King of Greene Street: Classical Grandeur in Iron
Why is it significant?
Gaze up at the monumental five-story facade commanding number seventy-two to seventy-six Greene Street, affectionately christened the King of Greene Street. Built in 1872 by master architect Isaac F.
Key Facts
| Place | King of Greene Street: Classical Grandeur in Iron |
|---|---|
| Address | 72 Greene St, New York, NY 10012, USA |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.72330, -74.00070 |
| Part of Walk | New York: SoHo Cast-Iron Architecture and Artist Loft Galleries |
| Generated | Generated |
Gaze up at the monumental five-story facade commanding number seventy-two to seventy-six Greene Street, affectionately christened the King of Greene Street. Built in 1872 by master architect Isaac F. Duckworth—just one year before he designed the Queen down the block—this colossal commercial warehouse was commissioned by dry-goods merchant Gardner Colby. Spanning fifty feet across three wide bays, the building displays an imposing neoclassical majesty that rivals the stone palaces of Renaissance Italy.
Notice how Duckworth employed the classical hierarchy of architectural orders: sturdy Doric piers anchor the ground floor, transitioning upward through fluted Ionic columns on the middle levels, culminating in ornate Corinthian capitals on the fourth and fifth floors. The entire composition is crowned by an enormous projecting triangular pediment that thrusts into the sky, supported by massive scrolled brackets and flanked by decorative urns that give the roofline an unmistakable royal silhouette. The hollow iron castings permitted remarkably slender exterior piers, maximizing the surface area of plate glass and ensuring that showroom floors were bathed in generous daylight from sunrise until dusk.
What appears to be hundreds of tons of chiseled granite is actually hollow cast iron, only a fraction of an inch thick. To prove it, preservationists frequently tap the fluted columns with a coin, producing a crisp, metallic chime that surprises passersby. In the late nineteenth century, these facades were freshly painted in light beige and sandstone hues with sand mixed into the wet paint to perfectly mimic imported Ohio freestone.
Peer through the restored plate-glass display windows to admire the slender cast-iron interior columns that allowed column-free open showroom spaces fifty feet wide.
Turn east down Spring Street toward Mercer Street to visit the preserved home and studio of the minimalist genius who redefined modern sculpture.