CONTEMPORARY NY
SOH055-01.jpg (80518 bytes) New York Architecture Images-Soho

85 Lispenard St.

architect

James Bogardus

location

85 Lispenard St. 

date

1860-61

style

Renaissance Revival

construction

Cast Iron Facade

type

Shop Office Warehouse

 

images

 

notes

No. 85 Lispenard St. is the only positively identified structure by James Bogardus in the city. Bogardus, the father of cast-iron architecture, foresaw the possibilities of bolting together sections of cast iron into facades or even whole buildings. Of course many different types of ornament could be bolted onto the sections, and this building is practically a catalogue of decorative elements: fluted columns (formerly with leafy capitals), lion's heads, rope moldings, bearded faces, dentilled moldings, faceted keystones, egg-and-dart trim, stylized leaves, and ( best of all for cast-iron fanciers) Bogardus's own nameplate is embossed in the window ledge to the left of the door: James Bogardus, Originator and Patentee of Iron Buildings. May 7, 1856.

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nyc-architecture.com

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