265 Elizabeth Street

Nolita | built 1899

Open on the map7 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. 1842

    September 5

    A woman advertises astrology lessons for ladies from her rooms at 265 Elizabeth Street

    The three-story brick house at 265 Elizabeth Street operated as a boarding house from the mid-1830s. In September 1842 a resident, Mrs. Willis, placed a notice in the New-York Daily Tribune offering private talks on astrology to women. The next summer she advertised again, adding that she sold a corn and cancer salve and a remedy for the ague, and would share predictions free with anyone who bought her medicines.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1887

    John and George Stier open Central Wagon Works in the ground floor of 265 Elizabeth Street

    The Stier brothers bought the building in 1887 and set up a wagon-making shop at street level, hiring painters and smiths through newspaper want ads. The ground floor had been altered around 1852 with a carriage bay, and a wheelwright, Matthias Danser, had already worked there from 1853 to 1873. By 1901 George Stier ran the shop alone with nine employees working 59 hours a week.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1903

    May 24

    Striking rockmen and excavators meet in the basement of 265 Elizabeth Street during subway construction

    In 1903 George Stier turned the basement into a social hall that also served as headquarters of the Rockmen and Excavators' Union. The union went on strike that year while the subway was being dug, and meetings here were lively. The New York Times reported on May 24 that more than 8,000 Italian laborers were said to be on picket duty.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1911

    October 8

    A tenant of 265 Elizabeth Street is hunted after a kerosene-soaked grocery catches fire

    Antonio Polvino lived in the building when he opened a grocery at 248 Elizabeth Street, stocked it with $500 of goods and took out a $2,500 fire policy. At 11:40 p.m. on October 8, 1911, the store caught fire, and inspectors found the floor and counters soaked in kerosene, with a candle set in excelsior over two bladders of the fuel. All residents of the crowded tenement escaped, and police needed four days to find Polvino, who was caught sneaking into his father's house.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1913

    October 13

    Black Hand gang members take over a billiard parlor in the basement of 265 Elizabeth Street

    Around 1913 the basement social hall was leased to Corregio Emma, who ran a billiard parlor there until members of the Black Hand began gathering in it, driving off paying customers and borrowing money from him. He later said the gang pushed him into helping them bomb a rival billiard room, which exploded on September 28, 1913. On October 13 the New York Times reported the arrest of seven gang members, Emma among them, accused of setting 68 bomb jobs.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1948

    November 17

    Nuccio brothers of 265 Elizabeth Street are arrested over an illegal whiskey still

    Sebastiano Nuccio bought the building after World War I, and his sons became known to police. In November 1948 Vincent and Frank Nuccio, both listed at this address, were arrested when a 500-gallon still was found on a farm they had leased, and they were indicted in 1950 over another still in New Paltz. Brother John Nuccio, a reputed Cosa Nostra member, was arrested in 1966 on a heroin-smuggling conspiracy warrant and died in prison.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1998

    The ground floor of 265 Elizabeth Street becomes a restaurant, starting with Rialto

    In 1998 the ground floor was converted to a restaurant called Rialto, which a 2008 review described as an ambitious Italian and Continental place in Nolita. Elizabeth took over in 2008, and The Musket Room replaced it in 2013. A later renovation stripped the paint from the brick and added a period-style cornice, and each floor above now holds two apartments.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 41 buildings with stories in Nolita