552 Broadway

also 556 Broadway, 554 Broadway | SoHo | built 1900

Open on the map3 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. 1854

    Dr. Joseph T. Murphey's house is torn down for a new store at 556 Broadway

    In the 1830s the blocks around Broadway, Prince and Spring Streets were an exclusive residential area, and by the mid-1850s the wealthy owners were moving on. In 1854 the house that had been occupied by Dr. Joseph T. Murphey, an earlier building on this site, was demolished for a four-story brick commercial building, finished in 1855. The tailor Gershom Lockwood took the ground floor, and the scientific-instrument firm J. F. Luhme & Company took the floors above.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1861

    August 29

    Trunk makers at 556 Broadway show off a trunk that becomes a table, chair or bed

    Crouch & Fitzgerald, dealers in trunks and bags on the upper floors of 556 Broadway, drew notice from the New York Times with Hardie's Combination Army and Excursion Trunk. Army officers who examined it found a case about 30 inches long that opened into a table seating four, a cushioned settee, a high-backed chair, a six-foot bed or a writing desk. Several were ordered on the spot.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1871

    January 25

    An importer stages a live-model display of women's fashions at 556 Broadway

    The women's clothing importer Clarence F. Moulton, a tenant by 1870, invited the public to an evening of live models wearing his costumes, a forerunner of the fashion show. His newspaper advertisement punned on a 'Dew Drop Inn' at his address and promised free admission from 6 until midnight.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

All 736 buildings with stories in SoHo