cast iron

Smithsonian Hall

Smithsonian Hall, the only cast-iron building in Greenpoint, was built by Edward Smith, of Smith, Gray & Co. Gray tapped William F. Gaylor, architect for Smith, Gray & Co.'s Broadway cast-iron buildings, as the architect for this project.1

240-246 Broadway

Constructed in 1891 by furrier Louis Zechiel, this 5-story loft building sits at the junction of South 8th Street and Broadway, which gives the buildings its splayed plan form. The building is three bays wide at the first and second stories (the two western bays are on South 8th Street; the eastern bay is on Broadway) and nine bays wide at the upper three stories. On the upper stories the three windows at the center bay are divided by Ionic pilasters, with square arches at the third and fourth story and round arches at the top story.