511 Grand Street House

511 Grand Street | Lower East Side | built 1828

Open on the map4 entries

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

1. 1828

   James Lent and Henry Barclay build 511 Grand Street on an oddly shaped lot

   James Lent and his nephew Henry Barclay, members of old New York families, bought an irregular lot on Grand Street and finished two Federal row houses there in 1828, hoping to profit from the city's building boom. The lot's western edge was slanted, so the builders gave No. 511 a triangular extra bay that narrows toward the rear and a front 29.5 feet wide. As a result its single window and dormer sit off-center, unlike those of its neighbor at No. 513.

   Source: Ephemeral New York

2. 1844

   A Bavarian butcher and other tradesmen rent 511 Grand Street through the 19th century

   The first residents are unknown, but later tenants were tradesmen and laborers. James Bulkley, a grocer and oil merchant, lived here from about 1840 to 1853. David Rengle, a Bavarian-born provisioner and butcher, rented it from about 1844 to 1873. Charles VanNostrand, a cartman, lived here from 1879 to 1900, and an Irish laundry worker, Thomas Rooney, from about 1905 to 1916, with lodgers to help pay the rent.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1921

   The Barclay family sells after about a century; a policeman lives here, then shops and restaurants move in

   The Lent and Barclay families rented the house out for nearly a century. In 1921 the property went to John W. Sheehan, a Fire Department dispatcher, and his son James, a police officer, lived at 511 into the 1940s. After Harry Kaufman bought it in 1947, the house had several owners and commercial tenants, from a linen shop to a series of restaurants.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1937

   Berenice Abbott photographs 511 and 513 Grand Street for the Federal Art Project

   In 1937 Berenice Abbott, working for the Federal Art Project, photographed the pair of Federal houses. Her picture shows the ground floor of No. 511 with a residential door, a bay window and a painted sign for a roofing and skylight business. The Landmarks Preservation Commission cites it as one of the earliest known images of the house.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

• The story of a nonconforming brick row house that’s stood on Grand Street for almost 200 yearsEphemeral New York

Nearby

• 513 Grand Street House513 Grand Street | 4 entries
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• St. Augustine's Church290 Henry Street | 5 entries
• 333 Madison Street4 entries
• Neighborhood Playhouse (Abrons Arts Center)466 Grand Street | 5 entries

All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side