Hook & Ladder Company 8

14 North Moore Street | also 10 North Moore Street | Tribeca | built 1903

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The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1904

    February 5

    City sets aside the old North Moore Street School lot for a new Ladder 8 firehouse

    On February 5, 1904, the Sinking Fund Commissioners discussed building a new station for Hook and Ladder Company No. 8 and assigned it the southeast corner of North Moore and Varick Streets. The earlier building on this lot was the old North Moore Street School, which gave way to the firehouse. The company had worked from 7 North Moore Street since 1866, after leaving Franklin Street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1904

    The city completes a firehouse designed by its first building superintendent

    Alexander H. Stevens, the Fire Department's first Superintendent of Buildings, designs a brick and limestone firehouse with two great arched truck entrances and Baroque cartouches for Hook and Ladder Company 8. The company, previously quartered nearby on North Moore Street, moves into the finished building in 1904.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1914

    Widening Varick Street forces the firehouse to be cut in half

    A city project to widen Varick Street requires slicing away part of the firehouse's depth, shrinking it from two vehicle bays to one and reducing its projected repair cost from $135,000 to $20,000. The truncated building keeps its ornamental facade but loses one of its matching arched entrances.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1916

    October 25

    Fireman John Walsh makes a daring rescue from a burning factory

    Fireman John Walsh of Hook and Ladder 8 swings from a scaling ladder to snatch Ida Goldberg from a seventh-story window of a burning factory at 21-25 East Houston Street. The Fire Department calls it the most daring act performed by a company member in three years, and Commissioner Adamson hails it as one of the finest rescues in department history. The mayor awards Walsh a Medal of Valor for the rescue.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1984

    The Tribeca firehouse becomes the Ghostbusters headquarters on screen

    Designed by city superintendent of buildings Alexander H. Stevens as the first of a series of Beaux-Arts firehouses, the station was later cut down in size when Varick Street was widened. Its exterior was chosen as the Ghostbusters' base in the 1984 film, because an early draft of the script imagined the team as a public service like the fire department. It appeared again in Ghostbusters II in 1989.

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1989

    The firehouse appears again as Ghostbusters headquarters in the 1989 sequel

    The sequel Ghostbusters II, released in 1989, again used the Tribeca firehouse as the exterior of the team's headquarters, five years after the first film. Fans have kept coming to photograph the brick station ever since. As of 2011 it was still an active firehouse, so visitors stand outside a working fire company's home.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 2001

    September 11

    Lieutenant Vincent Halloran of Ladder 8 is killed at the World Trade Center

    Hook and Ladder Company 8 moved to North Moore Street in 1866, and this firehouse was later built for it. On September 11, 2001, its firefighters responded to the attack on the World Trade Center, and Lieutenant Vincent G. Halloran died there. In 2011 neighbors protested Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to close the station.

    Source: tribecacitizen.com

  8. 2005

    A movement begins to rename the North Moore Street block for Lieutenant Halloran

    In 2005 a movement began to rename the stretch of North Moore Street between Varick Street and West Broadway for Lt. Vincent G. Halloran. Halloran served with Hook and Ladder Company No. 8 and did not return from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The firehouse stands at the Varick Street end of that block.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  9. 2011

    June 24

    Residents and Steve Buscemi rally to save the Ghostbusters firehouse from closure

    On June 24, 2011, more than 100 firefighters, residents and officials gathered outside Ladder 8 to oppose Mayor Bloomberg's plan to close 20 fire companies. Councilwoman Margaret Chin warned that slower response times would cost lives, and a city analysis projected first response would rise from 3:52 to 4:41. Actor Steve Buscemi, who had pulled a number of shifts at Ladder 8 back in the early 1980s, joined the crowd. That night a budget deal kept all 20 firehouses open.

    Source: tribecatrib.com

  10. 2015

    The fire department says the Ghostbusters firehouse will close for a gut renovation

    In May 2015 the fire department told the press that the firehouse would soon close for a gut renovation. A main task was replacing the floor so it could carry modern, heavier apparatus, along with electrical and plumbing upgrades. Ladder 8 was to move to another house, not yet chosen, and the start date, length and cost of the work awaited a review of rebids. A firefighter at the house said the closure might last about three years.

    Source: amny.com

  11. 2021

    Fans raise money for a full-size Ghostbusters sign above the firehouse door

    In 2021 the Buffalo Ghostbusters asked fans around the world to fund a full-size replica of the Ghostbusters sign, then donated it to the firehouse. It now hangs over the main entrance all year and draws regular visitors. The sign also gave rise to an annual fundraiser and a firehouse celebration on the Saturday nearest June 8, which fans mark as Ghostbusters Day.

    “In 2021, The Buffalo Ghostbusters asked fans from all around the world to raise money for a new full-size replica Ghostbusters sign…”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca