203 Prince Street House

203 Prince Street | SoHo | built 1834

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

    Leather inspector John P. Haff builds three houses on former Aaron Burr land, including 203 Prince

    City directories list John P. Haff as a leather inspector. He acquired several lots on the block in 1811 and in 1833-34 built houses on three of them, among them 203 Prince Street. The land had once been part of Richmond Hill, the estate of Aaron Burr. Haff himself lived in a nearby house that has since been replaced.

    “The land had formerly been a part of Aaron Burr's estate, "Richmond Hill.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1834

    Haff leases the new house to a widow, Eliza Scudder, instead of selling it

    Instead of selling 203 Prince, Haff rented it out, with the widow Eliza Scudder as its first tenant in 1834. Haff died in 1838. Margaret Felt lived there in 1850, and in 1851 the prominent attorney Robert Ebbets rented it. By the end of the Civil War the Eighth Ward's wealthy merchants had given way to a growing population of poor immigrants, and the Haff family sold the house.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1877

    An Episcopal mission house for the poor opens at 203 Prince Street

    In 1877 the Episcopal Church of St. Ambrose, a few blocks away at Thompson and Prince streets, set up a mission house at 203, led by Rev. D. G. Gunn with Mrs. Mary Laidlaw as manager. It aimed to help the poor, visit the sick and find work for the unemployed. Within its first month about 30 people were given jobs and as many more sent to hospitals and homes, and five years later it was still open but struggling for money.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1888

    A full third story replaces the house's peaked attic with dormers

    The house was built with two and a half stories and a peaked attic with dormer windows. In 1888 that attic was removed and a full third floor added, topped with a metal cornice on foliate brackets. The change still shows: the original red Flemish bond brick on the lower floors, a brownstone basement and a high stoop with a Federal-style arched doorway remain below it.

    “The third floor, added in 1888, replaced the original attic story with peaked roof and dormer windows.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1974

    February 19

    The Landmarks Commission designates the house after a hearing with no opposition

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission heard the case for the 203 Prince Street House on September 25, 1973. Two witnesses, including the owner, spoke in favor and nobody spoke against. On February 19, 1974, the commission designated it, calling it one of the few surviving examples of a style that blends Federal and Greek Revival elements and a characteristic upper middle-class home of the 1830s.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

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