This commodious house with Queen Anne detail was constructed as a single-family house for Griffin, a produce dealer on Canal Street, where most of the city’s comestibles were brokered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the middle of the 20th century, the building was remodeled to accommodate commercial and residential use, the former on the first floor and the latter above. The present owner has retained residential use on the upper stories and restored residential use to the first story.

In the unit on the upper two floors, spaces have been reconfigured, a reflection of changing living patterns. An archway was created between the entrance hall and the living room, which was enlarged in the mid-20th century by claiming space from the originally large middle room. On the top floor, partitions were removed to create a spacious master suite from four smaller rooms. Thanks to its location within the house’s cross-gable roof, this is a lively space, with subsidiary nooks and alcoves defined by the intersecting planes of the roof itself. 

– 2009 Festival of Historic Houses Guidebook

[Show slideshow]