Little Italy