190 Grand Street House

190 Grand Street | Little Italy | built 1833

Open on the map5 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. 1833

    Stephen Van Rensselaer builds a Federal rowhouse at 190 Grand Street as an investment

    Around 1833 Stephen Van Rensselaer, a former lieutenant governor who founded the school that became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, built this late Federal house, apparently as investment property, when the area was a wealthy residential quarter. It was one of a row of five he put up. Its Flemish bond brick, molded brownstone lintels and segmental dormers survive.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1890

    Edward Strodel runs a musical instrument shop below a rooming house near Little Germany

    By the 1860s the upper floors of 190 Grand Street had been divided into a rooming house, and a crockery shop was on the ground floor by 1869. By 1890 Edward Strodel ran a musical instrument shop in the storefront, while the upstairs workers had German names, reflecting the Bowery's "Little Germany" just to the east.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1901

    February

    Banker Francesco Stabile buys 190 Grand Street as Little Italy takes shape

    Francesco R. Stabile, an Italian immigrant who founded the Banca Stabile at 153-155 Mulberry Street in 1882, bought the building in February 1901. His bank offered newcomers money wiring, translation, mortgage and shipping services until it merged in 1932. Three of the four families living here in 1900 were Italian, and his descendants still owned the building in 2010.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1920

    Pina Alleva, founder of the Alleva cheese shop, lives upstairs at 190 Grand Street

    In 1920 the upper floors at 190 Grand Street were occupied by Pina Alleva, her husband and their family. She had founded the Alleva Cheese Shop in 1892, and it was still operating next door at the corner of Mulberry and Grand Streets when the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote its report in 2010. Apartments in the building stayed exclusively Italian and Italian-American until the mid-1970s.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1920

    A Genoese immigrant founds the Piemonte Ravioli Company, now at 190 Grand Street

    An immigrant from Genoa founded the Piemonte Ravioli Company in 1920. In 1955 Mario Bertorelli, a native of Parma, took over the store and later ran it with his son Flavio, and it occupies the ground floor at 190 Grand Street. The company is known for fresh pastas such as ravioli, tortellini and cannelloni.

    Source: Internet Archive

Further reading

Nearby

All 76 buildings with stories in Little Italy