513 Grand Street House

513 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. 1827

   Lent and Barclay build a narrow 17-foot shop-house next to the wider No. 511

   James Lent and Henry Barclay bought the lot in 1826 and built two houses around 1827. Identical houses would each have been roughly 23 feet wide, but they gave No. 511 a 29.5-foot front and left just 17 feet for No. 513. Like its neighbor, No. 513 most likely held a shop on the ground floor with living space above.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1848

   A Scottish-born plumber is the first of a long line of plumbers at 513 Grand Street

   Thomas S. Armstrong, a Scottish immigrant plumber, was living here with his German-born wife and sons by 1848. Another plumber, George B. Burn, took over the shop around 1853, and Emmet H. Smith had joined him by 1858. Smith eventually ran the business, which became E. H. Smith & Son and was still advertising from the address in 1904. Teachers and other tenants rented the small rooms upstairs.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1881

   April

   A man impersonates plumber Emmet H. Smith to bail out a watch thief

   After James McLaughlin was arrested for stealing a watch in April 1881 and held on $1,000 bail, a man appeared in court calling himself "Emmet H. Smith, a respectable plumber" and swore he owned a house at 57 Broome Street. The real Smith, who worked at this address, knew nothing of it. A butcher named George Harrison had been paid $20 to pose as him; he was sent to state prison for five years, while McLaughlin vanished.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1944

   The City sells the foreclosed shop to Angelina Picerno, who makes it a one-family home

   George Bungay, who made toilet preparations, used 513 Grand Street as both his business and his home until about 1937. The City took the property in 1942 through foreclosure and sold it in 1944 to Angelina Picerno, who converted the old shop into a single-family house. Members of the Picerno family lived here until 2003.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

• A Federal Relic -- No. 513 Grand StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

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All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side