It was this and another building just a little farther east, 60-62 Lispenard, that first caught my eye and set off an exploration that ultimately felt like I was back in the 1800s, sensing a place and time in which New York merchants created proud and beautiful palaces marked by cast-iron storefronts and the flourishes and details that recall Old Europe. The neighborhood then was the hub of an international trade in things such as fancy goods, notions, hosiery, linens, artificial flowers, and jewelry.<\/p>\n
Ironically, 21st<\/sup> century technology \u2013 combined with taking a few moments to stop, look up, and observe \u2013 put me in the experience of the 19th<\/sup> century. On my smart phone, I found the 1992 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) report designating Tribeca East as a historic district. As I walked on Lispenard between Broadway and Church Street, I read about who designed and constructed a number of the buildings, who occupied them, and what their businesses were.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This block has no fancy restaurants or boutiques like other parts of Tribeca; it\u2019s a mix of residential buildings, long-time businesses like a small barber shop, and a few worse-for-wear structures with peeling paint, graffiti, or crumbling facades. It\u2019s easy to walk right by these places until one looks up and takes them in.<\/p>\n \n 60-62 Lispenard Street<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I was cutting across Lispenard Street on a walk, with the idea of avoiding Canal Street\u2019s crowds, when I noticed 60-62 Lispenard St., close to the Broadway end of the block. It\u2019s a beauty. With its Roman buff-colored brick, stone, multiple rounded arches, and classical detailing, the building has a sunny ambience, even with a little grime on it. For a moment it was easy to feel like I was in Italy.<\/p>\n 60-62 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n The classical details and fine brickwork on 60-62 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n Gilbert Schellenger, the architect for many townhouses, apartment houses, and loft buildings in New York, designed this Renaissance Revival structure for the New York Building and Improvement Co. It was constructed in 1895, a few decades later than many of the remaining 19th<\/sup> century buildings on this block of Lispenard.<\/p>\n Its design and materials are impressive. As my eyes moved from one element to another, I was struck by how its elements work together to be so eye-pleasing and harmonious. The archways are so graceful and fluid. The stonework is carved with beautiful, intricate classical motifs. All of this seems almost laced together by the \u201cbull-nose brick\u201d of the pilasters and arches, which are bricks with rounded, curved edges that give the building a softer, yet strong feeling.<\/p>\n The arches, stone, and \u201cbull-nose brick\u201d of 60-62 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n This building has had at least one very noteworthy resident during its 116-year history, according to the LPC report. One of New York City\u2019s mayors once lived here after his days in office: William R. Grace, who was elected to lead the city twice in the 1880s. An immigrant who was poor when he arrived from Ireland as a teen, Grace made a fortune in international trade, primarily by forging commerce with South America. Grace founded a company in 1854 in Peru. After relocating to New York, he began triangular trade among the United States, South America, and Europe. He later pioneered direct steamship service between New York and the west coast of South America.<\/p>\n 54 Lispenard Street<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n If you are walking east to west on Lispenard Street, no. 54 is among the first that reveals the street\u2019s particular place in history. Seeing the \u201cErected 1867\u201d inscription in the central pediment, I scanned the building tops along this stretch and discovered that many had inscriptions signaling people had built them within a year or two of each other, in the mid-1860s. These were heady times as America\u2019s Industrial Revolution was taking hold, and Tribeca became an international center for shipping and selling dry goods. Merchants and traders replaced smaller two-story masonry buildings on Lispenard Street with larger four- and five-story structures with cast-iron storefronts and large lofts above for all kinds of goods. It was, thus, part of a boomtown for a time.<\/p>\n A list of those who occupied this building reflects the trading that was once centered in the neighborhood. Architect Isaac Duckworth, who was responsible for many buildings in Tribeca, designed it for Lewis Duhain, Jr., an importer of flowers, the LPC report notes. Its occupants have included a fancy-goods merchant; a company that did a business in white goods, linens, and hosiery; and two brothers who were exporters.<\/p>\n The building, with its cast-iron fa\u00e7ade, appears much the way it looked in the mid-19th<\/sup> century though somewhat neglected in its older age. Its storefront is virtually intact, according to the historic district designation report. Duckworth\u2019s design has many elements of a Second Empire-style commercial structure of the era, such as the flat-arched huge window openings with rounded corners. It has a regal-looking cornice with the curved brackets and grand arch above the inscription showing the year of its construction. Comparing this building, and others like it along the street, with most of today\u2019s warehouses and suburban stores makes all the more clear that the architect intended to create something not only useful but beautiful and memorable in the city.<\/p>\n 54 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n The inscription – \u201cErected 1867 – on 54 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n 46-48 Lispenard Street<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Constructed between 1866 and 1868, no. 46-48 has a gorgeous, well-kept exterior. It is another store and loft building, though nearly twice as wide as most of its neighbors. Isaac Duckworth designed this building, also in the Second Empire style, with cornices at every floor and flat-arched window openings framed by pilasters with classical flourishes. The Architectural Iron Works foundry, one of the country\u2019s top foundries, manufactured the cast-iron fa\u00e7ade, as well as the one at 54 Lispenard St. The inscription \u201cBuilt 1866\u201d is visible on the pediment at the center of the light taupe-colored cornice.<\/p>\n 46-48 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n The lovely proportions of 46-48 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n 44 Lispenard Street<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Even the language describing the goods that were once bought, sold, traded, and transferred in these Tribeca buildings conjures up a world of the past. The Berg Brothers, who operated out of 46-48 Lispenard St., were merchants of notions and fancy goods as well as jewelry. Emanuel Uhlfelder, the owner of no. 44 next door, was a Broadway merchant of fancy goods and trimmings. (Notions are sewing items such as buttons, hooks, and pins. Fancy goods refers to ornamental items, both household and personal.)<\/p>\n Duckworth designed this building, with its cast-iron front created in the Second Empire style and identical to the fronts for 38 and 54 Lispenard St. Underneath the bracketed top cornice is the inscription \u201cErected 1866.\u201d<\/p>\n 44 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n The graceful cornice of 44 Lispenard Street<\/strong><\/p>\n 42 Lispenard Street<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n This building painted in recent times in bright-red trim once housed Pearl Crafts, a satellite craft supply place for Pearl Art & Craft Supply on Canal Street. Perhaps the dash of red color fits in with its origin, as a place that David Straus had constructed in 1867-1868 for his flower-importing business. William Naugle, the architect, designed a store and loft structure that combined the Italianate and Second Empire styles. The one-story cast-iron base, metal bracketed cornice, and iron fire escape are all original elements, and the three-over-three sash windows give it an industrial feel.<\/p>\n![\"60-62](\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5035\/5819016967_36832a8bec.jpg\")
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