Historic NoHo Property to Become 12-Story Residential Tower 

A property with a fascinating history and revolutionary roots is about to enjoy another surprising chapter.

Plans have been filed with the New York City Department of Buildings to convert two next-door four-story commercial properties, at 294 and 298 Bowery on the north corner of Houston Street in NoHo, into a 12-story mixed-use residence, raising the height from 40 feet to 134 feet.

Developer Paul Yam filed plans for a 42-unit residential tower of almost 50,000 square feet with retail on the first two floors, as first reported by PincusCo. Robert H. Lin was listed as the project’s architect.

The adjacent properties, which currently combine for 23,624 square feet of built space, have recently served as home to restaurant supply shops. Prior to that, their history was far more lively.

According to The Family Parmelee, the website of journalist Jim Walters, 298 Bowery was the address of a farmhouse around 1778. It became an inn called The Cottage around 1800 — the name was later changed to Gotham House — serving farmers in town for the local cattle market.

Author and historian Tom Miller writes that over the next 80 years or so, as ownership changed hands many times, the inn would welcome national prominence and also controversy. Its owners were arrested in 1844 for running a brothel there. A decade later, the inn became the meeting place for the Gotham Base Ball Club of New York, one of the very first baseball teams and one that reportedly has three players in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

The inn was also the site of a notorious murder in 1872 as city marshal James Burns shot a man named John Halloran in the chest, eventually landing in the horrific Kings County Insane Asylum for his crimes.

The inn closed around 1878, to be replaced by a museum, music hall and lodging. Its evolution into a store selling restaurant supplies occurred as the Bowery became a destination for people looking to buy utensils, plates and other kitchen equipment, although such stores are becoming scarce as the neighborhood now hosts galleries and other upscale businesses.

Paul Yam could not be reached for comment.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.