195 Front Street (Schermerhorn Row)
195 Front Street | also 89 South Street | Financial District | built 1980
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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.
- 1811
An earlier wharf and storehouse of Peter Schermerhorn stand on this site before the row is built
Before the brick building went up, the lot held a wharf and storehouse belonging to Peter Schermerhorn. In 1811, the year he began his row, the city assessed this land and the corner lot beside it at $3,000 combined.
“Previously Schermerhorn's wharf and storehouse had stood on this site.”
- 1812
Peter Schermerhorn completes 195 Front Street, then numbered 189, as part of Schermerhorn Row
Begun in 1811 and finished in 1812, the building was first numbered 189 Front Street and was assessed to Schermerhorn at $5,000. It shares party walls with the Fulton Street buildings of the row, and as late as 1915 the properties were still held by the Estate of William Schermerhorn. Its Flemish-bond brick walls and Federal proportions survive above the altered ground floor.
“Built in 1812, this building (then called 189 Front Street) was assessed to Peter Schermerhorn at $5,000.”
- 1812
The shipping firm Jenkins & Havens becomes the first occupant of 195 Front Street
Jenkins & Havens, an early shipping firm, were the first to occupy the new building, arriving from 205 Front Street. The narrow Federal-style house still has its original Flemish bond brickwork and pitched roof above an altered ground floor.
- 1968
Developers buying up Schermerhorn Row fight the landmark designation that protects it
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Schermerhorn Row buildings on October 29, 1968, while the developer Atlas-McGrath was buying them in hopes of building an office tower. It owned about half by December 1968 and sued in March 1969 to overturn the designation. The partnership later gave the buildings to the South Street Seaport Museum in return for the sites' air rights, and the tower never rose.
“Atlas-McGrath ultimately agreed to give the Schermerhorn Row buildings to the museum in exchange for the sites' air rights…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1983
Schermerhorn Row reopens after a restoration that left artists, residents and a buried pier in its path
By the late 1970s the block housed artists, who formed the Schermerhorn Row Artists and Residents Association, and about 100 residents. Between 1981 and 1983 workers restored the buildings to their 1812 appearance while archeologists found traces of an old pier below the site. The row reopened with the first phase of the Seaport redevelopment on July 28, 1983.
Source: Wikipedia
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- Schermerhorn Row16 Fulton Street | 4 entries
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- South Street Seaport Museum12 Fulton Street | 4 entries
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