William Wright House

 townhouse, Greek Revival (architecture)

4-story (plus raised-basement) Greek Revival-style residential building originally completed in 1850 with three stories, when it was numbered 176 West 22nd (the street was later renumbered in the 1860s). Designed by and for William Wright, a builder and a manufacturer of corrugated metal roofing, it is clad in red brick above a grey stone English basement.

Wright sold the house to another builder, John Ludlum, around 1858, and changed hands several times in the early 1870s. From 1892 until 1906, the Olwell family lived in the house; it was resold the following year to Maria S. Simpson who operated it as a boarding house. There were renovations in 1969, and in 1993 the deteriorating roof cornice was removed. A renovation completed in 2008 resulted in an additional (rather unattractive) floor and a total of two residential spaces, with the stoop removed and the entrance moved to the former horsewalk at the east edge of the facade. It is gates and has a canvas canopy.

The basement level has three single-windows with iron grilles. The former parlor floor has a larger window replacing the original entrance, which retains its grey stone surround and triangular pediment on top. Below each of the three parlor-floor openings is a black stone panel with a circle. The upper floors have three bays of single-windows.