49 Beach Street

also 51 Beach Street | Tribeca | built 1870

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.

1808
The alley beside 49-51 Beach Street begins in 1808 and is later named for Tommy Collister
Collister Street began in 1808, when it and a second lane behind the St. John's churchyard were deeded to the city to serve the rear of the rowhouses facing St. John's Park. By 1814 it carried the name of Tommy Collister, Trinity Church's sexton from 1790 to 1816. Only thirteen feet wide, it was repaved with asphalt in 1902, and the tenement on its corner replaced an earlier residence.
“Collister Street was named by 1814 for "Tommy" Collister, the sexton of Trinity Church from 1790 to 1816.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1870
John Leischer builds a cast-iron-trimmed tenement at 49-51 Beach Street
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John Leischer bought the corner lot at Beach and Collister Streets in 1866 and, acting as his own builder, put up a five-story tenement designed by Robert Mook, finished in 1870. The brick Italianate building has shops at street level and housing above, with cast-iron window heads and sills. In 1889 the corner storefront was altered to give it an angled corner entrance.
“The building, designed by Robert Mook, was erected in 1870 by John Leischer, both owner and builder, who had acquired the property in 1866.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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