181 Duane Street

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5-story residential building completed in 1865 as a store-and-loft building. Above a grey-green cast-iron base, it is clad in red brick. There are three bays per floor, with flat-headed windows trimmed in stone. The western window bays have been bricked-in for an elevator shaft, with a brick elevator penthouse prominently visible on the roof. Stone sills and a crowning brick cornice further mark the design. Hardware remaining at the window openings is evidence that the windows once had shutters. Remnants of painted signs are visible above the 2nd, 3rd & 4th floors. A metal fire escape is shared with 183 Duane next door.

Early tenants of the then-commercial building included liquor dealers, coffee and spice merchants, and butter and egg wholesalers. A minor fire in 1891 damaged some of the exterior features, which were replaced. From then to the early 1900s, the building housed coffee and spice merchants. In the 1940s it was occupied by butter and eggs wholesalers such as Charles Krasnoff and the Hunter Farm Company. The building was renovated to residential usage in the 2000s.