666 6th Avenue (New York City, New York)

 apartment building, 1850s construction

4-story Italianate residential building completed in 1851 as a rowhouse. Edwin P. Smith, the owner in the early 1880s, altered the building for use as a hotel and added a rear extension. It was partially converted to commercial use in 1900 with the construction of a double-height storefront, while the upper two floors were still rented for residential use. The ground floor, now altered by a modern glass-and-metal storefront, is surmounted by an iron-framed, 4-part show window. A shallow roof cornice is capped by a sloped, metal parapet with the inscription "Charles R. Ruegger 1929", the owner of the building at that time. He added another metal sign, BAZAR FRANCAIS, above the 2nd-floor storefront that runs the width of the building. Bazar Francais manufactured and sold attractive copper and brass goods.

In 1975, after a string of Rueggers had run the Bazar Francais for a century, the business closed, yet the parapet and sign remain. The ground floor is occupied by Mazete Ramen.

daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/11/bazar-francais-n...