55 Warren Street

also 55 Murray Street | Tribeca | built 1854

Open on the map5 entries

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

  1. 1854

    Attorney James R. Whiting builds a through-block store and loft building from Murray to Warren Street

    James R. Whiting, a prominent attorney, bought the property at 55 Murray Street in 1853 and developed a marble-faced Italianate store and loft building around 1854 as an investment. It runs through the block with matching fronts on Murray and Warren streets. He leased it to the dry goods jobbers Todd Converse & Co., who stayed until 1862.

    “…developed as an investment by attorney James R. Whiting, who acquired the property in 1853…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1854

    Identical marble Italianate facades face Murray and Warren streets above cast-iron storefronts

    The five-story building is faced in marble over cast-iron storefronts, with identical Murray and Warren Street fronts. Its Italianate details echo Renaissance palazzi, with triangular and arched pediments alternating above the center windows, carved cresting on the second floor, and a marble cornice on scrolled brackets. Whiting, a former district attorney, was elected to the New York Supreme Court bench the following year.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1902

    March 15

    A three-alarm fire at 55 Murray Street starts when an elevated-train engineer spots smoke

    The engineer of a Sixth Avenue elevated train, on Saturday night, March 15, 1902, saw smoke from a fourth-floor window and stopped midblock and sounded his whistle in front of Fire Patrol No. 1. The blaze grew to three alarms, and four Engine Company 7 firemen on a fire escape were engulfed by flame until a stream from the water tower struck them with great force but saved their lives. The fire reached the fifth floor and roof, and neighboring buildings were also damaged.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1917

    July 9

    Columbia Graphophone leases the entire building to expand its Dictaphone business

    In July 1917 the Columbia Graphophone Company, maker of the Dictaphone, leased the whole building and announced the move in the New York Times, citing rising demand from New York businesses. Its stay was brief: in 1920 it finished its own building at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. That March the I. Blyn Shoe Company, operator of the Red Cross Shoe and Rambler Shoe stores, bought the property.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1924

    Burglars bore through a wall to crack two safes at the I. Blyn Shoe Company

    The New York Times reported on April 27, 1924 that burglars opened two safes and took $5,000 from the I. Blyn Shoe Company's offices in the building. Police thought the thieves hid inside before closing time on Friday night, then got into the offices through a hole bored in a wall. The firm, founded in 1874, ran Red Cross Shoe and Rambler Shoe stores and went bankrupt in July 1931.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca