Fire Patrol No. 2 stable

31 Great Jones Street | NoHo | built 1871

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. 1861

    May 1

    Ladies of a medical relief group prepare army shirts in a house on the site of 31 Great Jones Street

    An earlier Federal-style brick house stood here, home to the Decline family. On May 1, 1861, soon after the Civil War began, Mrs. Decline opened her parlor to ladies of the Surgical and Medical Relief Association, who cut out and prepared flannel shirts and similar garments for soldiers. By late 1870 the site belonged to the Board of Fire Underwriters, which planned a new building here.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1871

    Fire Patrol No. 2 gets a new Italianate station on Great Jones Street

    The Board of Fire Underwriters had architect W. E. Waring design a station for Fire Patrol No. 2, completed in 1871 and the company's fourth home since 1855. Fire patrols protected and salvaged property from fire and water damage rather than fighting fires; No. 2 kept two wagons, five horses, extinguishers, canvas covers and pumps. The patrol stayed until 1907, when it moved to West 3rd Street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1936

    November 10

    The ashcan hat crackdown reaches a milliner at 31 Great Jones Street

    After the patrol left in 1907, the building was leased to Michael Spelecy, who lived here and rented space to commercial tenants. The Millinery Stabilization Committee started a crackdown in 1936 on hats pulled from ash heaps and resold as new. Louis Milstein, a hat maker working here, was arrested on November 10, pleaded guilty and paid a $50 fine.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1999

    The Five Points restaurant opens in the former Fire Patrol stable

    In 1999 the Five Points restaurant opened in the former stables of Fire Patrol No. 2. It serves Mediterranean-American food in the space where the patrol's five horses once ate hay and oats. Its near-twin next door at No. 33 was built the same year as the patrol station, for a sewing-machine company.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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