Thomas J. Lipton Building

149 Franklin Street | also 151 Franklin Street | Tribeca | built 1889

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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. 1889

    Charles C. Haight builds a six-story Romanesque Revival warehouse for lawyer John E. Parsons

    The warehouse of 1888-89 was designed by Charles C. Haight for attorney John E. Parsons, a founder of the Bar Association and president of Cooper Union. It is six stories and over 58 feet wide, with a grid-like brick and cast-iron facade. According to the city's landmark report, it took the place of two frame buildings that had masonry additions at the rear.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1900

    April 2

    The International Arithmachine Company advertises an early adding machine from the building

    Around 1900 the International Arithmachine Co. made and sold early adding machines from the building, which had first housed the liquor wholesalers Fishel & Levy. A newspaper advertisement of April 2, 1900 sought an agent for what it called the smallest, fastest and cheapest practical computing machine, one that could add, subtract and multiply.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1905

    March 5

    Thomas Lipton's tea company leases the building after fire destroys its nearby headquarters

    In February 1905 a fire destroyed the Lipton Building on the corner of Franklin and Hudson Streets, and by March 5 the New-York Tribune reported that Parsons had leased 149-151 Franklin Street to the tea company. The move was so hurried that Lipton let the owner skip his forty days of promised repairs. The company stayed until 1919.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1913

    February 17

    A jury rejects Thomas Lipton's lawsuit over a water tank that ruined his tea

    A water tank overflowed in 1912 and soaked a large amount of tea stored in the building, and Sir Thomas Lipton sued landlord John E. Parsons for the damage. Because Lipton had earlier released Parsons from any duty to repair defects, the State Supreme Court jury sided with Parsons on February 17, 1913. The defense argued that a Lipton superintendent had turned on the water without checking the pipes.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1919

    September

    Lipton moves its operation to Hoboken and a sausage-casing firm takes the lease

    Thomas J. Lipton, Inc. leased a twelve-story building in Hoboken, New Jersey, in August 1919 and left Manhattan. The following month, Berth, Levi & Co., a maker of sausage casings, took over Lipton's lease on 149-151 Franklin Street. Berth, Levi kept renting after the building was sold in 1936 and stayed for years.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca