77 Franklin Street

Tribeca | built 1865

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. 1865

    The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum razes a Federal-style house to build an investment loft

    The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, founded in 1825 and then located on Fifth Avenue, owned the lot and built a four-story store and loft here in 1864-65. A Federal-style house on the lot was torn down first. The asylum soon sold the new building to Isaac Rich.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1865

    A sandstone loft sits on an unusual cast-iron storefront with sunflower capitals

    The unnamed architect set three stories of sandstone above a cast-iron storefront whose deeply recessed arches recall Moorish Revival design. The iron capitals sprout stylized sunflowers, and the upper arched windows are deeply set. The building survives highly intact.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1912

    March 29

    A salesman for a firm here is fatally injured in a street fight after a night out

    Robert Johnston, a traveling salesman for the A. W. Baylis commission house at 77 Franklin Street, was struck in a fight near an elevated station at 42nd Street on March 29, 1912. He went to nearby baths to sleep and was found dead around noon, with symptoms pointing to a fractured skull. The coroner doubted the attackers would be found.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1970

    The upper floors become artists' studios

    For decades the building held dry-goods offices, showrooms and shipping operations, including offices of the Florsheim Bros. Dry Goods Company, based in New Orleans, and Fort Worth's Martin Brown Company. In the 1970s, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the upper stories were converted to artists' studios.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 1974

    Beat writer William S. Burroughs moves into the fourth floor

    As Tribeca lofts became artists' studios in the 1970s, William S. Burroughs moved onto the fourth floor of 77 Franklin Street in 1974, according to the blog Daytonian in Manhattan. The novelist, essayist and painter was a central figure of the Beat Generation.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 564 buildings with stories in Tribeca