Latimer Building
72 Walker Street | Civic Center | built 1862
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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.
- 1862
Miner & Stevens, carriage makers, move into the new building at 72-76 Walker Street
An advertisement in the New York Herald on February 14, 1862 offered the just-finished five-story marble-front building for lease. It was answered by Harvey Miner and Henry M. Stevens, whose carriage firm was installed within two months. In May they advertised carriages fitted with a patent malleable grooved axle box that they said made vehicles run lighter than the old cast-iron kind.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1868
Charles Zinn & Co. makes willow and rattan furniture on Walker Street
By 1868 Charles Zinn & Co. had replaced the carriage makers. Its showroom was around the corner at 406 Broadway, while the Walker Street floors held a factory for baskets, willow ware and rattan furniture. Willow furniture grew popular in Victorian households in the 1870s. Zinn moved to Grand Street in 1884.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1885
A new cornice gives the Latimer Building its name
In 1884-85 the owner, Dr. Henry H. House, had architect John B. McIntyre add a metal cornice with a central pediment reading LATIMER BUILDING. The Landmarks Commission says the name probably honors Charles Edward Latimer, a merchant listed in directories at an address in what is now SoHo. The marble building of 1860-62 stood where a wooden structure belonging to Florence's Hotel had been.
- 1892
The F. M. Lupton Publishing Company issues its book series from 72 Walker Street
The F. M. Lupton Publishing Company was one of the building's occupants in 1892. Frank Moore Lupton had founded it in 1880, and it sold sets of books such as the 31-volume Adelphi Series, which gathered the complete works of Dickens, Thackeray and George Eliot, and the 129-volume Bijou Series. It also published periodicals including Fireside at Home and The People's Home Journal. The firm moved to Duane Street around 1899.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1915
The James G. Shaw Blank Book Company leases the whole building and modernizes it
The James G. Shaw Blank Book Company leased the entire building in February 1915. Frederick Putnam Platt drew up new stairs, sprinklers and elevators. The company chose the area partly for the benefits expected when all the subways were completed, and it had operated nearby on Walker Street as early as 1859. It remained into the 1920s.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The 1862 Latimer Building - 72-76 Walker Street Daytonian in Manhattan
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