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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
Tribeca Then and Now: W. Broadway and Staple Street
Local artist and writer Jane Freeman has donated a cache of old Tribeca photos—the most recent seem to be from 1990, and most are from earlier—and as you’ll see, the neighborhood was a markedly different place back then. The photos were unlabeled and not in much of an order, so identifying the locations has been a challenge. (This series will end with the unidentifiable ones.) After I had the photos scanned, I realized that they wanted contemporary images for context. I occasionally tried to match Jane’s framing because I liked the comparison; other times, I felt it helped to see more than what she photographed.
Previously:
••• Franklin Street
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84 W. BROADWAY
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BOGARDUS GARDEN BIRDHOUSE
The birdhouse is gone, but the Frederick Hotel (formerly the Cosmopolitan Hotel) is still there.
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226 W. BROADWAY STREET LEVEL
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226 W. BROADWAY
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228 W. BROADWAY
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STAPLE STREET #1
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STAPLE STREET #2
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STAPLE STREET #3
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STAPLE STREET #4
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STAPLE STREET #5
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STAPLE STREET #6
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STAPLE STREET #7
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Previously:
••• Franklin Street
7 Comments
Comment:
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Love these, Eric! I worked for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising in the late ’80s when they moved down to Hudson & Houston and we would wander down to Tribeca for drinks after work. Odeon and a small bar along Greenwich was all I remember being there along with the Royal Canadian Pancake House. I’m going to dig through my photo archives to see if I have any to add to this group. Thanks as always for the fabulous work you do on behalf of the community! Diane
I love these photos and live on Staple St.
Sadly the photos behind 55 Hudson have changed the least because the bldg refuses to maintain the rear or the property and garbage, graffiti and men urinating multiple times a day against the doorways doesn’t get washed away or cleaned up.
So it’s just like living in old NYC!
#acknowledgedNimby
I really appreciate these articles. For someone in their mid 20’s who didn’t grow up in the area, it’s nice to take a close look at how the city has transformed. No better example than Tribeca. I hope the city and landlord can work together to preserve the character of the neighborhood and not forget the history.
If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, here’s a page with links to all sorts of old photos of the area: https://tribecacitizen.wpengine.com/historical-tribeca-a-scrapbook/.
These fotos are great. But in the seventies the area was more
stark. The building facing Staple and Jay was still vacant and
had steel shudders on the windows which frequently slammed
in the wind. Many buildings then still had those shudders. The
old Merchant Marine Hospital had not been redeveloped then.
The bridge on Staple where Mindy Stevenson then lived was the
Ambulance connection between the operating room on the top
floor and the Ambulance Building across the alley. Way back during the War, those wounded in U-Boat attacks on convoys were brought here. I usually walked through the alley on my way
to work at Puffy’s at 81 Hudson which I then managed. /F
Correction:
Shutter: window cover or camera aperture.
Shudder: convulsive movement of body or object.
Missing proper use of our beautiful language (among other things). Don’t trust your auto-correct.
You are right about the use of the term Shutter, not Shudder.
But they did shudder when slamming in the wind. The purpose
of the shutters was not to keep light or rain out, but they were
a fire prevention device to prevent air or wind from fanning a fire.
Most of the older post Civil War warehouses around here then had these devices. The Staple St. Bridge was once almost removed by the Fire Dept. as a hazard when they found out that
Mindy lived there(for$50/month). But I saw the Chief in the alley
and reassured him that she had moved, which she had. Otherwise that distinctive Tribeca landmark would have been history. /Frank DeMarco