Van Tassell and Kearney Horse Auction Mart
126 East 13th Street | also 123A East 12th Street, 123 East 12th Street | East Village | built 1904
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1904
Jardine, Kent & Jardine design a Beaux-Arts horse auction mart
The firm of Jardine, Kent & Jardine designed the red-brick and limestone building for Van Tassell & Kearney's horse and carriage auction business, completed in 1904. Basement stables held about 150 horses in ventilated stalls that extended underground toward East 12th Street, and a large arched window lit the auction floor within.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1906
Van Tassell & Kearney auctions horses from elite Manhattan families
Regular semi-weekly auctions drew buyers from families such as the Vanderbilts, Belmonts and Mackays. On March 13, 1906, the house sold 24 horses from Dr. W. E. Woodend's collection for $11,250, and the following year secondhand carriages fetched record prices of $760 to $825.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1941
The building becomes a wartime machine-shop training center for women
As automobiles ended the horse trade, the auction house closed after World War I and later held a machinery shop. On December 28, 1941, the Delehanty Institute opened a training program there that taught women machine-shop skills for defense-industry jobs.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1978
Artist Frank Stella turns the former auction house into his studio
Artist Frank Stella took over the former auction house as his studio in 1978, working there for 27 years and expanding into free-standing sculpture alongside his painting and print-making. He left in 2005, when the property was sold to developer Isaac Mishan for $10 million, who planned to demolish it for a seven-story condominium.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2012
The city designates the former auction house a landmark
After a six-year preservation campaign led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a New York City landmark on May 15, 2012. It had already been listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2007, and the building now houses the Peridance dance school.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Van Tassell and Kearney Horse Auction MartWikipedia
- A 1904 Horse and Carriage Auction House -- Nos. 126-128 E. 13th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
- 128 East 13th Street; 123 East 12th Street; 126-128 East 13th StreetVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
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