The 1910 R. Tassi & Sons Garage - 45-47 Downing Street

 

Automobiles were changing the streets of New York City in the first years of the 20th century, but only the wealthy could afford them.  Then, in 1908, Henry Ford introduced the Model T, priced for the middle class at $825 (about $29,000 in 2025).  By 1910, there were approximately 400,000 motorcars in America.  Joseph Tassi recognized the need of a "car stable" in Greenwich Village.

On May 26, 1910, Tassi purchased the one-story frame building at 45 Bedford Street and the vacant lot next door at No. 47 for $16,000.  He hired architect George Provot to design a three-story garage on the site.  His plans, filed on August 30, set the construction cost at $30,000; bringing Tassi's total outlay to $1.57 million in today's terms.

Something delayed the project and in 1915, when the garage was finally completed, the architect of record was Eugene De Rosa.  Which architect is responsible for the design--or if it was a combination of both--is unclear.

The completed building was an industrial take on the Colonial Revival style.  The two broad automobile bays and pedestrian entrances were flanked with paneled cast iron piers.  The upper floors were faced in running-bond brick.  The grouped, multi-paned openings sat within a shallow recess (one-brick deep) capped with a faux lintel of brick with a terra cotta keystone.  The frieze of the pressed metal cornice read: "Tassi Garage."

The Downing Stables next door marked the old and new means of transportation. When this photo was taken in 1941, the garage was the Downing Street Garage. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Joseph Tassi was born about 1886 to Raffaelle and Marianna Tassi.  In 1919, title to the property was transferred to Raffaelle.  When the garage opened, the business was listed as R. Tassi Sons.  

As had been the case with livery stables, which assisted patrons with selling their horses or carriages, the R. Tassi Sons garage advertised for their clients.  An advertisement in The New York Evening Telegram on March 16, 1915, for instance, read, "Ford taxicab for sale cheap; passed inspection; sell on account need the money.  R. Tassi Sons, 45 Downing st."  And on June 21, 1919, a notice in the New York Herald offered, "Pierce Arrow raceabout body, good condition.  Apply Tassi's Garage, 45 Downing st."

In 1924, the Tassi family leased the property to the Downing Garage Co., which operated the garage through 1940.  It was then occupied as a warehouse and garage by Express Service, Inc.

Raffaelle Tassi died on April 23, 1934 at the age of 76, leaving an estate of $85,173 (just under $2 million today).  Included in his assets was, of course, 45 Downing Street, valued at $30,000.  The family retained possession of the property until 1971.

The new owners initiated a significant renovation in 1971, transforming the garage to a single-family home.  A dramatic ad in The New York Times on November 30, 1979 read:

Unique singular townhouse.  Presently occupied by Royalty.  Must dispose of immediately & willing to give away at an unbelievably incredibly low sacrifice of $100,000.  Only one of its kind in NYC.  Must be seen to be believed.

(Who the "royalty" was who reportedly occupied the former garage is unclear.)  The new owner converted the lower two floors to an event venue.  In her column in the N.Y. Amsterdam News on July 9, 1988, Cathy Connors reported, "Wall St.'s upper strata descended from ivoried citadels of power/money/influence to a SoHo [sic] hot spot, 45 Downing St.  Senator John Glenn and Geraldine Ferraro hosted this pricey reception tagged from four to five figures or more to be admitted."

And on August 19, 1990, The New York Times reported on the wedding of Sandra M. Wall and Christopher J. Walton "at 45 Downing Street, a Manhattan caterer."

By 1995, the venue was known as the Alger Mansion.  On May 14 that year, The New York Times reported, "The Dessoff Choirs will celebrate 70 years of musical performances at a benefit in the Alger Mansion, 45 Downing Street."  Interestingly, not every event was a happy one.  On January 1, 2002, The Times reported on the memorial service for artist Peter Fraenkel, at "Downing St. Mansion, 45 Downing Street."

Although the Department of Buildings still describes the property as a "one family residence," the lower floors continue to house an event venue now known as 45 Downing.  Its website describes a "spacious ballroom and beautiful garden room with fireplace."  And other than the sympathetic remodeling of the ground floor bays, the Tassi Garage is essentially unchanged.

photographs by the author

From Carriage Factory to Trendy Club - 60-62 Downing Street (222-224 West Houston Street)

 

The owner of the livery stable at 62 Downing Street was in financial trouble in 1873 and lost his property in foreclosure.  On September 18 a "mortgage sale" was held of "a large number of very valuable Horses, Clarences, open and closed Coaches, light and road Wagons, Hearses, Phaetons, double and single Harness, Blankets, Whips, Stable Fixtures, &c." according to the listing.  Directly behind the stable was the Hammersley Foundry.  (West Houston Street had been called Hammersley Street prior to 1860.)

Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, 1875 (copyright expired)

In 1877 John Nichol sold both properties to David I. Christie and Charles H. See for the equivalent of $120,000 in today's money.  The Downing Street building was three stories tall, while the former foundry building was just one.  Neither of the brick-faced structures aspired to architectural significance, their builders content to create utilitarian structures.  Christie and See joined the two disparate buildings internally.  

It appears they operated the combined buildings as a stable.  On May 2, 1886 Christie advertised in the New York Herald:

For Sale--A sidebar top buggy, Brewster make; single set harness, three blankets, three lap robes, all as good as new; also a good work horse.  Inquire of D. E. Christie, No. 224 West Houston St.

The sale may have been prompted by the men's having leased the property to Daniel H. Johnson that year.  He converted it to a wagon factory.  

In the 1890's the neighborhood was filling with Italian immigrants and Blacks.  By 1896 a portion the building was home to the Unique Club, a gathering spot for local Blacks.  Its proprietor, Thomas Jones, described it as "a regularly organized club," meaning that it was a legitimate social club.  Whether the it was strictly "regular" is debatable.  But either way, Detective John J. Gerrity saw potential profit.  He demanded $20 per month for police "protection."

Trouble came in February when Gerrity pressured Jones for $5 more per month, threatening to shut the club down.  Jones refused and then reported Gerrity's threats to the captain of detectives at the police station.  But, according to The Sun, he "heard nothing more of it."  Then, on Saturday night, February 27, the Unique Club was raided, and 13 men were arrested and charged with gambling.  

In court, Jones told the judge of Gerrity's extortion.  On March 1, 1897, The Sun reported that the judge asked why "he paid for police protection if the club was regularly organized and the law was not violated."  Jones explained that he did it "to avoid trouble as he knew that other clubs had had trouble through stool-pigeons sent in by the police, who would swear to anything asked of them."  Considering racial bias rampant within the police force at the time, Jones made a valid point.

Judge Simms considered the charges against Gerrity "very serious."  He discharged the other 12 men, but held Jones for trial for operating a gambling house (Gerrity had provided a "stool-pigeon," exactly as Jones had feared.)  Nevertheless, the judge urged Jones "to report his story of Gerrity to the officials at Police Headquarters," as reported by the New York Herald.  "Jones said he would certainly visit [Police Commissioner Theodore] Roosevelt."  

Robert Christie sold the property to the Enarem Realty Corporation in 1927.  On October 28, The New York Evening Post remarked that it had been in the Christie family "for nearly fifty years," adding, "It is occupied by [an] old three-story building."  The following year, in December, the new owners leased the buildings to the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Inc. for $6,000 per year (closer to $91,000 today).

A renovation completed the following year resulted in a "garage for more than five automobiles."  It was possibly at this time that the upper floors of the Downing Street building were removed.  It became one of the firm's New York Firestone Service Stores.

The renovations done by Firestone did not extend to exterior charm.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In June 1933, Harvey Firestone described the service stores to The New York Sun.  "One of the most important things in the eyes of the motor car owner today is the element of time...It annoys car owners to make many stops for service.  As a result, Firestone has established its system of one-stop service store, equipping them with highly efficient machinery to give the car owner the best of service quickly and economically."  He said that only "factory trained experts are employed" in the stores.

The Firestone store occupied the building for decades.  It had become the King Bear Auto Service Center by 1981.  But the changing in the neighborhood resulting in a renovation in 2003 for an "eating and drinking establishment."  

On February 27, 2013 Brian Sloan, writing in The New York Times, reported, "There's a new beer hall in town and, surprise, it's actually in Manhattan.  You'd think it would be tough to fit one into the bourgeois West Village, but the owners of Heartland Brewery have done just that, repurposing a parking garage...into a fine de siècle themed drinking parlor for up to 500 people."  Sloan called Houston Hall "Disney does Five Points," saying "it almost feels like a Hollywood backlot version of Tammany-era new York, with rusticated brick walls, meticulously faded old-timey signage and period props galore."

