182 Fifth Avenue

A vigorous design by Thomas M. Jackson from 1872, 182 Fifth Avenue is a retrofit of an existing townhouse, a brownstone owned by C.A. Pepoon, who owned similar properties at the directly adjacent 178-180 Fifth Avenue.

182 Fifth Avenue is an excellent example of a building type rare above 14th Street in Manhattan and seldom seen on Fifth Avenue – the cast iron building, which reached its New York apogee in the former industrial district of SoHo.

A method of building celebrated as economical, durable and fireproof (the last proving patently untrue), cast iron architecture was first invented in the UK but achieved its greatest popularity in the US, where builders valued the open plans, light-filled interiors and extravagant appearance that the material provided. The ratio of wall to window was revolutionized and cast iron buildings are important progenitors in both structural and aesthetic terms to the steel framed skyscrapers of later decades.

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