421 West 13th Street

 apartment building, 1902_construction, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

6-story Renaissance-revival residential building completed in 1902. Designed by Hans E. Meyen as a warehouse. Earlier, this was the site of the Delamater Iron Works, where the engine for the famed Civil War ironclad ship Monitor was made in the 1860s. The current building is clad in rusticated orange brick with stone lintels and connected stone sills. It is topped by a stone roof parapet. A band of red brick separates the ground floor, the right half of which features a thick iron-beamed storefront with large bolts. A suspended metal canopy covers the left half.

P.F. Collier & Son, publishers at 416-424 West 13th Street across the street, used this facility, connected by a bridge, from at least 1916 to 1925. The New York Times reported at the end of 1929 that the entire building, then in use by the American Lithographic Co., would be altered for workrooms and shippinglreceiving departments for Walker & Heisler, Inc., dealers in rugs, carpets, and floor coverings. In 1937 a new storefront and metal canopy were installed for wholesale meat market use.

The Zoo, opened here in 1970, just one year after the Stonewall Rebellion, was the first gay club to open in the Gansevoort Market area. The ground floor is currently occupied by Rag and Bone apparel.