The rather bedraggled appearance of the two structures testifies to their unglamorous history.

photographs by the author

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The Charles S. Holt House - 58 Downing Street

 

In the first years of the 1840's Charles S. Holt lived in the brick-faced house at No. 58 Downing Street.  Just 16-feet wide and two-and-a-half stories tall, it reflected the owner's moderate income.  The enterprising Holt sat out to make soap, most likely in a smaller building in the rear yard, but his ambitious venture led to his arrest.  

On October 22, 1842 the Mourning Courier reported that he "was tried for a public nuisance, in boiling stinking and rotten meats on the premises occupied by him, No. 58 Downing street, for the purpose of extracting the grease therefrom, he being engaged in the business of a tallow chandler."  Neighbors complained that the odors were so foul that they were forced to vacate their homes.  Holt got off easily, as it turned out.  The New York Herald reported two days later that his sentence was suspended because the judges "presumed that he would abate the nuisance."

Holt apparently did so and, in fact, his business seems to have succeeded.  By 1847 he was living almost directly behind the Downing Street house, at No. 53 Hamersley Street (later renamed West Houston Street) and operated a soap factory next door at No. 51.

No. 58 Downing Street became home to Charles Skinner, a porter, and his wife Christina.  To supplement their incomes the couple took in a boarder, James McIntyre, in 1855.  Interestingly, McIntyre had been renting a room in Charles Holt's Hamersley Street house previous to this.

Charles Skinner died in 1856.  Christina stayed on in the house and continued to take in boarders.  That year her renters were John Gilmore, a carman, and Charles H. Heartfield, a painter.  Christina no longer appears at the address after 1868.  It is unclear if she merely moved away, but it is more likely that she

died in the house.

The beautifully paneled sides of the entrance and wooden transom are intact.

Close inspection shows that the brass escutcheon of the door bell pull (right) on one of the pencil-thin colonettes survives.  

It became the property of Jonathan and Jane Nichols.  The couple actively bought and sold real estate as investments.  In 1878 they hired architect Jonathan Wheeler, Jr. to raise the attic level to a full story at a cost of just over $66,000 today.  The renovation was seamlessly executed, the perfectly matching brick leaving no telltale scar.  A modern Italianate cornice and matching lintels were installed.

The Nichols retained possession for years, leasing the house to two families at a time.  Policeman David Harvey and his family were initial tenants of the renovated house, living here from 1879 through 1886.  They shared it over the years with the families of Samuel M. Housley, a clerk, and printer Charles Healy.

Jane and Jonathan Nichols sold No. 58 to the wealthy Ebenezer Bailey in 1886 (probably not coincidentally the same year the Harvey family left).   Like the Nichols, the purchase was purely for investment and he leased it to no more than two families at a time.

Among his tenants in 1897 were the family of William Altie, a fireman with Engine Company No. 13.  The family received a scare on the night of June 7.  Altie's company responded to a fire and as the galloping horses pulled the engine through the streets, Altie was thrown off at the corner of Canal and Wooster Streets.  An ambulance surgeon treated him on the site for face and leg injuries, after which he was taken home.

Ebenezer Bailey died in March 1914 and the following year his estate sold his several investment properties.  The auction listing described No. 58 Downing Street as having 11 rooms.  It was purchased by Charles and Elizabeth Hanson who, once again, leased it.

The surnames of their tenants reflected the changing demographics of the Greenwich Village neighborhood.  In 1917 they leased the house to a Mrs. Cantalupo, and in 1919 to Gaetano and Josephine La Spina.  

No. 58 saw two more owners during the next decade.  David I. Christie (who owned the stables next door) purchased it from the Hansons, and resold it in 1922 to Samuel Mitchell, who announced it would be used as a private resident--although he did not say it was he who would be living there.  In 1931 it was purchased by Luigi Bacigalupo.

Khuda Boket lived in the house in 1941 when he joined a long list of members of the India Welfare League, Inc. in sending a letter to the Secretary of War pledging "our utmost support to the Government of the United States of America and to give all aid and assistance of which we are capable which may be requested of us in the present crisis."

What seemed the inevitable finally came in 1960 when a conversion resulted in one apartment per floor.  But that was reversed when in a subsequent renovation brought No. 58 back to a single family home.  

