55 Gansevoort Street

also 57 Gansevoort Street | West Village | built 1910

Open on the map4 entries

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

1. 1887

   The Goelet family builds a triangular store-and-loft building as Gansevoort Street is widened

   Read more

   In 1887, when Gansevoort Street was widened, Robert and Ogden Goelet had Joseph M. Dunn design this five-story store-and-loft building on land their family had long owned. Its acute triangular shape follows the odd plan of the lot. The builder, Michael Reid, later formed the M. Reid Co., which built the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and eleven Carnegie libraries.

   “Its unusual shape, an acute triangle, comes from the odd plan of the lot.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1889

   E.S. Burnham & Co., a clam canner, occupies the building for about forty years

   E.S. Burnham & Co., which sold canned goods including clam chowder and clam bouillon, was a tenant from 1889 until around 1929. Elmer S. Burnham, born in Michigan, had been a grain broker in Chicago before starting his packing business. From 1905 to 1929 his company also ran a clam cannery on Marco Island, Florida.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1936

   Berenice Abbott photographs the building for her Changing New York project

   In 1936 the photographer Berenice Abbott photographed the building as part of Changing New York. Its tenants in the 1920s through the 1940s included A. Bohrer & Co., fruit dealers, James Fancelli, produce, and Otto J. Stumpp, seeds. Burnham's painted signs still survive on its walls, one for clam chowder layered over another for beet wine.

   “Photographer Berenice Abbott photographed this building as part of her work Changing New York in 1936.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1999

   A club called Hell moves into a building long used by meat and seafood dealers

   Tenants listed here from 1955 onward include Plymouth Beef, Slowik Meat and Village Wholesale Meat Corp., and by 1993 Gotham Seafood Corp. was listed as well. From 1999 to 2003 the building's tenants included a club named Hell. Temple Packing Co., another meat firm, was listed from 1955 to 1970.

   “Village Wholesale Meat Corp. (1986-93) ; Direct Market Transporting (1986); Sal DiFlore , meat (1993); Gotham Seafood Corp. (1993); Hell, club (1999-2003)…”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

• 51 Gansevoort Street1 entry
• 12 Little West 12th Street2 entries
• 18 Little West 12th Street1 entry
• 1 9th Avenue3 entries
• 5 9th Avenue1 entry
• 63 Gansevoort Street1 entry

All 1,156 buildings with stories in West Village