John Reade Stuyvesant was born on June 10, 1798 to Nicholas William and Catherine Livingston Reade Stuyvesant. He and his wife, the former Catherine Ackerley, maintained a country home in Hyde Park, New York. He inherited Manhattan property--once part of the Peter Stuyvesant farms--from his parents. By the 1850s, a two-story brick stable sat on his land at 231 East 9th Street.
Stuyvesant died in 1853 and by the early 1870s, his heirs were leasing the structure. George Williams operated his business here in 1874, possibly repairing wagons. On May 25, 1874, The Evening Telegram reported that Richard Cary had been arrested "on a charge of burglariously entering the premises, No. 231 East Ninth street, and stealing $50 worth of carpenters' tools." William's tools--worth $1,470 in 2025 money--were recovered.
As early as 1881, Frederick A. Palmer leased the building. His advertisements described his Palmer & Co. as "woven wire mattress weavers."
The Stuyvesant heirs sold the building on February 5, 1891 to Morris Rosendorff for $11,000, or about $391,000 today. While Rosendorff continued to lease the structure to Palmer, it seems that he overextended himself, and he lost it in foreclosure in June 1894. It passed through two owners' hands before long-time tenant Frederick A. Palmer purchased 231 East 9th Street in 1897.
Around the turn of the century, Palmer renamed his firm the Palmer Galvanic Bed Co. It now manufactured "wire bed springs."
On November 21, 1927, The New York Sun reported that Frederick A. Palmer had sold 231 East 9th Street to the Standard Metal Ceiling Company. "At the age of 89 years he decided to sell the property," said the article, adding, "Mr. Palmer was a bed spring inventor and manufactured his springs in the Ninth street structure for forty years, first as tenant and after 1897 as owner."
If the ceiling firm occupied the building at all, it was a short venture. In 1928, the Proletarian Laboratory leased it and converted it to what The New York Times called an "improvised play-house," called the Prolab Theatre.
The Daily Worker, February 16, 1929
On January 7, 1929, The Daily Worker reported, "The Prolab (Proletarian Laboratory) Theatre has begun operations of the season at its headquarters--231 East 9th St. Rehearsals have already begun on three one-act plays to be presented some time in February." The article noted, "There will also be a monthly program of plays and dancing at the theatre headquarters."
The very-off Broadway venue did not survive for long. By the late 1930s, the ground floor of 231 East 9th Street housed an automobile repair garage and an apartment was on the second floor.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Sculptor Charles Salerno occupied the apartment in 1953. Born in 1916, he worked mostly in marble and was known for abstract figurative sculptures. He taught art in Washington Irving High School and the National Academy of Design.
Charles Salerno, from the collection of the National Academy of Design
In 1959, the ground floor space was converted to a burlap bag repair shop. Then in 1976, it became home to Montana Palace, a bakery-catering business. It was replaced in 1990 by Col Legno, an "no-frills Italian spot," as described by New York Magazine's Liz Logan on July 16, 1990.
image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
Col Legno remained in the space until 2008, followed by the Japanese restaurant, Sakagura, owned by Robataya NY. The name was changed to Robataya around 2015.
The venerable little building with its incredible history still has one apartment on the second floor. A Japanese cafe, Hi Collar occupies the ground floor.
photographs by the author
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