Gunther Building

469 Broome Street | also 55 Greene Street | SoHo | built 1872

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. 1872

    Griffith Thomas designs a curved cast-iron corner for fur merchant William Gunther

    Furrier William H. Gunther commissions architect Griffith Thomas to design a six-story cast-iron commercial building at Broome and Greene Streets, completed in 1872. Thomas gives the corner a gentle curve fitted with rolled glass panes, and the Aetna Iron Works casts the Corinthian columns and paneled pilasters that the Landmarks Preservation Commission later calls one of his finest designs.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1872

    Silk importers, not Gunther's furriers, fill the new building

    Despite carrying William Gunther's name, the building never houses his furrier business, C. G. Gunther's Sons. Instead, silk importers such as Fleitmann & Co. move in soon after completion, and the building serves the textile trade for decades before paper box manufacturers and other firms take over as the garment district shifts uptown.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1976

    Artists move into loft spaces as SoHo's gallery scene grows

    As SoHo emerges as an arts district, the Gunther Building's upper floors convert to artist lofts in 1976, while galleries and eventually high-end retailers move into the cast-iron ground floor once filled with silk merchants and paper box makers.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 2001

    A five-year restoration revives the building's cast-iron facade

    Architects Beyhan Karahan and Associates complete a facade restoration between 1996 and 2001, including the sidewalk's bullet-glass vault lights and the building's iron steps. The Preservation League of New York State honors the project with its Excellence in Historic Preservation Award in 2002.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo