5th Precinct Station House

19 Elizabeth Street | Chinatown | built 1915

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.

1882
April 17
The Sixth Precinct station house opens on Elizabeth Street
Sergeant Nathaniel Bush, the police department's official architect, designed the Italianate building, which rose four stories. The station house opened on April 17, 1882, after builder Joseph Ross won a $39,951 contract the previous April. An 1893 State Senate visit counted 12 cells for men and 16 for women. The precinct covered a poor immigrant district near Five Points.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1900
The Times exposes Chinatown gambling and opium dens in the Sixth Precinct
In 1900 the New York Times described how the Gee Kon Tong, a secret society, ran fan-tan tables, lottery ticket outlets, and opium dens along Mott and Pell Streets. A guide quoted by the reporter said the police knew where the dens were and let them operate. A gang war among tong factions then lasted for years, and in 1909 the precinct captain was still trying to arrange a truce.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1972
Neighbors block a police plan to demolish the station house
Through the 1960s and into 1972, the surrounding community fought off police department proposals to tear down the aging station house. The city ultimately chose to renovate the building rather than replace it, restoring much of its 19th-century appearance.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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