The Downing Street neighborhood had markedly changed from one of immigrants and stables.  When author and political scientist Ian Bremmer put the house on the market in August 2013, it was described as including "a landscaped garden, English basement, [and] wood-beamed ceilings."

It was eventually purchased by Food Network's Chef Michael Symon, co-host of "The Chew" in April 2015 for $5.14 million.  Only a year-and-a-half later he relisted it.  Other than the double parlor window, the house is remarkably intact since the top floor was raised in 1878.

photographs by the author

The 1885 Make-Over of 30 Downing Street

In 1835 the 21-foot wide house at No. 30 Downing Street was shared by the families of Charles McDevitt, a printer, and James Scott, a carpenter.   Two and a half stories tall, its peaked roof most likely had one or two dormers.  In 1855 Ann Weeks moved into the house.  Her husband, Gilbert, a city marshal, had died the year before.   It appears she lived here alone until 1863 when Ann E. McCullagh, the widow of John McCullagh, is listed here as well.

Francis Neppert purchased the house around 1865.  He used it solely for rental income.  A furniture maker who lived and worked at No. 390 Canal Street, he specialized in piano stools.  In 1865 his tenants in the Downing Street house were George W. Banta, seaman, and William Miller, a cartman (or delivery driver).  And in 1868 they were John Cornell, an expressman, and William E. Lewis, a printer of "cards."

Neppert continued to lease rooms in the house to working class tenants.  In 1871 the roomers were Hugh Casey and James Hanlon, both masons; and Thomas Golding, a druggist.   

James Hanlon offered a wide variety of contracting jobs.  Real Estate Record January 6, 1872 (copyright expired)

Hanlon operated two shops so it is possible that Casey was an employee.  Casey remained in the house at least through 1873 and Hanlon stayed through 1877.  Among the other residents over the years were Michael Mallon, who owned a saloon at No. 24 Bedford street, here in 1873, and the widowed Mary Kingsley, in 1880.

On October 17, 1885 The Real Estate Record & Guide reported that Neppert had hired architect Andrew Spence to design a replacement, "four-story and basement dwelling" on the site.  The cost of construction was just $10,000, or around $269,000 today.

Spence produced an attractive neo-Grec residence faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone.  A stone stoop led to the entrance.  The line-carved window lintels--typical of the style--sat on prominent brackets.  Above it all was a pressed metal cornice.

The carved flower and its stylized vines are typical of neo-Grec decoration.

The new building was designed to accommodate two families.  One of the tenants in 1893 suffered a horrific accident.  On November 28 the New York Herald flatly reported "John Hunt, who fell down an air shaft at No. 30 Downing street, last Sunday, and was removed to St. Vincent's Hospital, will die."

In 1894 Neppert sold the building to Peter Roberts, a contractor who lived nearby at No. 37 Sullivan Street.  Their working class status was evidenced in their job searches.  In 1898 Mrs. Mulrant described herself as a "good French cook" willing to "do laundry work;" and two years later Mrs. Roberts advertised "a respectable woman will go out to wash and iron or to do housecleaning by the day."   And in 1911 one resident was trained in an up-and-coming profession.  "Chauffeur, mechanic, wide experience, most careful, honest, attentive, wishes position, city or country.  Tibone, 30 Downing st."

Peter Roberts made improvements on the house in 1911.  Because he did the work himself and acted as his own architect he saved considerable costs.  The alterations, which included new stairways, "iron sinks," and a fire escape, cost only about $8,420 in today's money.

Roberts sold the house in 1921 to Michael Nicotini.  He held on to the property only five years, selling it to Cesare and Emilia Pirro in 1926.  They made significant changes to the appearance in 1930 when they hired architect Ferdinand Savignano to remove the stoop and lower the entrance to the sidewalk level.  Neither the Pirros nor Savignano were interested in stylistic continuity.  The new Colonial Revival doorway was noticeably out of touch with the rest of the building.

Savignano replaced the double-hung windows of the first floor with French windows.  via the NYC Department of  Records & Information Services

In 1986 another renovation was begun.  Completed two years later, it resulted in two duplex apartments--essentially the vision Francis Neppert originally had for the interior configuration.

photographs by the author

Horses, Bottles and Movie Memoriabilia - 27 Downing Street

Helen Cossitt Juilliard, the wife of multi-millionaire Augustus D. Julliard, was wealthy in her own right.  Less known for her entertaining than for her philanthropy, for years she managed the Lincoln Hospital and Home and around 1895 gave the St. John’s Guild its first hospital boat, the Helen C. Juilliard, and then another.  A third hospital boat would be launched in Wilmington, Delaware in 1915, also named the Helen C. Juilliard.  Her husband's legacy would be the Juilliard School of Music.

