44 Walker Street

Tribeca | built 1855

Open on the map5 entries

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

  1. 1855

    T. Thomas & Son design a brownstone furniture factory at 44 Walker Street for George Johnson

    Architects T. Thomas & Son designed this five-story brownstone-fronted Italianate store and loft in 1854-55 for George Johnson. Born in England, Johnson arrived in New York in 1823, started in rope making near Wall Street, then moved into weaving horsehair cloth, making furniture springs and upholstery, a business that became Johnson & Faulkner in 1867. The cast-iron ground-floor piers came from the Architectural Iron Works, and a T. Hyatt foundry plate survives on the stepped vault.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1872

    September 14

    Police clear tenements owned by the Walker Street furniture makers

    On September 14, 1872 the Sanitary Commission had police evacuate rundown buildings on Elm Street (now Lafayette Street) and Oak Street, ruled unfit for habitation. About six poor families were put on the sidewalk with their belongings and no shelter. The New York Herald named the owners as Faulkner and Johnson of 44 Walker Street, whose furniture firm worked from the building, an unwelcome bit of press for the company.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1875

    June 1

    A fire starts in the second-floor skirt shop at 44 Walker Street

    At about 6:15 p.m. on June 1, 1875 flames showed in the second-story windows of Elias & Co., skirt makers renting space at 44 Walker Street. The fire had longer to spread when a fire truck overturned on Church Street on the way. The building was damaged but insured; the ground-floor saloon run by C. Bary lost the equivalent of about $11,500, and Bary sold his bar, 200 chairs, oil paintings and other fittings at auction that August.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1961

    Artist Ed Ruda and his wife Maria move in and live on every floor over the years

    In 1961, before the building was converted to apartments, the artist Ed Ruda, an abstract expressionist, moved into 44 Walker Street with his wife Maria, who was an actor and a Native American activist. Before his death in 2014 the couple lived on every floor. Ruda told a later resident, who bought the second floor from him in April 1994, about being raided by police in the middle of the night, back when the building was not zoned for residential use.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 2004

    Residents plant a 2,100-square-foot forest on the roof at 44 Walker Street

    In 2004 resident Mark Seth Lender, a conservation columnist, and his wife Valerie Pettis planted 2,100 square feet of rooftop forest at 44 Walker Street as habitat for birds and butterflies. New York Times journalist John Freeman Gill reported on it that December. Lender said that if the planting worked, a person sitting quietly on the roof would see impressive birds.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca