The Merchant House (west)

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6-story Romanesque-revival residential building completed in 1891 as a cold storage warehouse for the Merchant's Refrigerating Company. Designed by Thomas R. Jackson, it extends through the block from North Moore Street to Ericsson Place. The three exterior bays of each facade reflect the interior configuration of space created by iron columns which support iron beams and girders in fifteen-foot by eighteen-foot units. The North Moore facade is tan iron-spot brick and the Ericsson Place facade is common red brick. The arcaded facades are treated in typical warehouse fashion, without the limited fenestration to facilitate cooling which characterizes later cold storage warehouses. Paired windows are located in each of the bays.

Carved granite signbands above the 3rd floor with "Merchants Refrigeratinng & Ice Manufact. Co." and the street numbers span both facades. Cast-iron piers and lintels frame the loading bays of the 1-story base of both facades which have historic loading docks and sheet-metal awnings.

In 1917 the refrigerating plant in this building was enlarged, and it supplied all of the Merchant's Refrigerating Company's customers in the Tribeca area. The company owned the building into the mid-20th century, after which it was used as a paper warehouse before falling into disrepair toward the end of the last century. In 1998, architect Joseph Pell Lombardi renovated the building, along with its neighbor at 31-33 N Moore, into condominiums dubbed The Merchant House. The ground floor is occupied by Cheryl Hazan gallery.