M. Rosendorff & Son Building
277 Grand Street | also 279 Grand Street, 277C Grand Street | Chinatown | built 1900
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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.
- 1886
Dry-goods merchant Morris Rosendorff buys 277 Grand Street at a Mott Estate auction for $65,400
The Mott Estate sold eight store-and-tenement properties on October 22, 1886, and Rosendorff, who already owned 279 Grand, took four of them. The Record & Guide noted that 277 drew eager bidding before selling for $65,400. A month later it was reported that he planned two iron-front stores on the combined site, at an estimated $50,000.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1886
Schneider & Herter design twin stores with an unusual Moorish-tinged cornice
Architects Ernest W. Schneider and Henry Herter, newly partnered, drew up two matching buildings for Rosendorff at an estimated $25,000 each. The planned cast-iron fronts were not carried through, and only the stone-faced third floor remains from 1886. The cornice has two deep hoods around large rosettes, a Moorish touch that foreshadows the firm's later synagogues.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1894
Rosendorff's real-estate bets end in bankruptcy and a foreclosure sale of 277 and 279 Grand
Morris Rosendorff declared bankruptcy in fall 1893 with about $75,000 in unsecured debts, which his lawyer blamed on trouble raising money while building and trading real estate. His stock was auctioned in February 1894, and the buildings drew no buyers at a May sale. At a foreclosure auction on November 1, Charles S. Fairchild bought 277 for $48,000 and Joseph Levy bought 279 for $50,000.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1908
Health officials test the Chocolate Roman Punch Drops made by candy makers Pappas & Condax
Candy makers Nicholas Pappas and John Condax bought both buildings in 1904 and paid architect William C. Sommerfeld $1,000 for interior work. In 1908 one of their products, Chocolate Roman Punch Drops, drew the suspicion of the Board of Health, which took samples for testing. The candy came back clean, with no alcohol found. The partners moved out the next year but kept the buildings.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1924
Three armed men lock the fur store's staff in a bathroom and leave with $30,000 in furs
Louis Frescher bought the combined buildings in 1921 and opened a fur store. On March 4, 1924, three men asked to see furs, and one drew a revolver and ordered salesman Jack Greenbery into a rear bathroom, where the fur cutter and the porter soon joined him. The robbers carried blankets full of mink, sable and Hudson seal out to their car on several trips, getting away with about $30,000 in goods.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1931
The Columbus Civic Club moves into the top floor
After the fur firm's owners converted the second floor into a restaurant and the third into a dwelling and studio in 1925, architect Samuel A. Hertz remodeled the top floor in 1931 for the Columbus Civic Club, a sign of the Italian community then filling the neighborhood. The club stayed until about 1940, when the space became light manufacturing.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1936
Eight men hold up the fur store in daylight and take $40,000 in furs
Around 10 a.m. eight men rushed in, forced co-owner Bernard Trencher and bookkeeper Rae Levinson into a back room, and had the porter lead them to the basement workroom, where a designer and ten others were working. Two held everyone at gunpoint while six emptied the racks, windows and workbenches. It came after an attempted robbery in 1932, which sent one man to Sing Sing for 20 years, and a $20,000 hold-up in November 1935.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The M. Rosendorff & Son Building - Nos. 277-279 Grand StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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