443 Greenwich Street

1882 book bindery, converted, 53 residences.

443 Greenwich Street, 10013

443 Greenwich Street was built in 1882 as a book bindery to a design by Charles Coolidge Haight, and converted to 53 residences by CetraRuddy for MetroLoft. It runs the full length of its block.

The conversion kept the structure visible. The Carolina yellow pine beams and columns of 1882 are exposed above the floors, and the arched windows and stringcourses of the original facade were retained, with the shutters restored. A landscaped courtyard was cut into the middle of the plan, and the windows facing it are part of the same restored set.

Timber is what separates this from a concrete or steel loft. The columns are structural and they are finished surfaces, so they cannot be cut, wrapped or moved, and their positions set the grid a plan has to work within. Timber also moves with humidity in a way steel does not, which matters for anything fixed tightly between two columns or scribed hard against one.

The ceilings are open to the beams in much of the building, so services run exposed rather than above a flat plane.

Within walking distance

Building facts

New York City Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output, version 26v1. Tax lot 1002227503.