51 Murray Street

Tribeca | built 1856

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1833

    Trinity Church endows the Orphan Asylum Society with the lot at 51 Murray Street, where a house stands

    In 1833 Trinity Church gave the Orphan Asylum Society property that included 51 Murray Street, in the fashionable district near City Hall. A house already stood on the lot, and the Society leased it out. The gunsmith Orison Blunt took over the lease in 1851, and around 1854 he pulled the old house down to build a loft building, so this entry describes an earlier building on the site.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1856

    Orison Blunt completes a five-story Italianate store and loft building with a cast-iron Corinthian storefront

    Finished in 1856, Blunt's building has fluted Corinthian columns and pilasters in cast iron at street level, with brownstone upper floors whose openings carry cast-iron hoods and a bracketed Italianate cornice. The cornice has since been lost. Its first tenants included the dry goods importers Carhart, Bacon & Clark, and a new oyster stand occupied the ground floor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1856

    Orison Blunt, one of New York's biggest gun suppliers, develops 51 Murray Street as an investment

    Orison Blunt had replaced a house he occupied on this leased lot with a loft building, and it remained an investment for his family until 1881. A gunsmith who began on Chatham Street in the late 1830s, he was among the city's largest gun dealers by the 1850s and a major supplier of arms to the Union army. He also patented several pistols and rifles, served as an alderman and county supervisor, and became one of the city's wealthiest men.

    “…was one of the city's biggest gun suppliers by the 1850s, and one of the major suppliers of weapons to the Union army…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1856

    June 25

    A swindler who bought $650 in dry goods from a Murray Street firm is arrested boarding the steamship Arabia

    In June 1856 the dry goods importers Carhart, Bacon & Clark were nearly defrauded by a man calling himself M. Swartz, who bought a large amount of goods that were delivered before the firm realized it had been duped. The Evening Post reported on June 25 that Officer Furey arrested Swartz as he boarded the steamship Arabia. The firm accused him of getting $650 of goods by false pretenses, about $20,500 today.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1880

    Julius Wile & Bros., wine importers, move into 51 Murray Street

    Julius Wile & Bros., wine importers, appear on the tenant list from 1880. German-born brothers Julius and Isaac Wile had founded the firm in 1872, and its salesmen traveled across the country. An 1888 description of the premises listed brandies, whiskies, rums, gins, champagne, claret, burgundies, sherries and port among the stock, and the firm remained here into the 1890s.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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