Engine Company 33 / Ladder Company 9 Firehouse
42 Great Jones Street | NoHo | built 1899
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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.
- 1897
A woman described as an actress is shot twice at No. 44, on the lot later taken by the firehouse
Before the firehouse, Nos. 42 and 44 Great Jones Street were old houses from the once-wealthy Bond Street area. In 1897 Mary Norton died at No. 42, aged 39. On March 5 of that year May Franklyn, described by the New York Times as an actress, was shot twice at No. 44 by Philip Metz, who she said was jealous. Both houses were demolished in 1898 to make way for the new firehouse.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1899
Fire Chief Edward Croker makes the new firehouse his night headquarters
The plans for the new station included a night headquarters for the fire chief, and Chief Edward F. Croker moved in with Engine Company 33. A newspaper noted that his office carried the usual paintings, statuary and hunting gear expected of a high official. The company also received a new steam engine from Clapp & Jones that could throw a stream of water 215 feet.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1899
Ernest Flagg and W. B. Chambers complete a Beaux-Arts firehouse on Great Jones Street
The firehouse at 42-44 Great Jones Street replaces two old houses demolished in 1898 and is built for Engine Company 33, which had been working from its original Mercer Street house. A solid limestone base carries a grand central arch with an ornate cartouche, and large paired brackets support the cornice. The building also holds Fire Chief Edward F. Croker's night headquarters.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1907
Fire buffs crowd the firehouse so thickly that the fire patrol is called out
Fans of the firehouse gathered outside in such numbers on Independence Day 1907 that the fire patrol had to be summoned to clear them away, since the building also held Chief Croker's night headquarters. A few were arrested and some fined. Insulted, the buffs decided to start their own club, and by August 1908 they were raffling a five-dollar gold piece to rent a clubroom, which they planned to furnish with a piano, chairs and a pinochle deck.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1911
Engine Company 33 answers the first alarm at the Triangle Waist Factory fire
When the first alarm sounds for the fire in the Asch Building, Engine Company 33 from the Great Jones Street firehouse is the company that responds. Dozens of women, mostly in their 20s, are trapped upstairs at the Triangle Waist Factory. By the end, 146 shirtwaist workers are dead.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1948
Ladder Company 9 leaves Elizabeth Street to share the Great Jones Street house
Ladder Company 9, organized in 1865 just like Engine Company 33, moved out of its old Elizabeth Street firehouse in 1948 and joined the engine company at Great Jones Street. The two companies have shared the building since then. At the time, firefighting was a men-only profession, and it stayed that way for roughly three more decades.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1968
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the firehouse a landmark
On November 12, 1968, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the firehouse a New York City landmark, after a public hearing in December 1966 at which two witnesses spoke in favor and none against. The Fire Commissioner, Robert O. Lowery, also sent a letter. The commission called the building an exceptionally distinguished public building and a daring design in its day.
- 1982
Cecelia Salters becomes the first woman to join Ladder Company 9
After the Fire Department is sued for discrimination in 1979, it hires 41 women in 1982. Cecelia O. Salters becomes the first woman to join Ladder Company 9 at the Great Jones Street firehouse. She later recalls that colleagues reacted with coldness, sarcasm or excessive protectiveness.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1990
Cecelia Salters and Andre Cox become the first FDNY couple from one firehouse to marry
Cecelia Salters of Ladder Company 9 and Andre W. Cox, a former transit police officer who joined Engine Company 33, spend two years as a couple without anyone noticing. They marry on the evening of July 21, 1990, the first New York City firefighters from the same firehouse to wed. Half of the firehouse's fifty members attend.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2001
Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer and his brother, a battalion chief, trade a last word at the Trade Center
Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer was among the company's firefighters at the World Trade Center, and his brother Joseph was a battalion chief. When Engine 33 arrived, the brothers spotted each other and exchanged a quick word before heading in different directions. It was the last time they spoke, and Kevin died that morning.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2001
Ten of Engine Company 33's fourteen firefighters die responding to the World Trade Center attacks
Fourteen members of Engine Company 33 respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center, and only four survive. Lieutenant Kevin Pfeifer and his brother Joseph, a battalion chief, spot each other and exchange a few words before going in different directions. It is the last time they speak, and Kevin dies that morning.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- Firehouse, Engine Company 33 and Ladder Company 9Wikipedia
- Engine Company 33 -- Nos. 42-44 Great Jones StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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