268 Water Street

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.

1824
Stove manufacturer Ezra Hoyt has a small house-and-store building erected at 268 Water Street
In 1823-24 a modest brick building was erected here for Ezra Hoyt, an early example of the combined house-and-store type found near the Seaport. Hoyt used it to manufacture stoves, and he may have kept the upper floors as living quarters. In the mid-1800s a cast-iron storefront was installed on the ground floor to modernize it.
“Erected in 1823-24 for Ezra Hoyt, it exhibits the domestic scale of the early commercial buildings. Hoyt used the building for the manufacture of stoves…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1824
A three-story Federal building in Flemish-bond brick stands out among taller neighbors on Water Street
The building dates from 1823-24 and stays only three stories, in contrast to taller buildings elsewhere on its block. Its upper floors are laid in Flemish-bond brick with six-over-six wood windows, and the gudgeons for iron shutters are still visible beside them. The ground floor keeps the paneled cast-iron columns of a mid-19th-century storefront, and the toothed brick roof cornice is a later addition.
“This small three-story structure contrasts strikingly with the taller buildings in this block. Dating from 1823-24, it was originally owned by Ezra Hoyt, a stove manufacturer.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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