110 East 13th Street, 110-112 East 13th Street | Block : 558 | Lot #13

Description & Building Alterations

This red brick building was designed by Joseph M. Dunn for owner Edward Kearney in 1874. It features an arched cornice with brackets and modillions. The window openings have been modified over the years, and the second and third floor windows have lost their sills (the fourth floor windows retain their bracketed sills, however). Despite this, the arched lintels at each floor still provide dimension to the façade.

Originally, 110-112 East 13th Street was used as a stable and an auction house for horse carriages. Andrew Jeffries Garvey, part of New York’s corrupt Tammany Hall political machine known as the “Prince of the Plasterers,” owned the building until his death in 1897. In the late 1890s to early 1900s, Alfred Dolge and Son, prominent piano felt manufacturers in Dolgeville, NY, had offices here.  During the 1920s, a floor of the building was used as a film vault, and The American Piano Supply Company was located here. In 1927, the prominent hardware store Hammacher Schlemmer (at 127-135 Fourth Avenue) purchased the company, and it became known as the American Piano Supply Co., Division of Hammacher, Schlemmer & Co. 

Huyler’s Luncheonettes, Inc. moved to 110-112 East 13th Street in 1928. Once the nation’s largest and most prominent chocolate maker, Huyler’s had just broken new ground with its development of “luncheonettes,” which were open to the street and uniquely allowed passers-by to look directly into the stores. According to a 1928 New York Times article, 110-112 East 13th Street was intended to be used by Huyler’s for “offices, a showroom and the manufacture of ice-cream, candy and bakery products.”

Photographer Harris Fogel’s photo, “110 East 13th Street, New York City, 1986, from the 6 x 6 Portfolio” is held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

When the building was converted to residences, two setback stories were added.