(l. to r.) 813, 815, and 817 Broadway. No. 813 is a four-story brick building constructed c. 1850 for Peter Goelet. During the Civil War, it was the home of the Hall of the Loyal National League, which rallied support for the Union cause, for which James A. Roosevelt served as secretary. A premier photographer of the late 1800s was also located here. The two-story neo-Renaissance–style galvanized iron-faced commercial building at 815 was constructed in 1897 by architect John C. Westervelt for the Roosevelt family. By 1910 it housed a branch of the Childs Restaurant, one of the first restaurant chains in America, whose later Coney Island building is a New York City landmark. No. 817 was built in 1895-98 in the Renaissance Revival style as a 14-story structure designed by George B. Post for William Weld. It housed various clothing companies, including Meyer Jonasson & Company, then known as “the world’s largest manufacturer of ladies’ garments.”

For more information on the history of these and other buildings South of Union Square, click here.

See all Architecture of South of Union Square photos here.

Photo by Dylan Chandler
Previous
Next