45 Murray Street
Tribeca | built 1855
Open on the map6 entries
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.
- 1841
Before the loft building, a five-story house on the lot holds Rev. Dr. Barry's Academy
An earlier building on this site was a five-story house at 45 Murray Street, home to Rev. Dr. Barry's Academy until 1841. Clothing manufacturer Francis W. Hutchins bought the property in 1850 and apparently lived there until 1854, when the furniture, including chandeliers and a rosewood piano, was auctioned. The notice said the building was to be removed.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1855
Clothier Francis Hutchins builds a marble-front loft at 45 Murray Street, attributed to Samuel A. Warner
Francis W. Hutchins, a clothier with a store on William Street, redeveloped 45 Murray Street around 1854-55 as a five-story marble-fronted Italianate store and loft building. The landmark report attributes the design to Samuel A. Warner, the architect of Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue. Hutchins moved his wholesale clothing business into the new building, where it stayed until 1860.
- 1861
A fire guts 45 Murray Street and the fire marshal strongly suspects arson
On the night of September 9, 1861, fire began on the fourth floor at 45 Murray Street, in a space leased to a wholesale clothier. Within half an hour the whole building was burning. The rear wall fell around midnight and only the marble front survived, with losses put at $150,000. The fire marshal suspected arson within two days, but no charges followed, and Hutchins rebuilt the interior.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1884
Cork dealer John Robinson & Co. leases the whole building and sorts corks there
In 1884 John Robinson & Co., manufacturers of corks and bungs and suppliers to brewers and bottlers, leased all of 45 Murray Street. Most of the work in the building was cork sorting, with offices and a salesroom on the ground floor, while its Brooklyn factory employed about 150 people. Robinson, thought to be wealthy, declared bankruptcy on May 5, 1891.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1915
Brent Good, who made a fortune on Carter's Little Liver Pills, dies after a Zeppelin raid scare
Brent Good, president of the Carter Medicine Company, bought 45 Murray Street in 1907 and kept the firm there while leasing space to others. In October 1915 he was in London for business and was shaken up in a Zeppelin raid, and he collapsed after returning home. He died on November 10. The company's pills were known as Carter's Little Liver Pills.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1935
Carter Medicine Company leaves 45 Murray Street; the FTC later orders 'liver' out of its name
The Carter Medicine Company, whose single product was a pill for headache, constipation and indigestion, left 45 Murray Street in 1935. For two decades afterward the tenants included the Enbee Mfg. Co. and the International Plumbing Supply Co. In 1951 the Federal Trade Commission ordered the firm to change its name to Carter's Little Pills, calling the word 'liver' deceptive.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- Samuel A. Warner's 1855 45 Murray StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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