56 Lispenard Street

Tribeca | built 1868

Open on the map4 entries

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

1. 1861

   A French jeweler's house and shop stands at 56 Lispenard Street before the present loft replaces it

   Henry Theodore Lutz, writing in 1919, recalled that his family moved into 56 Lispenard Street in 1861. An earlier house stood on this lot, owned by Victor Marchand, a French jeweler who also ran his shop on the ground floor. A stable for Harndon's express wagons stood next door, and John Ireland's chop house a few doors along. The New York Times listed 56 Lispenard Street among the many buildings under construction in 1867, when the block was giving way to commerce.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1868

   A plain brick Italianate loft of unknown owners rises among cast-iron neighbors at 56 Lispenard Street

   The four-story building was designed by J. Van Riper for Judson & Leary and went up in 1866-68 at an estimated cost of $25,000. The landmarks commission says nothing is known about the owners, and Van Riper was listed as a contractor and mason rather than an architect. Its brick upper floors, with stone lintels and a bracketed cornice, look more like a house than a warehouse, and the storefront came from the Tice & Jacob's foundry.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1869

   Arnold & Banning, dry-goods merchants, and a silk company share 56 Lispenard Street

   Arnold & Banning, commission merchants in dry goods, moved into the building in 1869 and sold a Connecticut firm's corset skirt supporters. Edward Arnold of that firm later became an officer of the Day Manufacturing Co., a silk maker with mills in Paterson, New Jersey, whose offices moved into No. 56 as well. By 1876 the Shafer Farm Oil Co. also had offices here, with Daniel S. Arnold as treasurer.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1978

   Gibby Goldbas's Loft opens as a tiny off-Broadway theater at 56 Lispenard Street

   The first sign of Tribeca's revival at No. 56 was a small off-Broadway theater, Gibby Goldbas's Loft, which opened in 1978. In January 1979 it staged a double bill of Goldbas's own piece Ghosttown and Stuart Sherman's 11th Spectacle. Tickets cost $2.50 each. A few years later the upper floors were turned into one apartment per floor.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

• The 1868 Judson & Leary Bldg - 56 Lispenard StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

• William Ross House58 Lispenard Street | 5 entries
• 52 Lispenard Street3 entries
• 60 Lispenard Street4 entries
• 50 Lispenard Street2 entries
• 52 Walker Street5 entries
• 56 Walker Street1 entry

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca