The Schermerhorn Row Block (pronounced ) is a city block bounded by John Street, South Street, Fulton Street, and Front Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York City, United States, near the South Street Seaport. Named for Peter Schermerhorn, the block includes approximately 20 buildings from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, designed in the Federal and Greek Revival styles. The Schermerhorn Row name originally applied only to the buildings at 2 through 18 Fulton Street, dating from 1811–1812. The name also covers the other buildings on the block, at 181–195 Front Street, 159–171 John Street, and 91–92 South Street The buildings were designated New York City Landmarks in 1968, and the block was collectively added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The Schermerhorn Row site occupies reclaimed land on the East River between two long-demolished boat slips: Burling Slip to the south and Beekman Slip to the north. The land between the slips was infilled gradually in the late 18th century, and development of the block began as early as the 1790s. During the mid-19th century, the block included many businesses related to the maritime industry, including grocers, steamship lines, and boarding houses. The buildings underwent significant design changes throughout the years. The South Street Seaport Museum took over the buildings in the 1960s and 1970s, amid plans to demolish and redevelop the site. The buildings were renovated from 1981 to 1983 and again in the early 2000s.
The buildings on the block are generally between four and six stories tall. The buildings at 2 through 18 Fulton Street are all nearly identical on the exterior, with cast-iron storefronts at ground level and brick facades on the upper stories. Many of the other buildings on the Schermerhorn Row Block, particularly the structures on Front and John streets, have granite facades at the ground level and brick facades above. Since the 1980s, the buildings have been occupied by businesses on their lower stories, with residences above.
Site The Schermerhorn Row Block is known as Block 74. The southwestern side of the Schermerhorn Row Block abuts John Street, which was originally a boat slip known as Burling Slip. The block is also bounded by South Street to the southeast, Fulton Street to the northeast, and Front Street to the northwest. The section of Fulton Street abutting the Schermerhorn Row Block is a pedestrian plaza. Across John Street to the southwest is 170–176 John Street, one of the city's few buildings with a facade carved out of a single massive granite block.
Although the Schermerhorn Row name originally referred only to the buildings at 2–18 Fulton Street, it has since been expanded to cover the entire block. In general, the block contains structures from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, except for a vacant lot at the southern corner, at John and South streets. The structures carry the addresses 2–18 Fulton Street, 181–195 Front Street, 159–171 John Street, and 91–92 South Street. The Schermerhorn Row Block contains some of the oldest surviving warehouses in New York City; other such warehouses are scattered throughout the neighborhood.
Previous site usage The Schermerhorn Row site was located underneath the East River before the European colonization of New Amsterdam (later New York City). At the time, the shoreline followed Water and Pearl streets, three blocks away from the modern shoreline at South Street. The site occupies reclaimed land between two long-demolished boat slips that extended inland from the shoreline: Burling Slip to the south and Beekman Slip to the north. Burling Slip corresponds to what is now John Street, while Beekman Slip corresponds to Fulton Street. West of Pearl Street, a ridge gradually slopes up toward Broadway, while north of John Street, Pearl Street begins to slope up.
In either 1722 or 1723, Gerardus Beekman received permission from the Common Council of New York to build Beekman Slip to Pearl Street. During the next half-century, Lower Manhattan was expanded outward into the East River, and the slips saw decreased usage. By 1767, both Beekman Slip and Burling Slip had been truncated from Pearl to Water Street, and the land between the two slips was reclaimed. The new shoreline consisted of a series of cribs, or wooden boxes filled with debris and rocks. Local residents petitioned the city to fill in the slips from Water to Front Street, and this was completed by 1788, Due to ownership disputes, the shoreline was not expanded farther southeast to South Street until the 1810s. The slips were replaced with piers, extending outward from the shoreline.
History Commercial use Development
Although the block is named after the developer Peter Schermerhorn, several developers were involved in constructing the buildings in the Schermerhorn Row Block, including George Codwise. The first buildings on the block may have been completed as early as the 1790s, and owners of shorefront land next to the Schermerhorn Row site began petitioning the city for ownership of the adjacent underwater plots in the 1800s. Several underwater grants were issued in 1803–1804. During 1806, Codwise (who owned land on Burling Slip) asked the city to place a bulkhead across Beekman Slip at South Street; Schermerhorn, who owned the land there, refused to develop his site until the land had been filled. This bulkhead was completed by the next year, and the city replaced the slips with piers measuring long. Concurrently, the shoreline was extended all the way southeast to South Street.
Codwise's sites were listed as vacant up until mid-1809, but he was constructing the foundation of a building at South Street and Burling Slip by April of the following year. Immediately to the northeast, Schermerhorn built a dozen counting houses on Fulton Street between 1811 and 1812. According to South Street Seaport Museum curator Steven Jaffe, the structures "were comparable in scale to City Hall". During the construction of Codwise's and Schermerhorn's buildings, it was discovered that their southeastern lot lines were misaligned by approximately . Initially, the buildings had stores on the lower levels; the lowest two floors usually contained stores and their counting rooms. The upper levels were intended as storage and as apartments for storeowners and employees, though in practice, many of the buildings' owners did not live there. Over the years, the buildings were used as hotels, restaurants, stores, and warehouses. Their tenants included counting houses, dry-good stores, fish markets, grocers, saloons, and sweatshops, in addition to enterprises including a bank, an insurance firm, a tobacco-processing factory, and a brothel. The New York Times referred to Schermerhorn Row as a precursor to the modern concept of a world trade center.
Mid-19th century changes The last traces of Beekman Slip were infilled in 1813, but Burling Slip remained in place until the city ordered that it be infilled in 1835. Merchants on Burling Slip gained a business advantage early on, since ships could travel directly between the slip and other American East Coast cities. Because of the proximity of global shipping lines, the Schermerhorn Row Block attracted a large number of importers, who resold products to shopkeepers in New York City. The Fulton Ferry terminal to Brooklyn, next to the former Beekman Slip, opened in 1814. The launch of ferry service further increased business on the Schermerhorn Row Block, as did the 1816 opening of the Fulton Market (the predecessor to the Fulton Fish Market) across Fulton Street. The proximity of the docks also attracted firms active in the transatlantic trade. By the mid-19th century, four major shipping companies had offices on the block, including Josiah Macy & Son at 189–191 Front Street and A. A. Low & Brothers at 167–171 John Street. To serve all this commerce, the first boarding houses had opened on the Schermerhorn Row Block by the 1820s. The South Street Seaport Museum cited the buildings as having comprised the city's largest commercial structure.
The proximity of the Fulton Ferry meant that, by the early 1850s, half of the block's merchants lived in Brooklyn and commuted to Manhattan. When many of the buildings' original merchants moved out, the lower levels of these buildings were modified by their subsequent occupants. Sweet's Seafood House moved into 2–4 Fulton Street in either 1845 or 1847 and, with brief interruptions, remained there continuously for over a century. Sweet's was frequented by sea captains during the seaport's heyday and, at least in its early years, also hosted meetings for people involved in the slave trade. By the 1850s, the Schermerhorn Row Block had a high concentration of fruit wholesalers; at the time, one of every four fruit merchants in the city worked at the Fulton Market. Albert Rogers opened a hotel at 2–4 Fulton Street in 1850; this building became Sweet's Hotel in 1864 when Rogers's employee Abraham Sweet took over. That building was renovated in 1868 to designs by John Yeaton, and a mansard roof was added; at the time, John McKinley owned the building. Around the corner on South Street was the Mackinley (later Fulton Ferry) Hotel, which began operation in 1868.
Late 19th and early 20th centuries
The buildings at 92–93 South Street and 2–6 Fulton Street were used as hotels in the late 19th century. While the historian John G. Waite cites these buildings as having comprised two separate businesses: Sweet's Hotel and the Fulton Ferry Hotel, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) cites them as having both been part of the Fulton Ferry Hotel. In any case, the hotel rooms were extremely small by modern standards, measuring less than , and they lacked modern furnishings like heat, lighting, and bathrooms. Larger ships began docking on the Hudson River on the west side of Manhattan in the late 19th century, since the East River was too shallow for these ships. In addition, the Brooklyn Bridge to the northeast opened in 1883, obviating the need to use the ferry. As a result, major shipping companies moved away from Schermerhorn Row, and smaller businesses (including factories and fish markets) moved into the buildings. Some maritime businesses remained, but the buildings were mainly occupied by clothiers and dealers.
The four-story building at 91 South Street was expanded by the architecture firm of Kurtzer and Rohl in 1897, becoming a five-story hotel with a shop at street level. The buildings underwent significant design changes as well; by the 1900s, only one of the buildings retained its original doorways. The hotels on Schermerhorn Row became less popular in the early 20th century, at the same time as the maritime trade moved away from the South Street Seaport. The hotel at 93 South Street became a flophouse by the 1930s after Charles Lake, who operated Sweet's Seafood House at the time, declined to take responsibility for it. The last boarding house was shuttered in the 1940s.
Redevelopment Preservation dispute