183-195 Broadway

The cast-iron facade of 183-195 Broadway is distinctive among cast-iron buildings in New York City for its inventive Neo-Grec design and unusual calla lily ornament, embodying aspects of the Aesthetic Movement. Built towards the end of the heyday of cast-iron fronts in New York, 183-195 Broadway, which was manufactured by the Atlantic Iron Works, is one of only a small number of cast-iron buildings that were constructed in the Borough of Brooklyn.

Plans for the building were filed by a local Williamsburg architect, William B. Ditmars; however, the building’s cast-iron facade was designed by Herman J. Schwarzmann. The building, which was built in 1882-1883 for James R. Sparrow (1810-1886) and his son, James R. Sparrow Jr. (1841-1909), was part of a wave of post-Civil War redevelopment along Broadway.

*Excerpt from the Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report

STATUS Designated Individual Landmark

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