Roosevelt Building

478 Broadway | also 482 Broadway, 40 Crosby Street, 480 Broadway | SoHo | built 1900

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. 1862

    J. P. Halle & Co. opens a piano showroom in an earlier building at 478 Broadway

    In 1862 the piano dealers J. P. Halle & Co. moved into new warerooms at 478 Broadway, in a building that preceded the present one. Their advertisements promised seven-octave rosewood pianos at $225, $250 and $275. The Roosevelt family owned the land, and a decade later the building made way for Richard Morris Hunt's cast-iron store.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1874

    Richard Morris Hunt completes a cast-iron store and loft building for Roosevelt Hospital

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    James Henry Roosevelt, founder of Roosevelt Hospital, bequeathed the land at 478, 480 and 482 Broadway to the hospital, which hired Richard Morris Hunt in 1873 to design a commercial and loft building there. Finished in 1874, the five-story building has slim iron colonettes between the second-, third- and fourth-floor windows, which let in much more glass than a masonry front could. It was briefly called the Roosevelt Building, and a smaller wing extends back to 40 Crosby Street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1884

    April 8

    A woman storms into the woolen importers Collins, Downing & Co. demanding to see Forest Downing

    Collins, Downing & Co., woolen importers in business since 1842, had been among the first tenants of 478 Broadway in 1874. On April 8, 1884, a well-dressed woman came into the store demanding to see Forest Downing, son of Silas Downing, and said he had insulted her. Forest pushed her out into the street twice, a crowd gathered, and police were called to take her away, as The New York Times reported the next day.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1885

    January 7

    A fired salesman is arrested for looting Hammerslough & Brothers with copied keys

    Hammerslough & Brothers, wholesale dealers in men's and youth's clothing, fired head salesman Bernard Russell in 1883, after learning he was a gambler and stock dabbler. Before leaving he had copied the store keys, and on Sundays and holidays he let himself into 478 Broadway and took stock. Police arrested him on January 7, 1885, at Koster & Bial's music hall, and he confessed to stealing 200 coats and 700 yards of silk.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo