The Merchant's House, 31-37 North Moore Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 31-37 North Moore Street by Carter Horsley

These two commercial buildings 31-33 and 35-37 North Moore Street in TriBeCa were erected in 1896 and 1905, respectively, and now contain 23 condominium lofts.  They are in the TriBeCa West Historic District.

The 6-story building at 31-33 North Moore Street was nearly destroyed by a fire in 1992 and according to an article by Rachelle Garbarine in The New York Times April 5, 1996 “sat charred and vacant for a year and a half.” 

The owner of the building was a subsidiary of the Dah Chong Hong Trading Corporation and it commissioned AB Architect to combine it and the adjoining smaller building at 35-37 into 23 residential condominium apartments with parking for 12 cars and three retail stores.  Dah Chong Hong had owned the building since the 1970s and used it for its food business, according to the article.

The project was called the Merchants House after the Merchants Refrigeration and Ice Manufacturing Company, which built and first occupied buildings and has its name etched in stone on one of the façades.

The conversion involved restoring the larger building’s four existing levels, rebuilding the two destroyed by fire and adding two new ones, the article continued.  The façade was recreated and repaired and an atrium, the article said, was carved from the core of the building to permit the added height and provide more light.  The six-story adjacent building had a story added in the conversion.

According to the impressive and wonderful website, Daytonianinmanhattan.blogspot.com, “in 1905 architect William H. Bickmire was commissioned to design a straight-forward brick industrial building has headquarters for the firm at 35-37 North Moore.”  “He produced a handsome five-story structure in the Romanesque style at the tail end of its popularity.  Rough-cut limestone lintels and sills spanned pairs of windows between the brick pilasters that rose to support three graceful arches resting on ambitious, elaborate terra cotta Corinthian capitals,” the article continued, noting that Merchants relocated its offices to Varick Street at the start of the Great Depression.

In 1998, Joseph Pell Lombardi, one of the city’s leading restoration architects, and Arpad Baksa handled the renovation of the two buildings.

Bottom Line

One of the premier buildings in TriBeCa, this two-building complex was rebuilt after a fire destroyed two floors with a new atrium that permitted roof additions including one of the city’s most spectacular penthouses.

Description

Both buildings have dentilated cornices and top floors with arched windows.  The lower building has elaborate window surrounds and both buildings share a diamond plate loading docks with a hung marquee and a cast-iron façade on the first floor, which is devoted to retail.

The 12-car garage is accessed on Ericcson Place.

Amenities

The buildings are air-conditioned and have fireplaces, storage, a garage and a roof deck.

Apartments

The 7,200-square-foot Penthouse AC at 35 North Moore Street was put on the market recently for $28 million.  It has 6 bedrooms and 3,000 square feet of split outdoor space with one terrace with a fireplace and another with a barbecue and a dog house.  The outdoor space includes a Japanese garden with a bridge.  The unit’s north wing has 17-foot-high ceilings in the skylit great room with a 50-foot-expanse of windows and it also has garage space for four cars in the basement.

The penthouse at 31 North Moore Street is a two-bedroom duplex with an 11-foot-long entry foyer that leads to 22-foot-square living room that opens onto a 52-foot-wide terrace and also leads to a 29-foot-long dining room next to a 14-foot-wide open kitchen and an 11-foot-wide study.  There are bedrooms on both levels.