"Mr. Frederick B. Smith, artist, author and actor, has disposed of a lot at the corner of Broadway and Eleventh [Hooper] street, to Mr. Thomas Bell, the grocer. He has engaged Messrs. Quinn & Reilly to to erect a four story store and dwelling, twenty-five by fifty feet.
[John Clyde] is engaged for the construction of eight three story Philadelphia front stores and dwellings on Grand street, near Leonard, for Mr. Douglas. The frontage on Grand street is 180 feet and the depth 50 feet each."1
Theodore A. Havemeyer (May 17, 1839 – April 26, 1897) and his brother, Henry O. Havemeyer, transformed the family sugar refining operation into the Sugar Trust. The brothers were the sons of Frederick C. Havemeyer, Jr. and grandsons of Frederick C. Havemeyer, one of the founding partners of the Havemeyer sugar empire. Theodore oversaw the operations of the refineries and was responsible for the design of the Havemyers & Elder Sugar Refinery (1884) in Williamsburgh.
Constructed with 109 to 111 Franklin Street, this handsome pair of richly-decorated tenements is clad in red brick with sandstone trim, terrace cotta trim and iron cornices. The terra cotta details include decorative tiles in the lower spandrel areas and vertical piers between paired windows at 109, and at decorative panels within the round and segmental arches at the fourth floor. The sandstone trim (perhaps an Ohio stone) is a mix of rock-faced lintels and arch spring blocks and flat sills and sill courses. The flat-arch windows feature splayed brick lintels.