John Ward House

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5-story Italianate residential building completed in the early 1850's as a 4-story townhouse, with a matching house next door at No. 330 (although they have differing appearances today, following an extensive remodeling in 2014). It was first purchased in 1859 by John Ward who was a papermaker. It was sold just two years later to William M. Bliss, president of The Tenth National Bank of New York. In 1865, it was then sold to Emanuel Boas, a partner in the banking firm of C. B. Richards & Boas, and steamship agent. On September 23, 1876 the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that they had sold it to Charles Spear, a fertilizer merchant, for $26,000 (or $640,000 today). In 1886 the former mansion became an upscale boarding house. In 1906 the Leo House for German Catholic Emigrants purchased it along with Nos. 330 and 332. Although the houses were not joined internally, they were operated as a single entity to house immigrants, and No. 328 became a convent in 1921. In 1928 the city announced plans to widen West 23rd Street and demanded that the stoops be removed. The entrance of No. 328 was lowered to the former basement level and the doorway became a window. A branch of the Century Bank moved into the ground floor. By the first decade of the 21st century the Victorian detailing of the facade had been shaved flat in an attempt at modernizing.

The house was again sold in 2010 and given a massive renovation from 2013-2014 that resulted in a facade veneered in white stone, and a return to use as a single-family residence. A recessed, double-height opening at the right has a blue wooden door at its base, with a circular window above it, behind a hanging light fixture. To the left of the entrance are two basements windows with iron grilles, and next to the round window are two tall windows with small 3-over-6 panes. The upper floors have three bays of similar but shorter windows, with especially short windows at the 4th floor, formerly the attic floor. All the openings have beveled surrounds with thin cornices. A black metal roof cornice with three pairs of console brackets is surmounted by a short penthouse level with a band of modern windows and a roof terrace with a metal railing.