312 Canal Street

also 318 Canal Street, 314 Canal Street, 320 Canal Street | Tribeca | built 1915

Open on the map3 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. 1826

    Isaac Lawrence has a house built at what is now 312-314 Canal Street in 1825-26

    Isaac Lawrence, a shipping merchant and prominent banker who died in 1841, had several houses built on this stretch of Canal Street in 1825-26. The one at today's 312-314, almost 26 feet wide, was a two-and-a-half-story dwelling that was numbered 61, then 63, and finally 312. By 1851 it had been converted to commercial use, and its occupants included a milliner.

    “…it was one of several built in 1825-26 for Isaac Lawrence (d. 1841), a shipping merchant and prominent American banker…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1851

    Shops selling umbrellas and corsets fill a former Lawrence house on Canal Street by 1851

    By 1851 the former Lawrence house now numbered 318 Canal Street had been turned over to commercial use; that year its occupants sold umbrellas and corsets. Next door, at what is now 320, early commercial tenants included the wallpaper merchants Nathan and Joshua Brown, who later developed 302 Canal Street. After No. 318 was raised to four stories in 1892-93, it held shops on the ground floor, storage space on the second, and a dwelling on the third and fourth.

    “…the occupants during that year sold umbrellas and corsets…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1962

    Via Canalis hires architect Abraham L. Seiden to remake the old Lawrence houses at 312-322 Canal Street

    Via Canalis, the owner, engaged architect Abraham L. Seiden in 1962-65 to rework the old Lawrence dwellings as part of a project covering Nos. 312 to 322 Canal Street. No. 318, which had been raised to four stories in 1892-93, lost its upper two floors, and No. 320 came out as a two-story, 25-foot-wide commercial building. On No. 318 the Flemish-bond brick front keeps its historic window openings, topped by stone lintels, above a new storefront.

    “In conjunction with work executed on Nos. 312 to 322 Canal Street, Via Canalis hired architect Abraham L. Seiden to alter the building in 1962-65…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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