436 Lafayette Street

also 440 Lafayette Street, 740 Broadway | NoHo | built 1910

Open on the map4 entries

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

1. 1870

   Edward H. Kendall designs a Second Empire carriage warehouse for Charles B. Wood at 436-440 Lafayette

   Architect Edward H. Kendall designed this nine-bay warehouse with a cast-iron front in 1870-71 for Charles B. Wood. It originally extended through the block to Broadway. That rear portion was demolished in 1910 to make way for 740-744 Broadway, leaving the Lafayette Street front.

   “This carriage warehouse was designed by Edward H. Kendall and constructed in 1870-71 for Charles B. Wood, originally extending through to Broadway.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1879

   Men's clothier Alfred Benjamin & Co. sets up in the building within a decade of its completion

   The clothing manufacturer Alfred Benjamin & Co., which made high-grade menswear, set up in the building in 1879. The Landmarks Preservation Commission reads that as a sign the building was converted to industrial use soon after it opened.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1891

   After a fire, Orlando Potter has Francis Kimball raise the building a story and drop its mansard

   A fire in 1888 led to the removal of the building's central tower. In 1891 the political figure and real-estate owner Orlando B. Potter had architect Francis H. Kimball add a sixth story and remove the crested mansard roof. The building was joined internally with 4-8 Astor Place, and Potter's heirs held it until at least 1947.

   “The original central tower was removed after a fire in 1888 and the crested mansard roof was removed in 1891 when the sixth-story was added…”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1960

   Mann Refrigeration occupies 436 Lafayette, leaving behind a brass street clock

   Mann Refrigeration was the tenant here at least in the 1960s, and its vintage brass clock still hangs over the sidewalk. By 2012 the furniture dealer Alan Moss Studios, a seller of twentieth-century pieces, had moved in and kept the timepiece, which the 1870 cast-iron and brick building still carries.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

Further reading

• The coolest old-school clock on Lafayette StreetEphemeral New York

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All 222 buildings with stories in NoHo