Isaac T. Ludlam House

281 East Broadway | Lower East Side | built 1829

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1829

   City surveyor Isaac Ludlam has three Federal houses built on East Broadway

   Isaac Ludlam, a New York City surveyor who worked in his father's business, bought three lots on what was then Harman Street in August 1827 from a lawyer named Alexander Hamilton. Tax records show he had three houses built on them in 1829-30. No. 281 is the survivor, a two-and-a-half-story Federal rowhouse with Flemish-bond brick and two pedimented dormers on a lot 20 feet wide, in what was then a fashionable residential district.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1836

   Surveyor Isaac Ludlam lives here from 1836 to 1853 and later quits rather than serve the Tweed Ring

   Ludlam lived at 281 East Broadway from 1836 until he sold it in 1853, and the family surveying firm worked at 8 James Street. According to his New York Times obituary, he had worked for the city for almost forty years and amassed a large fortune by the time the Tweed Ring came to power. Rather than serve the ring, he resigned as city surveyor.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1864

   Shoemaker George Leicht buys the house and opens a shop in the basement

   George A. Leicht, a shoemaker, bought the house in 1864 and lived and worked here until 1903, sharing it with the family of his son John. His shop was in the basement, and in 1872 a permit was filed to enlarge its storefront by swapping a brick pier for a cast-iron column and the brownstone stoop for an iron one. Brickwork shows that the parlor window and doorway were also shifted about ten inches during the Leicht years.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1894

   November 29

   Mrs. Lamadrid's St. Andrew's One Cent Coffee Stands serve free dinners from the basement kitchen here

   Mrs. Lamadrid began the St. Andrew's One Cent Coffee Stands in 1887, selling coffee with bread, soup or beans for a penny each and serving more than 115,000 meals in three months. By 1894 she had turned the basement of 281 East Broadway, the old shoemaker's shop, into her kitchen, and on November 29 the Times reported that tickets for free dinners there had been issued. At Thanksgiving in 1895 about 1,500 people ate there, and bags of food were delivered to families who could not come.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

5. 1977

   The Henry Street Settlement buys the house after nearly seven decades as home and office to two doctors

   Dr. Michael S. Landa bought the house in 1909, and from 1946 to 1977 Dr. Nathan Botwin, a University of Glasgow graduate, lived and practiced here. In 1977 he sold it to the Henry Street Settlement, which rented it to the Betances Health Unit. When the clinic moved in 1996, the Settlement reclaimed the house for offices and training and began a restoration.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

• Henry Street Settlement265 Henry Street | 4 entries
• Engine Company 15 Firehouse269 Henry Street | 6 entries
• Henry Street Settlement (No. 267)267 Henry Street | 6 entries
• Henry Street Settlement265 Henry Street | 10 entries
• Henry Street Settlement (No. 263)263 Henry Street | 4 entries
• St. Augustine's Church290 Henry Street | 5 entries

All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side