On June 13, 1913, when this photograph was taken, a restaurant occupied the ground floor. Colonial Architecture in New York City, 1913 (copyright expired)
In 1815, homes and shops were appearing along Spring Street between Greenwich and Hudson Street. It was around that year that the two-and-a-half story house-and-store was erected at the southeast corner of Greenwich and Spring Streets. The Federal-style structure was faced in brick on the front, or Greenwich Street elevation, and in clapboards on the side. The attic, under a high gambrel roof, featured two tall dormers at the front, and an arched window on the side flanked by quarter-round openings.
The residential entrance was at 318 Spring Street, while the commercial address was 513 Greenwich Street. In 1816, the shop was occupied by the Henry A. & C. Heiser candle store. By 1850, the ground floor was divided into two shops. William Maginnis and his family lived upstairs, and he ran his "willowware" (i.e. baskets) shop here. The enterprising businessman ran a fruit market next door, at 316 Spring Street, as well. The other shop was home to Thomas Dean's tinsmith business. Previously, he worked and lived a block away at 324 Spring Street. (He and his family now lived at 76 Charlton Street.)
Thomas Dean would operate his tin shop here through 1858. In 1851, Maginnis moved out, relocating his family to 573 Greenwich Street. (He kept his fruit business next door, however.) James Clinton took over the vacant store for his boots and shoe shop.
Ann Mulligan, the widow of Bernard Mulligan, seems to have operated the upper floors as a boarding house in the mid-1850s. Listed at the address in 1853 were John McCool, a builder, and Levi Hyer, a clerk. Both men volunteered as fire fighters at the National Hose Company, No. 24 nearby at 315 Spring Street. (John McCool would become a significant developer in the years after the Civil War, erecting long rows of brownstone residences in the burgeoning Upper East Side.)
from the collection of the New York Public Library
Sharing the ground floor with Thomas Dean in 1858 was John Jones's carpet weaving shop. On December 16 that year, a fire was sparked by a "candle in dust," according to the The United States Insurance Gazette and Magazine. The building was owned by Dr. Samuel M. Valentine, who lived at 159 Madison Avenue. In repairing the damages, Valentine further separated the ground floor, which now held three stores. It was likely that the reduction of space prompted Thomas Dean to leave, moving his business to 533 Canal Street.
Valentine's ground floor tenants were now John Jones's carpet weaving business, Joseph Watson's tinsmith shop (it is possible he had worked for Thomas Dean), and David Orr's boot and shoe shop. Just after midnight on November 27, 1861, another fire broke out "in the carpet weaving shop of John Jones," according to the New York Herald, which said, "The flames extended into the tinware store of Joseph Watson, adjoining, before the fire was extinguished."
This time, the Fire Marshal's Semi-annual Report deemed the cause, "carelessness." The damage to the building was estimated at $100. Jones suffered the same amount (equal to about $3,570 in 2025). Watson's loss was half that amount, but he had no insurance coverage. Although the fire did not spread into David Orr's shop, he suffered the worst. The New York Herald noted that his "stock of boots and shoes...was damaged by water to the extent of about $150."
It appears that Valentine restored the ground floor to two spaces. Not surprisingly, after two fires in his shop, John Jones was no longer a tenant. Joseph Watson now shared the ground floor with John and Elizabeth Collins. John shared his basket store with Elizabeth's "home furnishing" business. The couple lived nearby at 311 Spring Street.
In the meantime, boarders came and went in the upper floors. J. Flinger's residency was cut short in August 1863, when he was drafted into the Union Army. An unmarried woman, E. Connell, lived here the following year. She advertised for a job in The New York Times on November 18, 1864, "Wanted--By a young American woman, a situation to travel as a companion to an invalid or as lady's maid; can furnish the best reference."
from the collection of the New York Public Library
Elizabeth and John Collins remained in their store as late as 1874. By then, John had added crockery to his basket offerings. Around 1867, Thomas Gallagher had taken over the former Joseph Watson tin business. John Gallagher, presumably his son, ran the business in 1879. That year Philip Scheurer ran a crockery store in the former Collins space. Scheuer and his family shared the upper portion of the building with "pumpmaker" John Ivans.
In 1888, D. Parrata obtained a permit to operate a "fruit and soda water stand" on the sidewalk. Living upstairs at the time was the Ferris family. Charles Ferris listed his profession as "pedlar," and Joseph Ferris as a driver.
The frame building survived another fire that broke out at 10:25 on the morning of October 27, 1903 in the office of Ledyard Avery & Co., commission merchants. The ground floor was returned to a single commercial space, home to a restaurant by 1913. It was replaced in the post World War I years by Star Art Glass Co.
The Glaziers' Journal, August 1923 (copyright expired)
The Star Art Glass Co. was still in the unlikely surviving relic on June 29, 1938 when photographer Berenice Abbott photographed it. In the shadow of the rumbling elevated train, a notice plastered on the building's facade offered "This Corner Plot" for sale, noting, "Will Alter or Erect New Building."
Within three years the venerable structure was gone. In its place, a single-story building was erected, which survives.
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