85 Chambers Street | apartment building

 apartment building  Add category

5-story Italianate residential building completed in 1857 as a store and loft building. The present Chambers Street facade resulted from a 1926 alteration by the firm of Wolins & Bull, in which the front was completely rebuilt in a style characteristic of early twentieth-century commercial buildings. Above the second story, the Chambers Street facade, faced in multi-hued "tapestry" brick, has three bays of windows at each story, and is crowned by a stepped brick parapet. The two-story base is framed in limestone and has a large show window with transoms at the second story. The ground floor is occupied by Nelly boutique.

The Reade Street facade is faced in orange-red painted brick above the first floor, and has three bays of recessed round-arched windows at each floor. A black metal fire escape runs down the right two-thirds of the facade. This facade is crowned by a dentiled brick frieze supporting a narrow iron cornice.

When completed, it was leased to Reid & Tracy, dealers in wire and hardware. It continued to house hardware merchants throughout the 19th century. Later tenants included the Progressive Cycle & Auto Supply Co., skate manufacturer Samuel Winslow, the Goodyear Rubber Co., firearms merchants J.L. Galef & Son, and Eichen & Appel, druggists. The building remained in commercial use until the late 1990s.