32 East 4th Street

NoHo | built 1835

Open on the map4 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. 1836

    June

    Merchant Robert Gracie buys the house at 32 East 4th Street for $16,500

    Merchant Nicholas Ludlum bought this lot in 1835, and within a year he sold it, with a house on it, to another merchant, Robert Gracie. Gracie paid $16,500 in June 1836. Fifteen years later a street directory listed only one occupant, Thomas Fleming, living in the house.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1873

    Architect Frederick Jenth adds a fourth floor and an Italianate cornice to the old house at 32 East 4th Street

    Read more

    In 1873 the building was a three-story, three-family dwelling with an attic and a peaked roof. Architect Frederick Jenth, working for owner John Muller, raised it to four full stories, gave it a bracketed cornice and molded window hoods in the Italianate style, and converted the basement and first floor to commercial use. It had started as a Federal-style house around 1835.

    “Jenth enlarged the building to four full stories, adding a bracketed cornice and molded window hoods in the Italianate style…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1880

    A Prussian saloonkeeper and three other families share 32 East 4th Street in 1880

    The 1880 census lists Adolph G. Miller, a saloonkeeper from Prussia, living in the building with his wife, children and a servant, alongside three other families. In 1898 a rear extension was added for a kitchen serving a restaurant run by Jacob Mayer. By 1917 only commercial and manufacturing firms used the building.

    “1880 Census, which lists Adolph G. Miller, a Prussian saloonkeeper, living there with his wife, children and servant along with three other families…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1981

    Cap makers and air-duct firms give way to artists' lofts at 32 East 4th Street by 1981

    From the late 1920s to the mid-1940s the building's tenants were cap manufacturers. After World War II, Air Duct Installation Co. took the building as its main tenant along with Air Filters Aircraft Part Manufacturing Co.; both stayed, under various names, until at least 1975. A 1981 alteration converted it to joint live/work quarters for artists, and it later became a co-operative.

    “From the late 1920s to the mid-1940s tenants were cap manufacturers…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo