First National Stables

228 West Houston Street | also 66 Downing Street | West Village | built 1900

Open on the map6 entries

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. 1862

    Edward Senior has builder William Owens put up the First National Stables with matching facades on two streets

    In 1862 Edward Senior hired the builder William Owens to put up a brick building at 228 West Houston Street that extended through the block to Downing Street. Both red-brick facades were identical, with arched second-floor openings under brick eyebrows and a plain dentiled cornice to save money. Called the First National Stables, it held at least 14 horses and assorted coaches, buggies and wagons, with lodging for stable workers upstairs.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1871

    July 28

    A Washington Ice Company driver is arrested for working horses with open collar sores

    The Washington Ice Company kept its wagons and teams at the First National Stables. On July 28, 1871, the New York Times reported that six of its teams had been sent out with sores under their collars, and the day before, the driver Charles King had been taken into custody for working a team of horses badly galled by their collars on ice cart No. 137. The company's drivers seem to have been especially careless of their animals.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1876

    October 21

    A foreclosure auction sells the stable's horses, hearses and a coffin wagon

    Foreclosure claimed the First National Stables in 1876, and an auction of its contents to satisfy the mortgage took place on October 21. The sale included seven pairs of horses and a range of vehicles: the expected carriages and wagons, but also a pair of large hearses, a hearse for children, a doctor's wagon, a six-seat sleigh and a covered wagon for coffins.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1893

    C. Boege & Sons turns the upper floors into a factory for saloon bars and mirrored backbars

    In 1893 the two upper floors were converted for C. Boege & Sons, a cabinetry and woodworking firm that made saloon furniture, including the bars and elaborate mirrored backbars of Victorian saloons and restaurants. The firm stayed until about 1902, when the Composition Decorative Company moved upstairs to make plaster ornaments such as ceiling medallions.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1977

    October 21

    Three armed men lock customers in the basement of Martin's Bar & Grill and flee with $12,360

    In the mid-1970s the building held the Prince Street Players Loft, an off-Broadway theater, with Martin's Bar & Grill on the ground floor. On October 21, 1977, three men entered, joined a drinking patron, and showed guns. They forced the bartender and customers into the basement, locked them in, warned them to stay put for an hour, and escaped with $12,360.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1988

    Brother's Bar-B-Q opens in the old stable with New Orleans-style barbecue

    In 1988 Martin's Bar & Grill was replaced by Brother's Bar-B-Q, known for smoked pork butt and ribs. On April 13, 1994, New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant wrote that its specialty was New Orleans-style barbecue served with lots of hot sauce. The restaurant moved to a larger space on Varick Street in 1995.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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