Barrett, Nephews & Co. Building

37 Lispenard Street | also 334 Canal Street | Tribeca | built 1883

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1879

    Attorney William Mitchell plans to replace an old brick building and a wooden structure

    In 1879 attorney William Mitchell conceived a project to clear two older structures: an old brick commercial building at 334 Canal Street and a wooden one behind it on Lispenard Street. In February 1880 architect William E. Bloodgood filed plans for a five-story brick store with a galvanized iron cornice. The project took four years, and the new building was completed in 1883.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1883

    Bloodgood's neo-Grec building runs through the block from Canal to Lispenard

    William E. Bloodgood designed the five-story building for Wall Street lawyer William Mitchell. It has 26.5 feet on Canal Street and 25 on Lispenard Street, and its brick facades use stone banding, lintels and notched imposts in the neo-Grec style. The Canal Street front adds rosettes at the imposts. The Landmarks Preservation Commission says the masonry building it replaced on Canal had housed importers of millinery goods, silks and similar fabrics.

    “Designed by William E. Bloodgood for William Mitchell, a Wall Street lawyer, it was erected in 1881-83…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1891

    October 2

    A new bookkeeper is arrested for taking $2,500 in Chicago to run off with a belle

    On Friday, October 2, 1891, a detective arrested Henry M. Barnes at Herman Schuman & Co., a wholesale apparel firm in the building, where he had been bookkeeper since summer. Chicago police wrote that Barnes took $2,500 from his employers on June 5 and fled to New York with sweetheart Emma Stern, planning to go to England. When the money ran out, Emma joined the chorus of a stage troupe, and Barnes received a prison sentence.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1895

    May 31

    A sick patrolman answers a fire call here and is later dismissed over a glass of whiskey

    On May 31, 1895 a small fire broke out here, causing no damage to the building or its tenants. Patrolman Francis J. Clarke, 18 years on the force, answered the alarm despite heat exhaustion from the day before. After he twice sat down on the pavement, his brother rushed to the scene and brought him a glass of whiskey. In August The Sun reported Clarke had been convicted of intoxication on duty and dismissed from the force.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1906

    June 17

    A 15-year-old employee fakes his own kidnapping to avoid a punishment

    On Sunday, June 17, 1906, Charles Levy, 15, an employee of Barrett, Nephews & Co., disappeared, and a boy told his sister Rachel that a big, tall man had lured him to Philadelphia. Police wired a description to Philadelphia and picked Charles up as he stepped off a train. He confessed that he had lost $10 belonging to his father, feared a beating, and arranged with another boy to tell the kidnapping story.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca