The Marble Twins at 36 and 38 Walker Street

 

On January 30, 1856 an auction was held of the furnishings of the two-story house at No. 36 Walker Street.  The listing hinted at the formerly elegance of the residence.  It included "carved mahogany sofas and parlors chairs, covered in crimson and black," a mahogany marble top center table, bronze and ormolu clocks and other high-end items.  The neighborhood was undergoing significant change, with commercial structures just beginning to appear.

Within a year Thomas Lewis began construction on a five-story store and loft building next door at No. 58 Walker Street.  Completed in 1858 it was designed in the Italianate style and clad in white marble above the cast iron storefront.  The arched openings wore molded lintels and sat on prominent bracketed sills.  They were separated by piers with shallow Doric capitals.

Lewis was apparently pleased with his new building, because almost immediately upon its completion he began work on an identical structure at No. 36, finished in 1860.

Although built two years apart, the buildings are essentially identical.

Among the initial tenants of No. 38 was merchant tailor Henry Trowbridge & Co. on the top floor.  His business catered to affluent clientele and afforded him a sumptuous home at No. 21 Gramercy Park.

In November 1859 burglars used the unfinished No. 36 to gain access to the roof, then break into the scuttle, or hatchway, to enter Trowbridge's shop.  The New York Daily Herald reported on November 23, "After collecting about $700 worth of sewing silk, and about $800 worth of silks and velvets, the rascals decamped in safety with their booty."  The theft would amount to about $47,600 in today's month.

Within a few days three suspects were arrested.  One of them, Thomas Nolan, was carrying a pistol, which Henry Trowbridge identified as having been stolen from his store.  "No trace of the stolen silks could be discovered," said the New York Daily Herald, "but the police feel sanguine of being able to recover them at an early day."

Detectives got a break when Helen M. Gascaeque, "a woman of a literary turn of mind," according to the Brooklyn Times Union, came forward with evidence.  She said she was visiting a house on Franklin Street where she saw the stolen goods.  Samuel N. Levy, "a mock auctioneer," as described by police, "subsequently appeared and bargained for them in her presence."  After signing an affidavit, Helen discovered the dangers of playing police informant.  On December 14, 1859 the Times Union reported "an attempt has been made to intimidate her from telling the trust, and she has been placed in the house of a Detective in order that she may not be further tampered with."

The ground floor of No. 36 was first home to the John C. Fox & Co. piano showroom.  An advertisement on September 19, 1859 touted their "Very Superior Piano Fortes," saying "These instruments are...unsurpassed for strength in their manufacture.  Purity, Sweetness and Power of tone throughout the entire interior, delicacy of touch and also for their superior singing quality of sound by those of any other makers."

Within six months Steinway & Son's piano firm had taken over not only the store space at No. 56, but No. 58 as well.  Its advertisement in March 1860 offered "Overstrung Grands and Square Pianos."  But like John C. Fox & Co., it would remain only about a year.

In the meantime the upper floors were home to seemingly odd bed fellows with dry goods and apparel firms coexisting with publishing and bookselling houses.  In 1862 Oliver S. Felt announced "that he has taken rooms" at No. 36, "where he will carry on a General Book Business."  On January 12, 1863 he advertised:

Don't be a fool!  Pay no more money to Advertising Quacks, but go to a respectable place and buy a standard work.  Trail & Jackson's Pathology Of The Reproductive Organs, which contains Full Directions for the Lasting Cure of Every kind of sexual disease or weakness.  $3

The book was not inexpensive, costing around $65 in today's money.

At the same time Leonard Scott & Co. operated from No. 58.  Unlike Felt, the firm dealt mostly with periodicals.  It published Blackwoods' Magazine here, and imported British periodicals like the London Quarterly and the Edinburgh, Westminster and North British Reviews.  For $10 a year, a well-informed reader could subscribe to all five, a deal which Leonard Scott & Co. touted saying, "truly, the force of cheapness can no further go."

The New York Times, March 31, 1863 (copyright expired)

The type of articles provided in the periodicals was evidenced in an article in the Delaware State Journal and Statesman on January 5, 1866.  It described a piece in The London Quarterly Review saying:

The article on "Blind People" shows their condition, and how they are taught to read and write.  The statistics given are rather alarming, but the great prevalence of blindness should make all feel a deep interest in the subject of rendering the affliction less burdensome to those who have to bear and suffer it.

Other tenants in the buildings in the 1860's were bonnet maker Warren C. Gray; drygoods merchant John M. Perry; Stephen R. Lounsbery, who dealt in "cloths;" the Spring Valley Mfg. Co., dealers in "fancy colored mosquito netting of fine quality," and drygoods merchants John Ryle & Co.

In the years before freight elevators were common, heavy crates were hoisted up and down by a pulley system through an open shaft known as a hatchway.  On January 11, 1866 workers employed by John Ryle & Co. lowered a case of silk valued at more than $58,000 in today's terms to the ground floor to be loaded for delivery.  But thieves were faster than the employees.  The New York Times reported it "was carried off from beneath the hatchway of premises No. 36 Walker-street...by some persons unknown, who made a successful escape with their booty."

But as had been the case with the Henry Trowbridge & Co. theft, detectives quickly tracked down the culprits, Caspar Parris and Abraham Greenthall ("more familiarly known to the police as 'General' Greenthall,'" noted The New York Times).  Parris was arrested without incident, but Greenthall was less cooperative.

"He at first resisted the efforts of the officers to make him their prisoner," said The New York Times, "assisted by his wife and daughter.  After a sharp struggle, Greenthall changed his tune, and endeavored to tempt the officers into releasing him, offering to give them the sum of $300 and a gold watch and chain.  He proved unsuccessful, however, and both prisoners were conveyed to the Fifth Precinct Station-house."  (There Greenthall tried one more time to escape, offering Captain Petty a $400 bribe, "but was again unsuccessful.")

Frank & Keister operated from No. 38 in the late 1860's.  Two women who entered the store on July 22, 1869 aroused the suspicion of partner Eliezer W. Frank, who carefully watched them.  The New York Herald reported he "detected them in endeavoring to conceal and carry away from the store a quantity of pocket handkerchiefs valued at $8.25."  Sarah Thompson and Annie Jones were arrested for shoplifting.  The value of the goods would equal $160 today.

Drygoods and apparel companies continued to lease space in the buildings through the rest of the century.  In the 1890's Atlantic Shirt Company, the clothing firm of W. C. Loftus & Co., manufacturers Amdur & Goldstein, and Newmark & Shapiro, pants makers, were among the tenants of No. 38; while next door were firms like Zweig & Kaemmerer (which had been in the building at least since 1873), and shirt manufacturer Bernstein & Reiss.

W. C. Loftus & Co. was a major concern, started in 1866.  In 1896 Loftus's brother, Thomas formed a corporation under the same name to operate retail clothing shops and within two years there were more than a dozen stores.  Thomas Loftus's ambition surpassed his business sense.  Toward the end of 1897 he "'fixed up' the books in anticipation of failure, bought new ones and wrote them up, pretended to take an inventory," and used the false figures to negotiate with his creditors.  The firm was bankrupt in February 1898 and Thomas J. Loftus was in serious legal trouble.

The post World War I years saw a change in the tenant list.  In 1921 Frank Socias, maker of tents, was in No. 38, for instance, and Albert Bloch & Sons, dealers in "auto sponges and chamois" operated next door by 1926.  The ground floor, where Steinway & Sons had once displayed its rosewood pianos, was a luncheonette during the Depression years.

Little has changed to the appearance of the two buildings since this photo around 1941.  via the NYC Dept. of Records & Information Services

The mishmash of small businesses that occupied the buildings at mid century included Trulove, perfume makers.  An advertisement in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Courier in 1952 read:

Do you want to make men OBEY YOU?  Do you want to make him say "Darling I adore you.  I worship you.  I'll do ANYTHING FOR YOU?"  Do you want to make him OBEY your every command?  Then use Chez-Elle (What a perfume!) to make you control men.  Trulove.

Next door the Everstay Pres-It Co. marketed its "Pres-It" patches.  Its advertisement in the Daily News on May 8, 1959 urged, "Don't Mend it -- "Pres-It."  The firm manufactured an early form of the iron-on patches that would be popular for decades.

The dignified carbon copy structures, so far, have not been renovated to residential use like so many Tribeca lofts.  Their marble facades, early examples of commercial structures in the neighborhood, are remarkably intact.

photographs by the author

The 1859 Ivison & Phinney Building - 48-50 Walker Street

 

The 20th century fire escape not only obscures the dignified facade, but slices through the cornice pediment.

In the years immediately following the end of the Civil War a flurry of construction took place in the district that would become known as Tribeca.  But Josiah Lane was a decade ahead of the trend.  In 1857 he demolished the two old structures at Nos. 48 and 50 Walker Street, between Church Street and Broadway, and hired architect Robert Griffin Hatfield to design a substantial replacement building.

Lane was apparently working hand-in-hand with the occupants of the old buildings.  Publishers Ivison, Phinney & Co. had operated from the address since, at least, 1841.  Now the firm would be among the initial occupants of the new building.

Completed in 1859, it was designed in the Italianate style.  A cast iron base supported four stories clad in marble.  Handsome Italianate style pilasters and shallow pediments gave the structure a courtly appearance.

On February 9, 1859 a notice in the New-York Daily Tribune announced the Ivison & Phinney had taken "for their enlarged business the new large marble double store 48 and 50 Walker Street...where they will offer greatly improved facilities for the accommodation of Booksellers, Teachers and Merchants."

The move signaled another change for the firm.  The ad said "In consequence of the increased demand for their School and College Text Books, [Ivison & Phinney] have decided to give their exclusive attention to Educational Works."

The firm's extensive business required the large building.  Later that year, on December 8, the Buffalo, New York newspaper The Advocate, described Ivison & Phinney's Series of American Educational Works.  The comprehensive collection of textbooks included "the standard Readers, Spellers, Mathematics, Arithmetics, Histories, Grammars and Geographies; works on Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Anatomy and Physiology; a French and German series; the most approved systems of Musical Instruction, Penmanship, Book Keeping, Drawing, etc."  According to the article "15,000,000 of the Series have already been sold, and the circulation is steadily increasing."

Ivison & Phinney also published The Educational News from the building.  It was a journal of "matter interesting to teachers," which was send free to subscribers.

Sharing the building with Ivison & Phinney was the bookbinding firm James G. Shaw & Co., which occupied the two upper floors.  The firm had gained a sort of ignominy a year earlier.  One morning in June an employee, Michael Cancemi, was walking to work when, it was alleged, he broke into a shoe store, stole a pair of boots and some cash, and was making his escape when he was captured.  In the struggle Officer Anderson was shot dead.

Another policeman, hearing the shot, rushed to the scene and saw Cancemi running away.  He caught the bookbinder, who said he had merely been a witness to the crime and had fled in fear of being implicated.  The trial was covered in newspapers as far away as London.  And although there was no evidence against him, after his third trial The New York Times reported on July 13, 1858 "Yesterday Michael Cancemi was sentenced to be hung for the murder of Eugene Anderson, the execution to take place on the second of September."

Another James G. Shaw & Co. employee landed in the courtroom in 1861, but for more clear-cut reasons.  John Dooley had worked for the company for 12 years and, according to The New York Times, "had the full confidence of his employers."  But toward the end of 1860 small amounts of stock continually disappeared.  The newspaper reported "The services of Detective Tiemann were invoked to discover the rogue."  His investigation uncovered Dooley, who had been selling blank books to a dealer on Division Street.  "Justice Osborn sent him to prison," concluded the article.

In July 1863 Ivison & Phinney introduced a new textbook, Saunders' Union Fourth Reader, described by The New York Times as "an excellent selection of pieces for reading and declamation, accompanied with correct principles for delivering them to the best effect."  Within the year the firm reorganized as Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co.

Late on Friday night, March 4, 1864 a fire broke out in James G. Shaw & Co. on the third floor.  It was not the blaze, but the volume of water necessary to extinguish it which caused the most damage.  Shaw & Co. suffered $8,000 in losses--nearly $135,000 in today's money--while Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co. incurred $3,000 in damages.  Josiah Lane estimated the damages to his building at $1,000, or about $16,800 today.

By the early 1870's Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co. had moved to Greene Street.  Its place was taken by importer Bruno Falke.  He found himself in deep trouble in 1878 when, as reported by the New York Herald on October 27, he was charged with "a certain entry of goods, wares and merchandise at less than the true measure."  He was arrested on charges of defrauding the Government.

Also in the building at the time was another importer, James P. Farrell.  As had been the case with James G. Shaw & Co. years earlier, J. P. Farrell & Co. had a trusted employee who was systematically robbing the firm.  Joseph Egan was 20 years old in 1879 and, according to the Times Union, "has been in Mr. Farrell's employ since childhood's happy hours, and was much liked by his companions in the store."

Egan's downfall came only because Brooklyn Detective James Roche was not overly busy on the evening of May 17.  He noticed Egan walking along Atlantic Street with a bundle which, according to the Times Union, "appeared to cause him considerable uneasiness."  Roche followed him to a pawn shop and, after Egan left, went in to investigate.  Egan had taken $10 for roll of new cashmere.  The detective then trailed Egan to his boarding house.

"When Roche informed Egan of his business the latter showed his inexperience by confessing that he had robbed his employer.  On searching the young men's trunks the officers found about 129 pawn tickets, representing articles valued in all at about $4,000."  There were also un-pawned goods in the room, like expensive shawls.

Egan, who "appeared deeply penitent, and promised to make reparations if set free," was jailed.  James Farrell was in Europe on a buying trip, so his business manager, P. H. Keenan, was informed of the situation.  As he delved deeper into the case, the seriousness of Egan's crime became more evident.  On May 27 the Times Union reported that Keenan had appeared in court "to make three more complaints against Egan."  The trusted young man had been pawning goods at more than 60 pawn shops across the city and the total amount stolen so far topped more than $100,000 in today's money.

At his trial that December Egan explained his motive.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on December 27, "He was led into crime by his infatuation for taking chances in the Louisiana Lottery."  He was sent to the State Reformatory at Elmira.

The last decade of the 19th century saw four textile and apparel firms in the building.  Bauman & Sperling, cloak makers, were here by 1892.  In 1896 the firm employed 22 men, 16 women and 4 teen-aged girls.  Sharing the building were Hyman Starr, makers of sweaters and athletic knit goods; silk merchants C. A. Schmidt Co.; and D. & E. L. Mayer, importers of cotton batting.

D. & E. L. Mayer was still in the building in 1900, occupying the first and second floors and the basement.  The top three floors were home to B. M. Shane & Co., makers of umbrellas and parasols.  On November 12, 1900, according to the Star-Gazette, "A big lot of cotton batting on the second floor...became ignited early this morning, probably from overheating."  At 2:00 a.m. a fourth alarm was called in as the fire spread throughout the upper floors.  When it was finally extinguished the police estimated the loss of goods at more than $600,000--at staggering $18.8 million today.  Damage to the structure was placed at $75,000.

In repairing the significant damage, the building's owner, John Boyle, had the architectural firm of John F. Kelly & Co. increase the height to six stories.  The renovations, completed in 1901, were remarkably (and surprisingly) sympathetic to R. G. Hatfield's 1857 design.  They continued the uninterrupted line of piers and capped the structure with an Italianate style cornice and pediment perfectly appropriate to the original structure.

The women's apparel maker Max Roth moved into the remodeled building.  A labor dispute in the spring of 1903 turned ugly as striking women were attacked.  Labor tensions in the early 20th century were often marked by violence and the sex of the protester was not a factor.  On May 3 a delegate of the Ladies' Waist Makers' Union complained to the Central Federated Union that "some of the women pickets of the union at Max roth's establishment, Nos. 48 and 50 Walker-st., where there is a strike, were having a hard time."

They were, indeed, having a hard time.  A gang attacked the picketers and, according to the New-York Tribune, "One young woman was so badly injured that she had to be taken to the hospital and, according to the delegate, her condition was critical."  The man alleged that "the Five Points Social Club might have been responsible for these attacks."

Max Roth's operation was enormous, employing over 400 men and women in the Walker Street factory.  At around 9:00 on the morning of March 27, 1905 a piece of paper caught fire on the fifth floor.  Before it was stomped out, one girl smelled the odor and screamed "FIRE!" and ran from the room.   Pandemonium ensued.

The Buffalo Enquirer reported "In an instant the stairs were packed with a struggling mass of humanity.  The girls, the greater part of whom were either Italian of Jewesses, fought with each other to gain the entrance.  They hit and scratched and kicked, all the while screaming at the top of their voices."

The male employees seem to have reach the sidewalk first.  "All the men, it is said, escaped without a scratch, their superior strength enabling them to brush the girls aside or jump over their heads."  A policeman, realizing he was powerless to handle the panic-stricken mob, sent in an alarm from a nearby fire box.  The responding firefighters were able to finally get all the "struggling mass" out of the building.  The article said "Upon reaching the streets several of the girls were found suffering from hysteria" and noted "that no one was killed is considered miraculous."

Among those 400 workers were young teens.  It was a situation which resulted in Max Roth being slapped with three New York State Labor violations in 1909:  Employing children under 14, employing children under 16 without Board of Health certification, and employing children under 16 for more than eight hours per day.

In a striking case of deja vu, panic gripped the employees of Max Roth on the morning of March 22 that year.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported "A flash of flame caused by a small piece of fluffy material used in making shirtwaists, catching fire from a machine on the fifth floor of a shirtwaist factory at 50 Walker street, Manhattan, started a cry of fire, this morning, and sent nearly 500 girls and women shrieking to the elevator, stairways and fire-escapes."  As had been the case four years earlier, the fire was immediately extinguished, but "the panic it created was not abated for nearly an hour afterward."

Once again it was hysteria, not physical injury, that was the more serious problem.  The newspaper reported that "a dozen or more of the factory's employes [sic]" had to be treated by ambulance surgeons (the 1909 equivalent of EMT's) "before they recovered sufficiently from their hysterics to be sent home."  One girl, 18-year old Stella Soklow, had to be hospitalized.  "Her attack of hysterics refused to yield to treatment in the street."

Within two years Max Roth had left No. 48-50 Walker Street.  The building was now occupied by Hitchins Hosiery Mills; Meyer Brothers, makers of pants; and C. Navsky & Bros., makers of boys' and children's clothing.

In 1916 Nitke Leather Goods Company leased a floor.  The firm manufactured leather "trunk straps, suit case straps, handles and corners, etc." according to an advertisement.  The history of fires in the building continued when one broke out in its space on July 1, 1921.  The trade journal Hide and Leather reported that "stock and machinery of A. Nitke, leather trimmings, 48-50 Walker street, was damaged."

By mid-century many of the apparel and textile firms had moved northward to the new Garment District above 34th Street.  As it had been nearly a century earlier, in 1950 Nos. 48-50 Walker Street was home to publishing firms.  Music publishing firm Tullar-Meredith Co. and Universal Music Publishers shared the building.

The last quarter of the 20th century saw a renaissance in the Tribeca neighborhood and in 1987 the Walker Street building was converted to loft dwellings.  Two years later the Azuma Gallery was operating from the ground floor.  And other than the disfigurement created by the fire escape that gouged a hole into the pediment, the dignified design of the venerable marble building shines through.

photographs by the author

The 1860 No. 40 Walker Street

 

In the first years following the end of the Civil War the district around Broadway and Walker Street would see a rampant transformation from low wooden or brick structures to modern loft and store buildings.  But the estate of Joseph Bayley, who had been a fancy goods merchant, acted early, purchasing the boarding house at No. 40 Walker Street in 1859--nearly a decade before the rush of construction would begin--and replacing it with a five-story loft building.  Completed in 1860, it exhibited the elements of the commercial Italianate style--a cast iron storefront, graceful cast metal lintels that would have been equally appropriate on a house, and a bracketed cornice.

Among the first tenants were clothing manufacturers Archibald Purdie, Mahlon T. Hewit, and the men's furnishing maker Judson, Fowler & Co.  

Judson, Fowler & Co. was operated by Isaac N. Judson, his son, Lewis, and Hickson Fowler.  It offered goods at sale prices in May 1861, an advertisement in the New York Herald touting:

Wholesale Stock at Retail--Shirts, Collars and Drawers, retailed by the half dozen, at wholesale prices.

An active philanthropist, Mahlon T. Hewit's name often appeared in newsprint regarding his charitable work.  In December 1860 he was one of several merchants involved in the support of Orville Gardner's Reading Room, for instance.   A letter to the editor of The New York Times explained "it prevents drunkards and saves drunkards.  One of the greatest causes of drunkenness is the want of virtuous places of sociality, and young men come to this room to spend a social hour or read a paper, rather than go to the grog-shop and drink or gamble."  He was also a manager of the Children's Aid Society.

When war broke out in the South, Hewit was enlisted by the Union to inspect uniforms.  Makers shipped their completed goods to three hubs--New York, Boston or Cincinnati--to be checked for quality before being released to the Quartermaster.  Uniforms arriving in New York were brought to No. 40 Walker Street.  Inspecting them was a ponderous task, one order alone called for "twelve hundred and fifty suits, to consist of over-coat, jackets and trowsers for cavalry."

Less eager to be involved in the war was Lewis H. Fowler.  In 1863 the Conscription Act was passed, initiating a draft to swell the ranks of soldiers.  Potential draftees could avoid the draft by paying a fee or by paying someone to take their place.  On September 4, 1864 The New York Times reported that among the "patriotic gentlemen who have furnished substitutes in advance of the draft" was L. H. Fowler.

A less expected tenant by 1871 was Griffith & Prentiss, real estate brokers.  Operated by John Griffith and John Prentiss, the firm would remain here for several years.

In the meantime, garment firms continued to occupy the building.  Gustave Mendelson's skirt factory was among the tenants in the late 1880's.  His family suffered a tragedy in 1889.  Two years earlier they took in their 18-year old niece, Hattie Gristner, when she became orphaned.  The New York Times noted that the girl "suffered from melancholia since the death of her mother."  She committed swallowed poison on October 21, 1889 and died the following day.

Jacob Webster, a manufacturer of men's furnishing goods, was led out of the building in handcuffs on May 14, 1891.  Arthur M. Mundt, of Mundt Bros., had filed a charge of assault against him.  According to Mundt, he had gone to Webster's office to collect a bill for $52.50 and when he handed him the bill Webster said "So you want to collect this bill from me--$52.50?" and pulled "something that had a metallic glitter" from his pocket and struck Mundt over the right eye.  Mundt reeled back and fell to the floor.  He then stormed off to the police station.

Also in the building were Jacob Webster's men's furnishing shop and the Metropolitan Dry-Goods Company.  The Evening World commented on the latter in 1894 saying it "ranked high among the leading jobbers in the trade."  By 1896 Livingston & Liebermann, makers of waists (the tailored blouses were the most popular women's clothing items of the time) and S. Citron & Co., underwear manufacturers, were also here.  That year S. Citron & Co. employed 42 women, 13 teen-aged girls and just one man (most likely the supervisor).  They worked a grueling 58-hour work week.

Robert Lewin was a wholesale dealer in cloth.  His meager business seems to have been failing shortly after the turn of the century and he came up with a creative way to close it without facing the humiliation of bankruptcy.  On July 26, 1904 The Sun reported that the sheriff had seized "everything in Lewin's place of business in Walker street--nineteen pieces of cloth, a safe and a desk."  The article explained that Lewin "says that he has been unable to attend to his business since May 14, when he was found unconscious in a toilet room in Terrace Garden in East Fifty-eighth street."

The puzzling thing was that there was no evidence to support Lewin's story.  "The police have no record of Mr. Lewin being hurt in Terrace Garden.  Mr. Susskind, one of the proprietors of the Garden, said he didn't know anything about it until May 21, when Coroner Jackson came to him and asked him what he knew about Mr. Lewin having been sandbagged there."  Susskind said he did not know how it could have happened without his hearing of it.  The Sun reported his liabilities at about $40,000--more than $1 million today.

At the same time Hirschmann Bros., dealers in hosiery and underwear, was in trouble.  Five months after Lewin's failure, Joseph and Henry Hirschmann's firm was placed in receivership.   But things were about to get worse for Henry.  On June 27, 1905 The Sun reported that he had been indicted for grand larceny and embezzlement.  For several years the firm had been essentially insolvent.  But to keep it running Henry lied to creditors about its assets--overstating them by 300 percent.  Creditors estimated that they "had been cheated out of about $170,000," or nearly $5 million by today's standards.

The building continued to house garment-related firms throughout most of the 20th century.  The rebirth of Tribeca in the last decades resulted in The Walker Street Theater moving in around 1991.   The first years of the 21st century saw O Lighting here, a division of Opad lighting.  Then a renovation completed in 2020 resulted in one apartment each on the second through fourth floors, with a duplex in the fifth and newly-constructed penthouse (unseen from the street).

photographs by the author

The 1862 Latimer Building - 72-76 Walker Street

 

On February 14, 1862 an advertisement in the New York Herald offered for lease "the five story marble front Store 72, 74, 76 Walker street...suitable for any kind of business."  The building had just recently been completed after two years of construction.  The unknown architect hired by owners Barret Ames and E. D. Hunter had created an Italianate structure which drew little attention to itself.  Above the cast iron storefront level the only decorative details were the marble quoins and molded lintels.

The advertisement was answered by Harvey Miner and Henry M. Stevens, partners in carriage manufacturing firm Miner & Stevens.  Just two months later they were ensconced in the building, advertising:

Carriages and light Wagons, of the latest fashionable styles and improvements, and for elegance of finish, style and durability are equal to any in this market, to which we invite the inspection of purchasers.   

They announced an innovation in an advertisement in the New York Herald a few weeks later, on May 10, entitled "A New Thing."  It said the firm was "using on all their carriages and road wagons the Patent Malleable Grooved Axel Box, which causes the vehicle to run much lighter than the old fashion cast iron box."

The Evening Post, April 11, 1862 (copyright expired)

By 1868 Charles Zinn & Co. had replaced Miner & Stevens in the building.  The firm's showroom was around the corner at No. 406 Broadway.  In the Walker Street factory it manufactured "baskets, willow ware, rattan and colored willow furniture &c."

The "willow furniture" mentioned in the ad became increasingly popular in Victorian households in the 1870's.  The easily manipulated material enabled intricate decorations on elaborately crafted chairs and tables and fern stands, for instance.  An advertisement for "Holiday Goods" in December 1873 touted "ladies' work tables, flower stands, rattan and willow furniture."

In 1884 Chas. Zinn & Co. moved to Nos. 134-140 Grand Street.  It may have been the loss of his main tenant that prompted owner Dr. Henry B. House to hire architect John B. McIntyre to design a new Italianate style cornice.  Within the triangular pediment the name LATIMER BUILDING was cast.  It is possible the renovation was the result of a proposed lease of the building to merchant Edward Latimer; but if so it never happened and the Latimer Building name became a conundrum.

Instead of a single tenant, there were now several, including Lesem, Mayer & Dazian, makers of umbrellas.  In July 1889 the firm was looking for "experienced hands for tipping on covers."

In 1892 The F. M. Lupton Publishing Company shared the building.  The firm offered extensive "series" of books, like the 31-volume The Adelphi Series which included the complete works of Charles Dickens, W. M. Thackery and George Eliot.  The Bijou Series was even larger at 129 volumes and included mostly lesser-known authors, although Nathaniel Hawthorn and J. M. Barrie were among them.

The firm had been founded by Frank Moore Lupton in 1880.  In addition to its hard and softback books, it published several periodicals including Fireside at Home, Fairy Voices, and The People's Home Journal.

On January 4, 1896 the Record & Guide reported that the Latimer building, "a five-story, marble front structure," had been sold for $180,000.  The price Sonn Bros. paid would equal about $5.65 million today.  The New York Times commented that the purchase "seems to be in the nature of an investment."  And apparently it was.  Just four months later Sonn Bros. sold the property to John Livingston for $200,000--making a quick profit equal to $630,000 in today's money.

Along with The F. M. Lupton Publishing Company at the time were tenants Bick Bros, clothing manufacturers; and Sandors Mfg. Co., leather goods makers.