Helen began a less altruistic project in 1893 when she purchased the old house at No. 27 Downing Street in Greenwich Village and hired the well-known architect Alfred Zucker to replace it with a livery stable.  His plans, filed in May, estimated the cost of construction at $20,000--about $617,000 today.

Completed within the year, it was one of several such stables along the short street.  Zucker had turned to a sub-style of Romanesque Revival known as American Round Arch.  It was a style held in disdain by the editors of The Inland Architect and News, who had called it in September 1893, "little short of contemptible."  Their opinions aside, Zucker produced a rather dignified structure, given its utilitarian purposes, faced in beige brick. 

The original configuration of the street level openings, the oval window on the second floor, and the handsome horse head sculpture are seen in this photo taken sometime before World War I.  from the collection of the New-York Historical Society

The balanced arrangement of the ground floor openings--an arched doorway and window of matching proportions flanking the wide carriage bay--contrasted with the asymmetrical plan of the upper floors.   The two-story, slightly projecting bay above the vehicle entrance featured a large, half-round opening at the second floor.  It was juxtaposed with an oval window, hinged at the center.  This section culminated in a peaked gable that held a deep oculus from which the sculpted head of a horse gazed out--the traditional sign that easily identified this as a livery stable.

The top floor contained a living space where, most likely, the stable's proprietor and his family lived.  Helen Juilliard was leasing the building to J. C. James at the end of the century.  His business listing in 1900 read simply "horses &c."  He was followed by the M. Pedrotti Livery Stable & Trucking Co., which later moved to No. 21 Bedford Street.

Helen C. Juilliard died on April 2, 1916; however her estate retained possession of No. 27 Downing Street.  In November 1917 it leased it to A. Costa, "truckman and forwarder."

On January 31, 1920 a full-page advertisement in the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide listed the "valuable Manhattan investment properties" to be sold at auction by the Helen C. Juilliard estate.  Among them was No. 27 Downing Street.  It was purchased by Louis Barbieri whose $8,400 mortgage was supplied by the Juilliard estate.

Barbieri was not interested in the property as a stable or garage.  He operated the Pioneer Bottling Co. and commissioned architect Charles E. Miller to renovate the structure into a bottling plant in the cellar, a garage for two cars on the first floor, a meeting room (the plans called it a "lodge room") on the second floor and an apartment on the third.

Barbieri stenciled the label onto this siphon bottle.

Prohibition meant, of course, that the Barbieri's firm dealt in non-alcoholic beverages, like bottled soda water.   His business was successful enough that in 1924 he hired architect C. W. Schlusing to enlarge the building, replacing the rear extension.  A year later Schlusing was back to widen the truck bay, eliminating the window.  The oval second floor window was replaced at this time, as well.

No. 27 is half-way down the block.  In this 1932 photograph the horse's head has been removed and the oval window replaced.  from the collection of the New York Public Library.

With Prohibition long in the past, on August 7, 1954 The Advocate announced that the Pioneer Bottling Co., Inc. had been issued a license "to sell Beer at retail...for off-premises consumption."

In 1962 a renovation was completed which resulted in a "repackaging factory" on the first floor and one apartment each on the second and third.   In the spring of 1970 Jeffrey Joerger and Michael Malce opened their Hollywood memorabilia "warehouse" in the ground floor.  

Joerger and Malce show off a dress worn by Jane Powell.  The striped blazer was worn by Mickey Rooney.  photo by Barton Silverman, The New York Times July 18, 1970

Writing in The New York Times on July 18, Virginia Lee Warren explained "This is where costumes worn by Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, Hedy LaMarr, Doris Day, Norma Shearer, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers are hung along the rough wall, suspended from make-shift garment racks or draped on a sofa from 'Father of the Bride' and chairs from 'Raintree County.'"

Today that space houses professional offices and the upper floors contain two duplex apartments.  The quirky oval window and the wonderful horse's head have been lost in renovations; however Ernest Flagg's unusual stable building design mostly survives.

photographs by the author

The 1832 Club Stables - 15 Downing Street

James Votey was born in 1805 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Having relocated to New York City, he married the former Martha Coe in 1831.  By now he was now a vice-president in the New-York and Schuylkill Coal Company .

