477 Broadway

also 50 Mercer Street, 479 Broadway | SoHo | built 1870

Open on the map5 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. 1816

    October 4

    Newlyweds William C. Rhinelander and Mary Rogers set up home in an earlier house at 477 Broadway

    After their marriage on October 4, 1816, William Christopher Rhinelander and Mary Rogers moved into a fine house at No. 477 Broadway, an earlier building on this lot. The property ran through to Mercer Street, where the family kept its carriage house. In 1840 Rhinelander commissioned Richard Upjohn to design a mansion at 14 Washington Square, yet the family kept the Broadway property and leased it out.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1870

    March 31

    H. W. Smith & Sons finishes a five-story cast-iron store for William Rhinelander in eight months

    After the Civil War, William Rhinelander demolished the house at 477 Broadway and its neighbor at 479, and hired H. W. Smith & Sons to design a replacement. Work began on July 12, 1869, and the five-story building was finished on March 31, 1870. Cast-iron fronts on both Broadway and Mercer Street helped speed construction, and the design drew on the French Second Empire style.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1879

    November 28

    A man posing as a Herald reporter talks Henry Levy & Son out of a four-dollar pocketbook

    On November 28, 1879, a man with a scarred cheek walked into the fancy-goods store of Henry Levy & Son at 477 Broadway and presented a card reading Frank Fox, New York Herald. He said he was writing about the revival of trade and promised the shop good coverage, then lingered until Henry Levy gave him a four-dollar pocketbook he had admired. The Herald later called him a strange, eccentric figure who for months had been imposing himself on shopkeepers and officials.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1913

    April 10

    Strikebreakers fire revolvers at pursuing pickets after a ten-week strike at the L. Loewy & Son shirt plant

    The shirt maker L. Loewy & Son, whose plant ran from 477 Broadway through to 50-52 Mercer Street, was ten weeks into a strike when it hired non-union workers. On April 10, 1913, a crowd followed three strikebreakers as they left and threw brick and refuse. Two of them drew revolvers and fired about six shots, and striker Isidor Streir fell; the bullet only bruised his back, stopped by the padding of his overcoat. Police chased the men into the subway and caught them.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 2003

    Pearl River Mart opens on the ground floor after seventeen years on Canal Street

    In 2003 Pearl River Mart, which The New York Times called a Chinese department store, opened on the ground floor of 477 Broadway after seventeen years on Canal Street. Its stock included bamboo and straw window shades, shoji blinds and a large kitchenware department with chopsticks. The store closed in 2015 after a significant rent increase, and in December 2018 Dolby Soho opened a three-month pop-up in the space.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo