44 Mulberry Street, New York Chinatown

Report of the Tenement House Committee of the Working Women’s Society, of 27 Clinton Place, New York City, 1892
page 5: Nos. 42 and 44 Mulberry Street.—Wine store, Italian cafe and bank. Decent conditions.

1897

1905
 

1916
 

1930
 

New York Sun, June 15, 1938
page 39: Mulberry Street Deals

... Stamps attached to the deed recently yesterday reveal that the 44 Mulberry Street Corporation, Max Minskoff, president, the buyer of the four and five-story tenement with stores at 42–44 Mulberry street, 42x82x irregular, sold recently by the Emigrant industrial Savings Bank, paid a consideration of $41,000. The bank took back a purchase money mortgage for $40,917 and a building loan for $21,375, both due on demand. The property is assessed for $41,000.

New York Sun, November 5, 1938
page 42: Bank Modernizing 2 Old Tenements

E. 34th St. and Mulberry St. Buildings Ready Soon.
A property on East Thirty-fourth street and one on Mulberry street are having the finishing touches put on their complete renovation and are now available for renting as up-to-date apartment buildings, according to Voorhees, Gmelin & Walker, supervising architects for the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank.

At 42–44 Mulberry street there have been modernized from plans of Albert Goldhammer, architect, two old-law tenements considered firetraps at one time. These face on Columbus Park and the lower Manhattan Civic Center. They have been combined into one building with fifteen apartments and two stores, where there were seven apartments and two stores before. This, according to the architect, is the first building to be modernized in this way within a radius of half a mile, and may point to the conversion of this district, adjacent to the handsome new State buildings, into a desirable residence neighborhood, centering as it does, on a pubic park.

Inside, the buildings were completely renovated. Only the walls and floor supports were retained. A new air shaft and a fireproof stairway were installed and the public halls were made fireproof. The property now has six 3-room, four 4-room and five 2 1/2-room apartments with modern plumbing, tile baths with showers, electric refrigeration, gas ranges and combination sink and laundry tubs. They will be ready for occupancy Monday. ...

The Wellington Lee Studio opened June 1950. Photo: Jay Seymour

 

1955
 

Yu & Me Books opened December 2021. The typeface ITC Benguiat was used on the awning and window which were photographed on May 28, 2026.

 

(Next post on Wednesday: Wellington Lee, Photographer)