Horace Whitehorn House
23 Vandam Street | Hudson Square | built 1833
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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.
- 1833
Daniel Turner builds four Federal houses on Vandam Street, and Israel Clark buys No. 23 as an investment
In 1833 builder Daniel Turner erected four similar houses at 23 through 29 Vandam Street. Although Greek Revival was gaining favor, he kept to the Federal style, with two stories of Flemish bond brick over a brownstone basement, fluted Ionic columns at the door and two dormers. Israel Clark, who built and lived at No. 21 next door, bought No. 23 as an investment property.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1845
Bowery tailor Horace Whitehorn moves his family into the house
Around 1845 Horace Whitehorn, born in 1808, moved in with his wife and two sons; his tailoring shop was at 90 Bowery, and by 1850 his brother Samuel, a William Street clothier, lived there too. On August 26, 1854, returning from a trip west, Horace discovered at the Poughkeepsie station that a pocketbook with $2,200 in notes and drafts had been taken, according to The New York Times.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1899
A gas explosion during meter repairs blows out the upper windows, and passing firefighters rush in
The New-York Tribune reported that Consolidated Gas Company workers were fixing the meter and pipes on April 22, 1899 when a blast shook the house. All the second-floor and attic windows were blown out and pictures fell from the walls. Three men from Engine Company 30 who happened to be passing ran in expecting a fire, but the worker had shut off the gas, and a large crowd gathered outside.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1924
William Coffin buys the house and sells it on to its tenant, leaving it a single-family home until 1974
William S. Coffin bought scores of properties in the district in the 1920s and converted nearly all of the old houses to apartments, often adding shed dormers. He left No. 23 largely untouched and sold it in April 1924 to his tenant, a Mrs. Cusack. It remained a single-family house until 1974, when it was divided into one apartment per floor.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The 1833 Horace Whitehorn House - 23 Vandam StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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