450 Greenwich Street

 apartment building, Federal style (architecture), 1820s construction

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4-story Federal-style residential building originally completed in about 1821, when the grocer John B. Martin acquired the lot and built a brick dwelling — probably of three-and-one-half stories — in which he resided until the 1840s. An increase in the tax value of the structure in 1852 suggests that at that time the building was raised to four stories and converted to commercial use. After being used by various merchants throughout the late 1800s and nearly all the 1900s, the building has been returned to residential use. It is clad in red brick. Brownstone lintels above the 2nd - and 3rd-floor windows have incised Federal style panels. There are faint remnants of painted signbands above the 2nd- & 3rd-floor windows. The ground floor has red-painted cast-iron piers. A black iron fire escape runs down the left two-thirds of the facade.