21-09 45th Avenue

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.

1870
December 22
Developers Spencer Root and John Rust buy the 45th Avenue block from Union College
On December 22, 1870, Spencer B. Root, from Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn's John P. Rust bought this land from Union College. Their stone houses stood out in a neighborhood of mostly wooden homes, and the block came to be called "White Collar Row." According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Root and Rust reportedly went bankrupt before they could meet their obligations.
“…begun by Spencer B. Root of Greenfield, Massachusetts and John P. Rust of Brooklyn, New York who bought the land from Union College on December 22, 1870…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1872
Root and Rust finish No. 21-09 as part of a five-house Italianate row
No. 21-09 is one of five Italianate houses, numbered 21-09 through 21-17, that Spencer Root and John Rust built in 1871-72, both as developers and for themselves. The houses rise three stories, brick over a stuccoed basement. Each wood roof cornice rests on four acanthus-leaf brackets with a row of dentils, and a classical pediment on consoles crowns the front door. The landmarks commission found the stoops, pediments, lintels and cornices all intact in 1968.
“This group of five houses in the Italianate style was built in 1871-2 by and for Spencer Root and John Rust.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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