506 Canal Street House (John G. Rohr House)
506 Canal Street | Tribeca | built 1826
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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.
- 1826
Alexander Stewart deeds a Canal Street lot to tailor John G. Rohr, who starts two houses
The land south of Canal Street near Greenwich Street was part of the old Lispenard Meadows, which passed to Sarah, the daughter of Leonard Lispenard, and to her husband, Alexander L. Stewart. Stewart deeded a midblock parcel to John G. Rohr, a merchant tailor, on January 1, 1826. Rohr started work on two three-story houses there, today's 506 and 508 Canal Street. The easternmost, now 506, was first numbered 239 and took its present number in 1860.
- 1826
The ground floor gets a cast-iron shopfront that is now the only known one of its kind in the city
The house is three bays wide and laid in Flemish-bond brick, with a Federal-style peaked roof. At street level, paneled pilasters carry three cast-iron semi-elliptical arches that echo the shape of the arch over the upstairs entrance. The Landmarks Preservation Commission found that this storefront appears to date from the original construction and that no other like it is known to survive in New York City.
- 1829
A starch and hair-powder maker leases the house and wins a prize at the American Institute fair
In 1829 Rohr leased the property to John Y. Smith, who made starch and hair powder and had built and lived in a house nearby on Greenwich Street. That October Smith displayed his products at the American Institute's annual fair in Masonic Hall. The judges awarded him a Discretionary Premium, a prize for his starch and hair powder.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1830
Rohr moves his large family into the house and lives here until 1853
After a few years at another of his Canal Street properties, Rohr and his wife Rebecca moved into 239 Canal Street (now 506) in 1830. The 1850 census shows a crowded household: a married daughter and her saddler husband, adult children George, John and Hannah, five younger children, two grandchildren and an Irish servant, Catherine Brickham. Rohr was born in Germany and ran his tailoring trade from a separate building on the opposite side of Canal Street.
“Rohr and his family remained in the house at 506 Canal until 1853, retaining the tailoring business in a building on the north side of Canal.”
- 1851
The Mountford brothers' bookshop advertises its stock of Valentine cards
By 1849 two brothers, Daniel and Peter Mountford, were running a stationery and book shop in the ground floor, and their mother lived upstairs. Mass-produced Valentine cards had arrived in America in 1840, and on February 9, 1851 the brothers ran an ad boasting of the finest selection in the country and promising prompt delivery. The ad gave the shop's address as 239 Canal Street, near Clinton Market.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1907
The Sierck family sells after owning the house for half a century
Carsten Sierck bought the house from Rohr in 1853, and his estate held it until 1907. Samuel Weil, who already owned the neighboring 504 Canal Street, bought it that year, and in 1909 he added the corner building at 502 Canal Street. Since then the three properties have always had a single owner.
“In 1853 the house was sold to Carsten Sierck, whose estate retained the property until 1907. That year it was sold to Samuel Weil…”
- 1998
The city designates the Rohr house a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated 506 Canal Street House an individual landmark on June 30, 1998, the same day as its twin at 508. At the April 21 hearing, eight speakers, among them a Community Board 1 representative, supported designation and none opposed. The commission described the house as a rare survivor from the early republic in lower Manhattan.
Further reading
- John G. Rohr's 1826 506 Canal StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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