Sailors' Snug Harbor Building

262 Greene Street | also 303 Mercer Street | Greenwich Village | built 1900

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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. 1899

    Sailors' Snug Harbor remodels a Greek Revival double house into its Manhattan headquarters

    Captain Robert Richard Randall's will, drawn by Alexander Hamilton, took effect at his death in 1801 and created Sailors' Snug Harbor for aged sailors. The home was built on Staten Island, but the trustees kept the Manhattan land, which grew enormously in value. By 1899 they needed a modern headquarters and chose the double-wide Greek Revival house at 260-262 Greene Street, then altered into lofts, remodeling it rather than tearing it down.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1900

    A red-brick Colonial Revival base with anchor plaques marks the headquarters

    The remodeled red-brick building received a Colonial Revival base, with fanlights over three two-story arches recalling Georgian doorways. Stone plaques in the arch spandrels carry an anchor and the Snug Harbor monogram. The three floors above the offices were lofts built to earn rent, and they were quickly leased.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1903

    A maker of wax figures rents a loft among the fur and embroidery firms

    Early tenants of the loft floors included fur-trimming dealers W. Silverman & Son, K. Hopke, in embroidery, and furriers Schnapp & Katzman, whose mostly female workers put in 54 hours a week in 1900. By 1903 Aschner & Van Buren, makers of wax figures, had moved in, in an era when store mannequins were still made of wax or paper mache. Tenants turned over quickly.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1912

    November 6

    Police trail four men into the building and catch them in a jimmied cloak factory

    On the night of November 6, 1912, Lieutenant Glynn and Detective Bottis of the police spotted four men coming and going at several nearby lofts. They tailed them to 262 Greene Street and went in once the group had been inside a while. The New York Press said the officers caught them on the second floor, where the lock on Philip M. Wagner's cloak factory had been forced with a jimmy.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1922

    April 7

    The Washington Square Association, headquartered here, demands an inquiry into the police after a house robbery

    The Washington Square Association, founded in 1906 by neighborhood businessmen and residents, had 350 members by 1919 and leased space in this building. On April 2, 1922 five armed robbers bound Albert R. Shattuck, his wife and five servants in the wine cellar of 19 Washington Square North. On April 7 the association resolved to ask the Chamber of Commerce for a mass meeting on the apparent breakdown of the police and urged residents to check their locks and bars.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1976

    July 28

    Sailors' Snug Harbor announces it will sell properties, including 262 Greene Street

    Snug Harbor stayed in the building for decades while ranking among Manhattan's three biggest landowners. The New York Times reported on July 28, 1976 that trustees of its Staten Island shelter for retired seamen said the income no longer covered the home's costs. To raise money, the institution said it would sell off properties, No. 262 Greene Street among them.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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