One of SoHo’s classic 6-story cast iron buildings, 20 Greene Street was constructed around 1880 for light industrial use. 75-feet wide, it now houses retail and commercial lofts converted from artists’ studios famously active during the 1960s and 70s. The building is a contributing structure to the Soho Landmark District. ACHA restored the severely neglected cast iron façade. 

Working closely with the staff of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, ACHA’s restoration specifications developed for this project have been applied by the Commission as a model for other architects working on similar cast iron projects in NYC.  

The façade’s material is ornamental cast iron, a 19th-century building system composed of mass-produced components that were originally selected from a catalog by builders and architects in the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. Over the years, 20 Greene Street has settled at its ends and middle, causing extensive damage to the cast iron, likely due to its proximity to underground waterways in and around Canal Street. Poorly repaired and restored elements added to the building’s troubles. At its worst, duct tape held sections of the façade from falling. Attention to detail and craft were essential to restore the cast iron elements and mitigate distortions in the façade caused by settlement in the building’s foundation and years of neglect. 

After removing layers of inferior repairs, sheet metal and broken elements, techniques used in repairing the facade ranged from recasting iron elements using the same 19th-century methods as were used at the time the building was made, to applying 20th-century auto body fillers, and to welding inserts of scribed stainless steel. A labor of love.