242 Front Street

also 29 Peck Slip | Financial District | built 1900

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.

1853
The Novelty Bakery fire of 1853 destroys the earlier buildings on the 242 Front Street lot
A disastrous blaze called the Novelty Bakery fire swept this block in 1853 and destroyed most of its structures, including the older buildings that stood on the site of 242 Front Street. The replacements went up shortly afterward and were owned by the flour merchants Jones & Rowland.
“…built shortly after the disastrous Novelty Bakery fire of 1853 which destroyed the earlier buildings on this site as well as most of the structures on this block.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1853
242 Front Street goes up after the 1853 fire with a cast-iron shopfront and a small attic story
Built soon after the 1853 fire, 242 Front Street was constructed alongside its neighbor at 244 for the flour merchants Jones & Rowland. Its cast-iron shopfront had round-arched vertical panels on the columns, the latest commercial style at the time. The pressed brick facade is plain vernacular, with a short-windowed attic story under a dentilled brick cornice.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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