52 West 28th Street (New York City, New York)

 commercial building  Add category

4-story Italianate commercial building completed in about 1850 as a townhouse. By 1876 Dr. Shaffer, a spinal specialist, was living and practicing medicine from the house. Its facade is two bays wide, clad in red-painted brick. The windows grow progressively shorter at each floor, and have black cast-iron eyebrow lintels. The facade is crowned by a bracketed and paneled black metal roof cornice. The house originally had a brownstone above an English basement, but shortly after 1900 the stoop was removed and the entrance relocated to street level, and a black metal fire escape installed over the eastern bay.

In 1887 the house was sold and became home to Lovell's poolroom - the term did not refer to billiards; but to horse betting. Western Union telegraph wires transmitted the winners and losers directly into the poolroom. The owners of the establishments were known as “poolsellers". The upper floors of No. 52 were leased as sleeping rooms. Beginning in 1906 a series of florist occupied the ground floor for most of the rest of the 20th century. The ground floor now has a modernized silver aluminum and glass storefront, occupied by Kasonic Wireless Accessories.