Votey had owned the plot of late at No. 15 Downing Street in Greenwich Village singe 1825, possibly with the intentions of someday erecting his home there.  Instead, around the time of his marriage, he erected a brick-faced three-story stable on the lot.  The location was inconvenient to both his office, which was far downtown at No. 48 Wall Street, and his home on Grove Street.  Votey sold the newly-completed structure in 1832.

Many of the stables erected later in the decade would feature a central bay door flanked by openings.  But at just 19-feet wide the modest building made do with one bay door to the left with a pedestrian doorway next to it.  Storage on the second floor would have held tack, hay and other supplies, while rooms for at least one stable employee were on the top floor.  Behind the building were the necessary manure pits.

No. 15 became a boarding stables, known as the Club Stables, operated by a man named Sawyer.  Here neighborhood residents kept their vehicles and horses.  At least one of Sawyer's clients was financially comfortable enough to travel abroad.  An advertisement in The New York Herald on April 12 1854 sought a buyer for "Two superior light wagons, built to order."  It noted "will be sold cheap, as the owner is about leaving for Europe.  Apply at the club stables."

Similar ads appeared throughout the coming years.  George Carpenter, whose offices were at No. 13 Chambers Street, advertised a "light trotting wagon, and one top wagon" for sale in 1855.  He made special note that the latter was "nearly new, with a shifting top, and fit for city use."  And the following year a "fine bay horse" was offered for sale.  It "would make a lady's saddle horse."

In 1861 the Club Stables got a new next door neighbor.  William Martin and George Kinnier had run John Harrison's Brewery on Sullivan Street for seven years.  Now they acquired the New York Steam Brewery and renamed it the United States Brewery.  The operation ran through the block from Nos. 38 and 40 Carmine Street to No. 17 Downing Street.  The partners' announcement of the take-over in December 1861 noted "they will manufacture the choicest brands of Pale and Amber Ales, X. and XX Porter."

It was not long before Sawyer's Club Stables was absorbed into the brewery complex, which at least by 1868 was owned by John Boyd and William Kirk.  It appears that the former stable building continued to be used to house trucks and horses, as well as the offices of the firm.  Boyd and Kirk ran saloons throughout the city as well.

The partners leased the buildings from the widowed Ellen Wilson who lived in Brooklyn.  In January 1887 she transferred title to Joseph Wilson, presumably a relative, for $4,582.00, or about a quarter of a million in today's dollars.  

By the time William Kirk died in 1889 he had purchased No. 15, title to which was now transferred to his children, John L. Kirk, Emma Kirk, Margaret J. Ruth and Mary E. Clelland.  In March the following year they sublet the building to Rudolph Kraft and Adolf Lucker, owners of the Champion Brewing Company.  

John L. Kirk hired architect J. B. Franklin to make alterations for the new tenants in July that year.  His plans included "interior alterations and walls altered."  But the Kirks apparently changed their minds.  Just a year later, on January 24, 1891, the Record & Guide announced the Kirks had cancelled the lease.  Seven days later an advertisement in The New York Herald offered "Ale Brewery In This City" for sale with "immediate possession."


In July 1892 Kirk hired architect A. T. Norris to convert the building back to a stable.  The renovations, which cost about $57,000 in today's dollars, were mostly on the inside, although they included widening the truck bay.  

In October Kirk advertised "New Stable, 15 Downing St. To Lease" and touted "three stories high, 17 stalls, carriage hoist and wash stand, ample rein storage and new floors."

Kirk continued to make updates to the building and on August 18, 1912 he advertised in the New York Herald: "To Let--Stable, 20 large stalls, newly refitted, wagon elevator, immediate possession."  A nearly identical advertisement appeared in the newspaper four years later.

It may have been the phasing out of horses in favor of motorcars following World War I that ended the operation of No. 15 Downing Street as a stable.  By the 1920's it was being operated as a junk shop operated by the De Vito family. 

A sign reads "Junk Shop in this 1927 photograph.  Second-hand clothes are displayed in front of the old carriage bay doors.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Michael De Vito found himself in serious trouble on September 19, 1939.  Calling him a "junk dealer," The New York Sun explained "De Vito, who has been running the business during his father's illness, was arrested yesterday at the junkyard at 15 Downing street, where detectives found about 700 pounds of brass fittings and ball bearings."  The problem was that the brass had been stolen from the Jersey Central Railroad.  "He admitted having bought the brass," said the article, "but said he didn't know it had been stolen."

He had even larger problems to deal with, however.  "De Vito is wanted by Baltimore authorities for breaking parole in connection with a homicide case.  He has been sentenced to from six years to life imprisonment."

As mid-century approached, the upper floors were painted.  Little else, including the sign, had changed.  photo via the NYC Department of Records & Information Services.

As little Downing Street was discovered by a new (and moneyed) generation in the last quarter of the 20th century, No. 15 was unofficially converted to a two-family residence with a garage on the ground floor.  It was not until 1985 that it received its blessing in the form of a Certificate of Occupancy from the Building's Department.

Now nearly 190 years old, the little stable-turned brewery-turned junk shop is disguised by a cumbersome fire escape and a coat of blue paint that prompts a "what were they thinking?" moment.  That and its location on the quiet side street make it easily overlooked.

photographs by the author

"The Downing Stables" - 49-51 Downing Street

At noon on March 27, 1879 the "four story brick Buildings and Lots Nos. 49 and 51 Downing st., just south of Bedford st." were sold at auction.  Within a decade Downing Street would see change as stables and commercial buildings buildings replaced many of its residences.  In December 1882 the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide announced that Francis Caragher had purchased the two "brick tenements" for $16,000--about $405,000 today.  

Although he was by trade a "carman," the head of a delivery wagon firm, Caragher invested in Greenwich Village investment properties, as well.  He operated Francis Caragher's Sons with his sons, John F. and Joseph A.  The family lived conveniently nearby at No. 110 Leroy Street.  Francis and his wife, Mary, had a married daughter, Sarah L. Gowdy, who lived not far away on West Houston Street. 

Francis Caragher's Sons did trucking for many produce merchants.   So involved was the firm in that field that by 1896 John F. Caragher was a member of the New York Produce Exchange, listed in its rolls as "carman." 

In April 1893, following Francis Caragher's death, the estate sold several of his investment properties, including a two-story house at No. 131 Charles Street, a three-story "store building" at No. 731 Greenwich Street, a similar building on Washington Street, and a vintage house at No. 44 Morton Street.  But the Caragher siblings had other plans for Nos. 49 and 51 Downing Street.

In February 1896 architects Werner & Windolph filed plans for a four-story "brick stable and dwelling" to cost $18,000 (in the neighborhood of $555,000 by today's terms).  John, Joseph and Sarah were all listed as the owners.

Construction took only seven months and on October 4, 1896 an advertisement in the New York Herald read:

THE DOWNING

Boarding Stables

49 and 51 Downing st.

Good light, ventilation, sewerage;

convenient to railroad and steamship piers.

FRANCIS CARAGHER'S SONS, Props.

Werner & Windolph had produced a formidable Romanesque Revival style structure of red brick trimmed in chunky, rough cut brownstone.  A massive three-story centered arch enclosed the truck bay.  The flanking entrances were capped by hefty splayed lintels.  Directly above each was a round opening.  Nineteenth century livery stables were often easily recognized by a sculpted horse's head--artistic street advertising that announced they were not private stables.  The carved head at the Downing Stables doubled as the keystone to the entrance arch.

The windows of the two top floors were also given splayed, stone lintels and a pressed metal cornice completed the structure.

The new building doubled as a livery stable and the headquarters of the Francis Caragher's Sons business.  On the top floor was living space for at least one employee.

Among these renting space in the new building for its delivery horses was the Hecker-Jones-Jewell Company, a flour mill on Broome Street.  But problems forced the firm to cease operation on August 20, 1897.  Among the delivery men informed that he was out of a job that day was Thomas Cohen.

The man brought his team back to the Downing Stable for the last time.  As he removed the tack from the horses, he despaired about the turn of events to one of the stable hands.  The New York Press explained "Cohen had a wife and three children, and he was complaining of the hardship that enforced idleness meant to him."  His anger suddenly ended in tragedy.

To stress a point, he slapped the rump of the horse he was working on.  "The horse, though ordinarily docile, was frightened, and he kicked Cohen in the breast," said the article.  Cohen fell to the floor unconscious.  The stable hand summoned a policeman who called for an ambulance.  "The doctor found the imprint of the calks of the horse's shoe on Cohen's breast, and said death had been almost instantaneous."

For years Francis Caragher's Sons operated from the building, mostly delivering produce.  That they maintained a top-notch fleet of trucks and horses was evidenced in the advertisements throughout the years as they replaced both.  On March 28, 1897, for instance, an ad in the New York Herald offered "For Sale--20 seasoned Truck Horses, Francis Caragher's Sons 49 and 51 Downing st."  And in August 1902 another read "For Sale--Six double Trucks and one single.  In good order."

It was not long after that advertisement that Francis Caragher's Sons moved to No. 595 Washington Street and the Downing Street building was leased to the Borden Milk Co.  

On March 26, 1906 the building--and the entire block--was nearly lost in a massive fire that broke out in the six-story factory building at Nos. 35-43.   The Annual Report of the Committee on Fire Patrol reported that fifteen other buildings on the block were damaged by the conflagration, including "Nos. 49-51 Downing Street...occupied entirely by the Borden Milk Co. as stables."  Insurance Engineering magazine noted that the building was "considerably" damaged.

Borden Milk Co. remained in the repaired building and in November that year extended its lease with the Caraghers for another five years.

On September 30, 1919 John, Joseph and Sarah transferred their shares in the property to their mother, Mary E. Caragher.  She immediately sold it to the Cincinnati-based furniture manufacturer Globe-Wernicke Company.  The firm had opened its five-story New York headquarters at Nos. 451-453 Broadway three years earlier.  Within a month the New-York Tribune reported "The building will be altered into a garage from plans by Charles Pohl."

But the firm seems to have been indecisive.  Five months later, on February 29, 1920, The Sun reported on a change of architects--now Joseph A. McCarroll.   And then on April 10 The Record & Guide announced that Globe-Wernicke had sold the building to August Costa.

As the Caraghers had done, Costa leased the former stable to a milk company.  The Trinity Dairy Company, Inc. had bought out what the Standard Union called "a long established business" that year.   The Downing Street building became its headquarters.  

It maintained two creameries in Pennsylvania--at Clemo and at Honesdale.  On April 30, 1931 the Standard Union stated "The four men employed at the Clemo plant and the twelve at the larger creamery in Honesdale collect and prepare for shipment to New York daily about 5,000 gallons of milk and 1,000 quarts of cream...At the New York end there are eight trucks to deliver to customers in all parts of the city without any delay whatever."

Although the Trinity Dairy Company's long term lease included the "privilege to buy during the occupancy," it left Downing Street in 1937.

A "For Sale" sign hands from the building on October 11, 1937.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

The property was sold by the Costa estate in April 1938.  The New York Sun reported it "brought eighty-five bids before it was finally knocked down to O. Stuart White for $21,000."  In fact, White was apparently bidding as an agent for other members of the Costa family.  The owners of record were now Charles and Thomas Costa.

The Costas retained ownership until 1944 when it was sold to George Cuomo and Mildred Magaldi.  They converted the building to a storage facility with garage space on the ground floor for trucks used by the tenant.

As the 20th century drew to a close, little Downing Street was again changing.  The charm of Greenwich Village's vintage architecture and winding streets drew affluent residents to buildings once occupied by factories and stables.  In 1987 the former Downing Stables was converted to a total of ten apartments with the lobby and "accessory garage" on the ground floor.

In 1995 Yoko Ono purchased the top floor apartment for her son, Sean Lennon.  Although he lived there for only a few years, she retained ownership until 2013.  The $6.5 million listing described more than 5,700 square feet with three bedrooms and baths, library, a "greenhouse/rec room," and roof deck.  There was also a private building entrance.

A view inside Sean Lennon's former living space.  via Sotheby's International Realty

The apartment's new owner, real estate developer David Blumenfeld, soon butted heads with the co-op board.  In 2016 he sued claiming the board and the landlord failed to address $1 million in repairs in his apartment.  The Supreme Court judge dismissed the lawsuit and then turned to the board's complaints "that Blumenfeld played party host to a 'constant stream' of club kids and other rowdy guests," according to the New York Post.

Resident infighting aside, the vintage stable building still impresses after a century and a quarter.  The alterations to the arch and the entrances are certainly not sympathetic to the architecture--some might call them regrettable--but the overall integrity of Werner & Windolph's design survives.

photographs by the author