A notice in Publishers' Weekly on January 23, 1897 announced that the Lupton firm "beg to notify the Trade that there has been an entire change of management in this concern."  It advised that "Mr. J. M. Ruston, connected for the past several years with Hurst & Co., is now Sole Manager of this company."  Two years later the firm moved to Duane Street.  (Frank M. Lupton suffered intense "melancholia" in later years and on October 6, 1910 was found dead in his bathroom having slit his throat with a penknife.)

In February 1915 the James G. Shaw Blank Book Company signed a lease for the entire building.  The vintage building required significant updating.  The Record & Guide noted "Extensive alterations, including installation of new stairway, sprinkler systems, elevators, etc. will be made from plans by Frederick Putnam Platt."  (F. P. Platt & Brother would become best known for its numerous designs of Horn & Hardart automats.)  

The article noted "the lessees were influenced in the selection of this locality by the many advantages which it will enjoy when all the subways have been completed."  In fact, James G. Shaw Blank Book Company had a history on the block.  As early as 1859 it was operating from Nos. 48-50 Walker Street before moving to Houston Street.

James G. Shaw Blank Book Company remained in the building well into the 1920's.  After mid-century two freight firms operated from Nos. 72-76, the Laufer Shipping Co., Inc. and the Mar Shipping Corp., and as the century drew to a close sportwear firms occupied the building.

While so many of the Tribeca factory buildings were converted to residential lofts at the time, Nos. 72-76 continued its industrial life.  The marble façade has been carefully cleaned and the 1885 cornice freshly painted, bringing the 158 year old building nearly back to its original appearance.

photographs by the author

The 1859 52-54 Walker Street

 

Charles Sandford was a builder in the first half of the 19th century.   He was also keenly aware of the coming changes to the once-residential neighborhood now called Tribeca.  In 1858, three years before the first shot was fired in the Civil War and nearly a decade before rampant development would engulf the area, he began construction on a five-story loft and store building at Nos. 52 and 54 Walker Street.

Completed the following year, the Italianate style structure was faced in stone above the cast iron storefront.  Each story contained arched openings and was separated from the others by an intermediate cornice.  A handsome bracketed terminal cornice completed the design.

Among the initial tenants was C. Marie & Co. which announced its new address in the New York Herald on February 3, 1859.   The firm advertised itself as "Importers of Cloths, Cassimeres and Vestings, and Goods for Men's Wear."  Another early tenants was E. V. Welch & Co., supplier of artificial flowers and feathers for milliners.

The Evening Post, August 5, 1865 (copyright expired)

A. G. Hyde & Company was in the building by 1870.  Headed by partners Albert G. Hyde and Joseph L. King, the firm imported woolens and boys' wear.   Albert Hyde, fell victim to a scam that year after he was called to the offices of the Society for the Suppression of Gambling on February 9 regarding sensitive information about an employee.  There Rowland R. West, the organization's president, said that "he had positive information that some one was gambling."  That someone was Joseph L. King.

Concerned that if the rumor was true the company's finances could be in jeopardy, Hyde paid $50 for positive information (about $1,000 in today's money).  He was provided with a private detective's report that not only had King gambled in two places one night recently, but that he "was a frequenter of French balls, and that his expenses indicated large means."

West apparently underestimated the close relationship between the partners, and found himself facing a judge on September 19, charged with receiving money for "false representations."

The ground floor was home to the store of John Roll.  On June 28, 1873 Mary Frawley strolled in and looked over fabrics.  She chose two pieces of cloth priced at the equivalent of $2,500 today and left.  The problem was that she had not paid for the goods.  Mary was arrested for shoplifting.  Although she pleaded that "there were extenuating circumstances," she was sent to the penitentiary for six months.

Garment and millinery firms continued to operate from the building.  In the 1880's the tenants included Isidore Rosenthal, dealer in "cloth and woolens;" Benjamin L. Coffin, dealer in hosiery and notions; and furrier S. Rothschild & Bro.

The holiday known today as Memorial Day was called Decoration Day until 1967.  It was so named because flowers and flags were placed on the graves of war veterans.  Thieves took advantage of the holiday in 1884 to burglarize Benjamin L. Coffin's operation.  People living in the area noticed at around 11:00 that morning they saw three men in the store, but assumed they were employees.  The New York Times reported they "saw them coming out from time to time carrying parcels, which they put in a wagon standing around the corner of Centre-street."  While most of the policemen in the district were on duty at the Decoration Day Parade, the thieves made off with the equivalent of about $27,000 today worth of goods.

In 1894 the firm of John McConvill & Co. was reorganized and renamed John McCann & Co.  It dealt in "linens, handkerchiefs, embroidered robes, shawls and woolens."  Like Benjamin L. Coffin, it  was the victims of thieves in 1895, but these were insiders.

In August Captain O'Brien of the Detective Bureau was informed that the firm was "being robbed," according to The Sun a month later.  He put two undercover detectives on the case who "began a system of espionage upon each of the twenty-two employees of the house."  Among the workers being closely watched were two porters, Thomas F. Dwyer and another named McCurry, and a salesman, Edward J. Lavin.

Each day Lavin and McCurry took lunch together at noon.  It was a ploy to give Dwyer the opportunity to operate without his co-worker's watchful eye.  Each day the Lavin would wrap up a bundle of clothing as if for a regular customer.  He left it where Dwyer could easily find it.

The Sun explained "While McCurry was away Dwyer was seen to go every day to the barber shop of Tony Nainoli at 246 West Broadway with a bundle, which he left at the barbershop," said The Sun.  Tony Nainoli was in on the scheme and had been buying goods from the pair nearly every day since the fall of 1892--amounting to as much as $125,000 by today's standards.   All three confessed to the crimes.

The turn of the century saw three manufacturers in the building.  In 1901 A. Galewski and Claus-Townsend Co., both leather goods firms, and Isaac Shaffer & Co., shirtmakers, operated here.   Employees worked long hours at in the early 20th century.  The 40 employees of Claus-Townsend Co., of which ten were teenagers, worked a 60-hour week.

