313 East 58th Street House

History and architecture

Set back behind its front yard and half hidden behind a tree growing out through its foundations this charming little two-story house is far removed in time from the traffic speeding past on its way to the Queensboro Bridge. As a result of the 1930 construction of a new approach to the Bridge, the house is now situated a few feet below the sidewalk. Mo. 313, together with its neighbor No. 311, have escaped the wrecking ball, and both are excellent examples of the modest, semi-suburban houses which dotted the uptown side streets of mid-19th century New York. No more startling contrast can be imagined than that provided by the towering business structures and apartment houses which now surround them.

The history of the property goes back to 1676, when the land on which the house stands was granted by Governor Edmund Andros to John Daniel son. In Colonial times, a tavern called "The Union Flag", which served travelers on the Eastern Post Road (now replaced by the approach to the Bridge), stood nearby, to the northeast of number 313 East 58th Street.

Three windows wide, with an entrance door at the right, the building is only two stories high. It has painted brick walls and painted stone and wood trim. It was built in 1856-57 by Hiram G. Qisbrow, mason-builder, as his own residence.

Though completely vernacular in character, reminiscences of the Greek Revival period of the 1840s appear at the doorway, with its square, simply paneled pilasters, in the simple window treatment at the second story and In the row of dentils under the roof of the porch. More typical of the 1850s, when the house was built, are the French doors which open onto the porch., the tiny brackets which appear over the doorway, ir. the frieze section, and the larger paired console brackets supporting the roof cornice. The muntined windows of the second story are of the double-hung sash type, with plain lintels and sills.