190 Grand Street House

History and architecture

Built c.1833, the rowhouse at 190 Grand Street was built as a grand, late Federal style residence at a time when this neighborhood, now known as Little Italy, was an affluent residential quarter. Evidence indicates that it was constructed as an investment property by Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of New York State’s leading citizens, who founded in 1826 the school which eventually became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is part of a larger row of five houses that Rensselaer built, of which it and the neighboring house at 192 Grand Street are the two best remaining examples.

Located from the Battery as far north as 23rd Street and constructed between the 1780s and 1830s, Federal-era houses are among the oldest and relatively rarest buildings in Manhattan. This house retains a significant amount of its original architectural fabric, including Flemish bond brick, molded brownstone lintels at the third story, a pitched roof, and prominent segmental dormers, which retain their original decorative wood trim including molded segmental-arched window surrounds and keystones.

Historic Renaissance Revival style galvanized steel lintels, probably added in the mid- to late-19th century, remain at the second-story windows. Occupancy of the house over time reflected New York City’s demographic changes as the area’s original affluent residents moved to new neighborhoods uptown to be replaced by a progression of immigrant groups and, later, by new generations of artists and young professionals attracted to urban living.

The first story was lowered to ground level to accommodate a storefront prior to c.1930. Francesco R. Stabile, an Italian immigrant and founder of the nearby Banca Stabile, purchased the building as an investment in 1901 at a time when the neighborhood was transitioning from a community of Germans and German-Americans to Little Italy. Stabile’s descendents still own the building, which remains at the core of Little Italy. Despite some alterations, 190 Grand Street, notable singly and as part of a pair along with 192, is among the relatively rare surviving and significantly intact Manhattan buildings of the Federal period, and an excellent example of the 3-½-story, Federal style house with peaked roof and segmental dormers.