A major shift in the type of tenant occurred following World War I.  In 1917 the Modern Machinery Exchange, Inc. moved its warehouses into the building, touting "we carry a complete line of iron and metal working machinery."  The firm remained into the 1920's.

In the early 1990's Energy and Materials of America, Inc. was in the building.  But the Tribeca renaissance soon visited Walker Street.  In 2005 architect Cheri Caso opened Ray20 here, offering domestic and imported home furnishings.  The pieces were pricey.  Among the items offered in April that year was a carbon-fiber chair manufactured in Holland priced at $650, and a slatted wood chair from Norway at $1,800.

In 2006 the ground floor shop where Mary Frawley once walker out with stolen fabrics became the M1-5 lounge.  The popular night spot continues in the space today.  Unlike many of the Tribeca lofts, the upper floors of Nos. 52-54 Walker Street have not been converted to residential use, but continue to house factories.

photographs by the author

Henry Fernbach's 1869 Marble-Faced Factory Building at 79 Walker Street

No. 81, at left, is a near match to No. 79.

On November 2, 1850 an announcement appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune: "Mr. Hardter, Professor of the German Language, and Director of the St. Matthews' Academy, takes the opportunity of informing is friends and the public in general, that he will resume his Evening Classes on Monday, Oct. 28, at the St. Matthews' Academy."  The school was part of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, erected in 1821 at No. 79 Walker Street, between Broadway and Lafayette Street.  It sat at the southeast corner of little Cortlandt Alley.

At the end of the Civil War the neighborhood was no longer residential.  The church that had housed the academy was razed in 1868 by Mayer and Simon Sternberger.  Simultaneously J. L. Seasongood purchased No. 81 Walker Street, next door, also owned by St. Matthew's.   He and the Sternbergers cooperated in their building projects.  They hired Fernbach two design two nearly identical structures on the sites.  In reporting on the project The Real Estate Record & Guide got Seasongood's name slightly wrong, calling the property owners "Susgood & Steinberger."

Six stories tall, No. 79, like its twin sister, rose six stories and was faced in marble (the Cortlandt Alley elevation was red brick).  Fernbach melded the currently popular Italianate and Second Empire styles to create a dignified commercial structure.   The four windows of each of the upper floors alternated between flat-headed and segmentally-arched openings.  Each floor was defined by a crisp cornice, and stacked quoins ran up the sides.  An extravagant terminal sheet metal cornice upheld a beefy central pediment.

Among the Sternbergers' first tenants was the dry goods firm of Rindskopf, Brothers & Co., run by  Abraham P. and Henry P. Rindskopf.   The company had barely moved in before it was the victim of what The New York Herald called "a nice little game and very nicely played."

In September 1869 a young man, William Morris, scammed so many merchants that the newspaper said there were "too many to list."  Morris "has a pleasant address, clear, bold look of the eye and spoke promptly and to the point.  He signified his wish to purchase goods as agent of Woods, Yeatman & Co., of the Cumberland Iron Works, of Tennessee."  Having chosen goods, he gave shipping directions to a Cincinnati address, and directed that the bills be sent to Woods, Yeatman & Co.

The article described him as "hurriedly stepping in and out of leading mercantile establishments, wholesale dealers in dry goods, groceries, crockery, boots and shoes, and hardware and the whole catalogue of merchantable goods, in fact, and with a sprightly business air and dash of go-ahead about him which, with good clothes, fine manners and a voluble tongue, go a good way in one's favor and leave a prepossessing effect."  Morris was captured, but not before he had scammed Rindskopf, Brothers & Co. out of $300 worth of "woollens and cloth goods."  The loss would amount to about $5,700 today.

Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Rindskopf, Brothers & Co. contributed to the relief effort by donating two cases of clothing.

Mayer and Simon Sternberger sold the building on April 30, 1873 to Uriah M. and Lucia E. Lee for $185,000--in the neighborhood of $4 million today.   The couple resold it in October 1875 to James and Frederick Ayer of Massachusetts.

Hoop skirts, which had been the fashion rage throughout the 1860's were falling from favor by now.  Nonetheless one manufacturer in the Walker Street building still forged ahead with the style.  An advertisement in The New York Herald on August 20, 1876 sought "Good Hoop Skirt Hands; good wages paid."

In 1869, the same year that No. 79 was completed, President Ulysses S. Grant established his Peace Policy, an attempt to treat Native Americans more humanly.  It included the establishment of reservations and providing them communities with quality merchandise at reasonable prices.  The Board of Indian Commissioners was formed to take bids on goods for the reservations.

On May 2, 1877 the Washington D.C. newspaper, the National Republican, reported "By direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the place for opening the bids on the 8th instant for Indian supplies, has been changed from 40 Leonard street, N.Y., to 79 Walker street."   

An unlikely presence in a building otherwise filled with dry goods and apparel firms, the office opened bids that spring for astounding volumes of merchandise, including 55 million pounds of "beef on hoof," 90,000 pounds of hard bread, 5.5 million pounds of flour, and 30,000 Mackinac blankets.  Later, in August, bids were received for 76,700 pounds of sugar and 9,118 pounds of rice.

Before freight elevators were common, hatchways were used to hoist crates and up and down between floors.  The shafts, which used a system of pulleys, were repeatedly the source of injuries or deaths.  On May 16, 1880 The New York Times reported "Charles Tully, aged 16, a porter employed at No. 79 Walker-street, fell through the hatchway of that building, from the fourth floor to the cellar, yesterday, and was instantly killed."

Among the tenants at the time was dress manufacturer Wm. F. Foster & Co.  The firm was looking for an "experienced girl on improved French overstitch machine" in February 1881; and in July for "respectable girls handy with the needle."  Also in the building was Luchs Bros., makers of ruffles, "rufflings," and collars; and dry good goods manufacturer H. E. Frankenberg.  

The apparel and dry goods merchants reeled when President William McKinley imposed a tariff of up to nearly 50% on incoming raw materials in 1890.  The President said he did so to protect domestic manufacturers from foreign competition.  The ramifications, however, were increased consumer prices.

On November 1, 1890 the Chicago Herald called the tariff "villainous" and said that the costs of goods were now necessarily rising while wages stayed stagnant.  Among those complaining of the tariffs was Henry E. Frankenberg, who wrote to the President on October 6 saying "Dear Sir--I am obliged to change my prices on all articles affected by the new tariff.  Be assured that these are as low as the goods can be sold for."

In the fall of 1895 two former convicts, Charles Kasson (alias Jackson) and Charles Kronman (alias Miller), devised a crafty scheme.  They loitered around delivery entrances and when a messenger would pick up goods, they would casually make note of addresses.  Then they would speed to that location, pretend to be the intended recipient, and take possession of the goods.  

On October 1 the pair carried several rolls of silk into a pawnshop on First Avenue.  The price they asked was so low that the broker refused to deal with them.  A policeman followed and arrested them.  The Times reported "Later it was found that the silk had been stolen from Lord & Taylor's Grand Street store, and one of Frankenberg, of 79 Walker Street."

At the time H. E. Frankenberg employed one man (no doubt a supervisor), five women, five girls under 21 years old, and one under 16 years old.   The female staff worked grueling hours--56.5 hours during the week plus nine on either Saturday or Sunday, as the worker chose.

An exception to the apparel and dry goods firms in the building was Joseph A. Jones, manufacturer of umbrellas and "umbrella roofs."   On October 23, 1899 the firm was robbed by thieves--the identify of which might be shocking today.

Sometime after midnight a fire broke out nearby at No. 398 Broadway.  During the chaos several thousand dollars of goods disappeared from the Jones shop.  On October 27 the Clothiers' and Haberdashers' Weekly reported "Mr. Jones has preferred a complaint to the fire chief against the firemen who were stationed near his quarters during the fire."  Corrupt fire fighters were a scourge during the 19th century, sometimes going so far as to set fires in order to steal valuables.

It appears that the unscrupulous fire fighters launched a covert defense.  The New-York Tribune reported "Chief Croker...yesterday received two anonymous letters attacking the character of Joseph A. Jones, the umbrella maker, of No. 79 Walker-st."  The article noted "One of the letters is signed "A Friend" and the other "An Advertiser."  Chief Croker refused to be hoodwinked.  He ordered Deputy Chief Duane "to go on with the investigation of the alleged robbery."

At the turn of the century tenants included window shade manufacturer Carl Lindemann & Co., whose workforce of 19 men and 3 women put in 60 hours a week; the large "suspender trimmings" maker Scheinberg & Son (its 75 employees included 23 children); Meyer, Hummell & Co., hats and caps; and Baird Bros.

Brothers W. I. and A. W. Baird were headed to work at 8:30 on the morning of February 6, 1901 on a Broadway streetcar.   A gas stove kept the passengers warm.  Just as the car approached Spring Street the stove exploded, spewing glass and flames throughout the car.  The Evening World reported "The women passengers screamed and there was a rush for both exits.  Some of them became wedged in the doorways and one or two persons attempted to get out of the windows."  In the meantime, the car filled with suffocating smoke and fire broke out below the floorboards.

The newspaper reported listed the injured, noting "W. I. Baird and his brother, A. W. Baird, who are in business at 79 Walker street, were on the rear platform and were hurled to the street by the force of the explosion.  They escaped with some severe bruises."

Four businesses which shared the same president, Charles Scheuer, were here by 1904, the Crandall Wedge Co., makers of garters, Scheuer & Bros., leather goods, Webcroft Company, suspender makers, and the Crandall Web Manufacturing Company.   They shared the building with L. Robinson, maker of knee pants.

The estate of James C. Ayer still owned the property in 1918, when it leased the entire 25,000 square foot building to the Empire Carpet Company.   The firm sub-leased space to tenants like M. Gordon Company, which was here in March 1920 and advertised "Boy wanted, bright, office and errands; good salary; rapid advancement."    The same year, in August, the Automobile Sundries Company needed a stenographer.  Employment discrimination was routine at the time.  "Competent; permanent position; 6 months' experience required; Christians preferred." 

In 1921 two stationery firms here were, the Shaw Blank Book Co., and B. J. McAfee, which advertised its "mourning stationery."  By 1922 Paul N. Friedlaender Handles was in the building, selling handles for ship deck brushes, "squilgees," and similar marine equipment. 

At last one apparel firm was in the building at mid-century.  The Famous Raincoat Company moved in in 1946 and stayed for 15 years.  In 1972 the Mar Shipping Corp. called No. 79 home; and T. & L. Sportswear operated on an upper floor.   That firm found itself in hot water with the United States Labor Department in October 1979.

The New York Times reported "Eighty-five actions charging sweatshop conditions in garment factories in the Chinatown area of Manhattan have been filed."  Included was T. & L. Sportswear.  Regional administrator of the department's Employment Standards Division announced that there was evidence "of the exploitation of Chinese workmen" and "The deplorable exploitation to which these Chinese workers are being subjected is a disgrace and contrary to the tradition of America."

The days of factories within the building were quickly drawing to an end at the time.  By 1984 Art in General, a not-for-profit art gallery had opened in the ground floor.  The 2013 Art on Sight by Lucy D. Rosenfeld and Marina Harrison said of it "Here some of the most thought-provoking exhibitions and events take place, ranging form dance performances to shows using analog technology for blueprints."

In 2016 Caspi Development began a restoration-renovation of the building.  While many Tribeca lofts had by now been transformed into residential space, Josh Caspi saw opportunity in modern office and retail space.

photographs by the author