90-94 Maiden Lane Building

History and architecture

The small, elegant cast-iron-fronted mansarded building at 90-94 Maiden lane is the only remaining example in the Financial District of the many Second Empire style commercial buildings constructed in downtown Manhattan during the post-Civil War era.

The southernmost cast-iron building in Manhattan, it is one of the rare survivors of this type between Fulton street and the Battery. Long associated with the Roosevelt family (which had a store at 94 Maiden lane by 1786), the present building incorporates a mercantile building erected for James Roosevelt around 1810. In 1870-71 Roosevelt & Son, then the nation's leading importer of plate glass and mirrors, expanded from 90-94 Maiden lane into the adjoining buildings at 90-92 Maiden lane and 9-11 Cedar street; a new cast-iron facade with mansard roof was erected on the Maiden lane buildings, as well as a new brick and iron facade on cedar street.

These alterations are attributed to Charles Wright, a mid-19th century architect known for his cast-iron buildings, who was associated with the prominent iron founders Michael Grosz & Son. The building's iron elements were cast by the Architectural Ironworks of New York, one of the leading iron foundries in the country, whose head Daniel D. Badger was a major force in the development and promotion of architectural cast iron.