40 Walker Street

Tribeca | built 1860

Open on the map5 entries

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

1. 1860

   Joseph Bayley's estate replaces a boarding house with a five-story loft at 40 Walker Street

   The estate of Joseph Bayley, a fancy goods merchant, bought the boarding house at 40 Walker Street in 1859, almost ten years ahead of the area's main building rush, and replaced it with a five-story loft finished in 1860. The commercial Italianate design had a cast-iron storefront, cast-metal lintels that would have suited a house, and a bracketed cornice. Early tenants were clothing makers and a men's furnishings firm.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1861

   Philanthropist Mahlon Hewit inspects Union Army uniforms at 40 Walker Street

   Mahlon T. Hewit, a clothing manufacturer among the first tenants, was known for charity: he backed Orville Gardner's Reading Room, meant to keep young men out of grog-shops, and was a manager of the Children's Aid Society. After the Civil War began he was enlisted to inspect uniforms, which makers sent to New York, Boston or Cincinnati for a quality check before the Quartermaster accepted them. Those arriving in New York were brought to 40 Walker Street.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1904

   July 26

   A cloth dealer blames a sandbagging for his failure, and police find no record of it

   Robert Lewin, a wholesale cloth dealer at 40 Walker Street, was in trouble in 1904. The Sun reported on July 26 that the sheriff had seized nineteen pieces of cloth, a safe and a desk. Lewin blamed an attack on May 14, saying he had been found unconscious in a toilet room at Terrace Garden on East 58th Street and could not work afterward. Police had no record of any attack, and one of the Garden's proprietors said he first heard of it a week later, when a coroner asked him. Lewin's liabilities were put at about $40,000.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1905

   June 27

   Hosiery dealer Henry Hirschmann is indicted for lying to creditors about his firm's assets

   Hirschmann Bros., dealers in hosiery and underwear, went into receivership in the last months of 1904. On June 27, 1905 The Sun reported that partner Henry Hirschmann had been indicted for grand larceny and embezzlement. The firm had been essentially insolvent for years, and to keep it going he overstated its assets to creditors by 300 percent. Creditors estimated they had lost about $170,000.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

5. 2020

   A 2020 renovation turns the old garment loft at 40 Walker Street into apartments

   The building housed garment-related firms for most of the 20th century. The Walker Street Theater moved in around 1991, and the lighting company O Lighting was here in the early 2000s. A renovation finished in 2020 made one apartment on each of the second, third and fourth floors, a duplex on the fifth, and a new penthouse that cannot be seen from the street.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

• The 1860 No. 40 Walker StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

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• 38 Walker Street2 entries
• 42 Walker Street2 entries
• 44 Walker Street5 entries
• 36 Walker Street4 entries
• Walkerspace46 Walker Street | 6 entries
• 311 Church Street2 entries

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