24 Water Street

Financial District | built 1863

Open on the map4 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. 1863

    Produce merchant Stephen D. Herrick completes a cast-iron-fronted building among older brick neighbors

    Stephen D. Herrick ran a produce business with John Wakeman at 28 Water Street, and in 1862 he started work on a modern building with a cast-iron front two doors away at No. 24, finished the next year. Its neo-Classical details, including swags, wreaths and paneled pilasters, set it apart from the brick buildings of the 1820s and 1830s beside it. Herrick appears to have built it as an investment, since his firm was still listed at No. 28 as late as 1870.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1920

    February 14

    The Sons of the Revolution contract to buy 24 Water Street for $45,000 to protect Fraunces Tavern

    After Fraunces Tavern was restored and dedicated in 1907, the Sons of the Revolution announced in 1920 that they meant to preserve the place, and they had already begun gathering nearby property to prevent incongruous development. On February 14 the New-York Tribune reported they had contracted to acquire 24 Water Street for $45,000. The building kept housing waterfront firms, including the Irish-American Line's new passenger offices in 1922 and the ship chandlers James W. Cunningham & Co. in 1926.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1934

    April 9

    Vice society and police raid the Art Studio Warehouse upstairs and seize two tons of books

    In the Depression years the Art Studio Warehouse had space upstairs, run by Joseph Smith, his brother Vincent and Maxim Montgomery, who also ran the Treat 'Em Right Publishing Company at 2 Stone Street. On April 9, 1934, the Society for the Prevention of Vice and the NYPD raided both places and seized two tons of material they considered obscene, along with 400 copper plates. The New York Times counted 4,600 books priced from $5 to $25, and the three men were charged with vending obscene literature and held on $500 bail.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 2015

    The Sons of the Revolution restore the cast-iron facade with new castings made from surviving details

    In 2015 the Sons of the Revolution restored the building's deteriorating cast-iron facade. Instead of using fiberglass copies for lost or damaged pieces, the contractor JEPOL Construction hired Catskills Castings to take molds from the surviving details and pour new iron elements, including a missing capital at street level. The building is part of the Fraunces Tavern Museum complex.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 276 buildings with stories in Financial District