132 Duane Street

Tribeca | built 1860

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1860
Banker Samuel D. Babcock, a Riverdale developer and later telephone company president, builds 132 Duane Street
Samuel D. Babcock, a partner in the banking firm Babcock Brothers & Co., built this five-story store in 1859-60. He belonged to the syndicate that developed Riverdale in the Bronx and later headed the International Bell Telephone Company, and he was a leader of the New York Chamber of Commerce. His store replaced a frame boarding house and a rear frame dwelling that had sheltered laborers, among them an African-American washerwoman.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1880
A succession of auctioneers, cutlery importers and shoe makers lease 132 Duane Street
After its first tenants, the building passed through the hands of varied businesses. An auctioneer named Eugene L. Townsend occupied it, followed by McCoy & Co., importers of hardware and cutlery, in the 1880s, and the boot and shoe manufacturers Levy & Ketzman in the 1890s. In the twentieth century it housed shoe wholesalers including Elliott Merritt & Co., the Bond Shoe Co. and the Crescent Shoe Co.
“Subsequent tenants included McCoy & Co., hardware and cutlery importers, in the 1880s and Levy & Ketzman, boot and shoe manufacturers, in the 1890s.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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