E. V. Haughwout Building

History and architecture

This attractive five-story building, located on a corner site, has two cast-iron fronts designed in the Anglo-Italianate manner, with arched windows set between columns. The windows are reminiscent of those of Sansovino's great library on the Piazetta in Venice. The Haughwout Building was originally designed for the display of cut-glass, silverware, clocks and chandeliers, in a store which was the foremost of its kind in the mid-19th century. This was the first store in New York to have a passenger elevator designed expressly for the use of customers.

The building is important because it is one of the largest and handsomest of New York's cast-iron buildings. The United States led in the production ofthe castings which made possible these great pre-fabricated structures. Cast-iron buildings exerted a major influence on the development of skyscrapers, and the Haughwout Building stands as a leading example of this remarkable technical innovation.

At the public hearing, the Borough President's Planning Board No. 2 supported the designation, and the representative of the Planning Board's Landmark Committee said, "Even more important than its aesthetic value is its historic architectural value.... In this one building are combined the two elements that provided the basis for today's skyscraper—the load bearing metal frame and the vertical movement of passengers (the elevator)."

The National Secretary of the Society of Architectural Historians said, "It is not generally known to the public what a magnificent architectural heritage the commercial cast-iron palaces of downtown New York really are. This is a very specific New York thing, not equaled anywhere else, antedating the rise of the steel-frame skyscraper, a group of buildings of the greatest social, technical and aesthetic significance. The Haughwout Building is the best of these cast-iron palaces, and indeed one of the most interesting and important buildings in the whole City.