430 Greenwich Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 430 Greenwich Street by Carter Horsley

This attractive, 7-story, red-brick building at 430 Greenwich Street between Laight and Vestry streets in the TriBeCa North Historic District was erected in 1883 by James Pye, a soap manufacturer, for J. M. Duclos & Co.  It was designed by Thomas R. Jackson. 

It has 32 co-operative apartments. 

The building is on a cobblestone street and close to the Hudson River.

Bottom Line

A red-brick former warehouse that was built in 1883 on a cobblestone street near the Hudson River now has 32 co-operative apartments and a fire-escape.

Description

This building and its shorter neighbor at 428 Greenwich Street have a painted sign promoting "Port Warehouse" that spans both buildings. 

This building also has a fire-escape. 

The designation report for the TriBeCa North Historic District provides the following commentary about this building: 

"This seven-story warehouse has a ninety-nine-foot façade on Greenwich Street and a seventy-nine-foot façade on Vestry Street....The design of the red-brick façades is fairly utilitarian, enriched with Romanesque Revival detailing such as rock-faced granite elements at the segmentally- and round-arched window heads and a corbelled brick and granite cornice.  Many of the windows, from which iron fireproof shutters have been removed, have four-over-four industrial sash; there are historic fire escapes on both façades.  At the one-story base, cast-iron piers (with founder's  plats of J. M. Duclos & Co. Iron Works, 104 St. New York City), supporting a cornice, frame the openings; a larger pier on Greenwich Street corresponds with the placement of the brick partition wall which divides the building into northern and southern halves.  A loading bay in the southern half of the façade is sheltered by a sheet-metal awning.  The stepped vault has been partially removed and converted into loading platform; bays providing access to the elevators have openings at or near grade.  The base on the Vestry Street façade has a central section with windows framed by brick piers.  A loading platform spans the façade and a sheet-metal awning, supported by angle-iron brackets and suspended from eyebars, shelters the western portion.  A square brick chimney rises from the southwest corner of the western elevation, now stuccoed.  Window openings with segmentally-arched heads in the light-court portion of the elevation have a variety of sash types; fireproof shutters remain at the first story.  New window openings have been cut into the northern half of the elevation. 

"Built for use as a factory and workshop, this building was the first of five buildings on the block designed by Jackson for Pyle (four survive).  The headquarters of Pyle's 'Pearline' soap manufacturing operation was relocated from 350 Washington Street to this building; at the time of his death in 1912, Pyle's main soap plant was located at Shady Side on the Hudson River.  In 1911 the wholesale grocery firm of the Birdsong Brothers leased the southern half of the building  as well as at 428 Greenwich Street.  The wholesale grocery firm of Meyer & Lange occupied the building from the 1910s to the 1940s; it was later a facility of the Port Warehouses operation whose signage remains on the building, as well as on the one to the south.  The building replaced several masonry and wood buildings on the site, including the William J. Wilcox & Company's lard refinery located on the northern half of the block."

Amenities

The building has a roof deck, some fireplaces, an elevator and is pet-friendly.

Apartments

The Penthouse is a three-bedroom unit with almost 3,000 square feet of interior space and 2,200 square feet of outdoor space.  The 30-foot-wide living room has a gas fireplace and wet bar and adjoins two small offices.  There is an adjoining 20-foot-wide dining room and a secondary, 18-foot-long living room and a stair to a roof garden with an outdoor kitchen. The 18-foot-wide skylit kitchen with an island has double Wolf ovens, a six-burner French Top, two Bosch dishwashers.  The upper level has an 11-foot-wide seating area with stairs to a 47-foot-wide terrace. 

The fourth floor is a one-bedroom unit that has a small entry foyer that leads, through one door, to a 35-foot-long living/dining room, an open, 21-foot-long kitchen with a curved breakfast bar, and a bedroom, and through another door to a 30-foot-long studio, a 13-foot-darkroom, and three 11-foot-wide offices. 

The second floor is a four-bedroom unit with a 37-foot-long great room with a 17-foot-wide open kitchen with an island. 

Apartment 5W is a two-bedroom unit with an angled entry foyer that leads to a 15-foot-wide gallery and a 31-foot-wide living/dining room with a 16-foot-long open kitchen with an island.