The Downing Stables
49 Downing Street | also 51 Downing Street | West Village | built 1896
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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.
- 1882
Carman Francis Caragher buys two brick tenements on the site for $16,000
Before the stable existed, Nos. 49 and 51 Downing Street were two four-story brick buildings, sold at auction in March 1879. In December 1882 the Real Estate Record reported that Francis Caragher, head of a delivery-wagon firm, had bought them for $16,000. He was a Greenwich Village investor, and his family later replaced the buildings with a stable of their own.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1896
The Caragher family opens the Downing Boarding Stables, topped by a carved horse's head
Werner & Windolph filed plans in February 1896 for a four-story brick stable and dwelling costing $18,000, and the building was advertised as open on October 4. It was Romanesque Revival in red brick and rough brownstone, with a three-story arch over the truck bay. The carved horse's head, the usual sign of a livery stable, served as the arch's keystone. It also housed the headquarters of Francis Caragher's Sons.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1897
A laid-off delivery man is kicked by a horse in the stable and dies instantly
On August 20, 1897, the Hecker-Jones-Jewell flour mill on Broome Street shut down, and driver Thomas Cohen brought his team back to the Downing Stables for the last time. While unharnessing the horses he complained to a stable hand about being out of work, then slapped one horse on the rump to make a point. The usually docile animal kicked him in the chest, and a doctor found the shoe's imprint and said death had been almost instant.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1906
A factory fire down the block damages fifteen buildings, including the Borden Milk stables
On March 26, 1906, a blaze that began in the six-story factory at Nos. 35-43 Downing Street nearly destroyed the whole block. The fire patrol's report counted fifteen other buildings damaged, among them Nos. 49-51, which the Borden Milk Co. occupied entirely as stables. Borden stayed on in the repaired building and extended its lease that November for five years.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1995
Yoko Ono buys the top-floor apartment for her son Sean Lennon
The stable was converted to ten apartments in 1987. In 1995 Yoko Ono bought the top-floor unit at 49-51 Downing Street for her son Sean Lennon, who lived there only a few years. She kept it until 2013, when it was listed for $6.5 million: over 5,700 square feet with three bedrooms, a library, a greenhouse room and a roof deck.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- "The Downing Stables" - 49-51 Downing StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
Nearby
- 53 Downing Street2 entries
- R. Tassi & Sons Garage45 Downing Street | 3 entries
- 55 Downing Street1 entry
- 31 Bedford Street2 entries
- 35 Bedford Street1 entry
- 62 Carmine Street1 entry