190 Grand Street was built as a grand, late Federal style residence at a time when this neighborhood was an affluent residential quarter. It was constructed as an investment property by Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of New York State’s leading citizens, who founded in 1826 the school that eventually became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is among the relatively rare surviving and significantly intact Manhattan buildings of the Federal period, and an excellent example of the 3-½-story, Federal style house with peaked roof and segmental dormers.