308-310 Bowery

 apartment building  Add category

 Upload a photo

3-story Federal style mercantile building originally completed in about 1820 as a pair of 2.5-story townhouses as investment properties for tobacco magnate George Lorillard. The Lorillards owned No. 310 until 1828, when he sold it to George Warner, who owned it until 1864. Lorillard owned No. 308 until 1869.

By 1880, fancy-goods merchants Herman King, and his father, Abraham, immigrants from Germany, rented the 308 Bowery house from owner Alexander Rich for their men's furnishings store and were residing on the upper floors with the rest of their family. In 1881, they installed a first-floor storefront, replacing it with new units in 1889 and 1900, the year they expanded their business to the neighboring store at 310 Bowery. The Kings resided at 308 Bowery through 1905. By 1915, the entire building was commercial in use.

In 2001, the upper floors were converted to apartments, the roof dormer was altered to a wide modern one with large window panes, and a new storefront was installed. The ground floor is occupied by the Bowery Poetry Club & Cafe.