E. V. Haughwout Building

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES · NEW YORK STATE REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES · NYC INDIVIDUAL LANDMARK · CONTRIBUTING PROPERTY, SOHO-CAST IRON HISTORIC DISTRICT

History of the Building

Architectural Context

The E. V. Haughwout Building opened in 1857 at Broadway and Broome Street as a showroom for luxury household goods. Architect John P. Gaynor gave the corner building two cast-iron fronts, drawing on Italian Renaissance architectural forms.

Significance

The building demonstrates the architectural possibilities of prefabricated cast-iron components in nineteenth-century commercial construction. Its customer passenger elevator added a significant technical innovation. It became an individual New York City landmark on November 23, 1965, under LP-0017.

Building Description

Five stories of repeated arched window openings address Broadway and Broome Street. Columns, richly modeled capitals and continuous horizontal moldings organize the cast-iron fronts beneath a projecting ornamental cornice. The regular bays create a unified composition across the corner.

Landmark Designations

490 Broadway (E.V. Haughwout Building)

NYC Individual Landmark
November 23, 1965
National Register of Historic Places
August 28, 1973
New York State Register of Historic Places
August 28, 1973

SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District (NHL District)
Contributing property · LPC August 14, 1973

Scope of Work

01
Exterior Examination
Close-range visual examination of the 1857 cast-iron facade and ornament, conducted across all elevations and at the cornice, capitals, columns, fenestration, and ground-floor storefront.
02
Reports
Facade condition reporting addressing deterioration in the cast iron and adjacent masonry and repair considerations. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission administers local landmark review for the building and the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. National Historic Landmark district recognition is a separate designation, not a local review jurisdiction.