375 Broome Street

Little Italy | built 1900

Open on the map5 entries

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

1. 1886

   The National Register nomination links 375 Broome Street's Stars of David to the Eldridge Street Synagogue

   The National Register nomination for the Chinatown and Little Italy district dates this tenement to 1886 and attributes it to the Herter Brothers, a few years earlier than the circa 1890 date given elsewhere. It discusses the building among the Queen Anne tenements the Herters designed for Jewish clients, noting that its large terra-cotta Stars of David resemble ornament the firm used on the Eldridge Street Synagogue. The nomination rates the tenement among the district's buildings of special significance.

   Source: National Register nomination

2. 1890

   A cornice bust on 375 Broome Street has been read as Moses, Jupiter or Garibaldi

   High in the pressed-metal cornice of 375 Broome Street, a large carved bust looks down on passersby, and its identity is disputed. Daytonian in Manhattan calls it presumably Moses, and the historian Oscar Israelowitz explains the building's Jewish motifs as reflecting the immigrants it was meant to house. The AIA Guide to New York City hedges, proposing Jupiter, Michelangelo, Mazzini or Garibaldi instead, and observes that such stars often appear on period buildings that have no Jewish connection.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1890

   Brothers Peter and Francis Herter build a tenement at 375 Broome Street

   The six-story tenement was put up around 1890 by Peter and Francis Herter, German-born brothers who built housing for immigrant families on the Lower East Side. Peter had arrived in New York in 1884, and the New York Times once called him the richest builder on the banks of the Rhine. The red brick front has terra-cotta shells, large Stars of David on the fifth floor and a deep pressed-metal cornice.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1896

   A sidewalk brawl involving resident Elizabeth Orth breaks out outside 375 Broome Street

   In 1896 the press reported a rough-and-tumble fight on the sidewalk outside 375 Broome Street, a building only a few years old. Resident Elizabeth Orth had been talking with a neighbor, Rocco Bruno, when she was insulted by a tramp, and the argument ended in a brawl. The names in the building's early years, among them Orth, Bruno, Amelia Morrita and Angelina Fenadi, point to a mix of backgrounds.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

5. 1910

   November 7

   A restaurant fire spreads through the airshaft of 375 Broome Street

   By 1910 an Italian restaurant run by F. Pigniolo occupied the ground floor. On November 7 a painter named Salvatore Ricco was working there when his brush reportedly caught fire near a gas jet. Flames climbed the air shaft toward the roof, police cleared the tenants, and damage to the second and third floors came to about $10,000.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

• No. 375 Broome Street -- A Tenement with DignityDaytonian in Manhattan

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• 163 Mott Street2 entries
• Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz378 Broome Street | 4 entries
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• Fire Engine Company 55363 Broome Street | 4 entries
• Church of San Salvatore359 Broome Street | 3 entries

All 76 buildings with stories in Little Italy