39 Vestry Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 39 Vestry Street by Carter Horsley

The very handsome, 5-story, mid-block loft building at 39 Vestry Street in TriBeCa has 16 residential condominium lofts.  

It was erected in 1873 as a warehouse and designed by George W. DaCunha.  

It was converted to residential condominiums in 2000 by 39 Vestry LLC, which was partly owned by ING, a large Netherlands--based financial institution.

Bottom Line

A very attractive red-brick former warehouse on a cobblestone street in TriBeCa that was converted to a large residential lofts in 2000.

Description

The building has arched windows beneath “eyebrow” masonry projections and a pediment roofline and a long and large shed glass canopy over a four-step-up “loading dock” walkway. 

The brick dentil course terminating the façade originally underscored a galvanized iron cornice that was removed.

Amenities

The building has an on-site superintendent, but no doorman. It has a large shed canopy.

Apartments

Apartments have high beamed ceilings, wide plank wood floors and some exposed brick walls. 

A three-bedroom, three-bath unit has a long entry hall that leads to a 26-foot-long living/dining room adjacent to an enclosed 14-foot-long kitchen. The master bedroom has a balcony. 

Apartment 3A has a 29-foot-long living/dining room adjacent to a pass-through 13-foot-long kitchen.  The unit has a 24-foot-wide master bedroom with an 18-foot-wide balcony and two other bedrooms. 

A duplex unit has a 28-foot-wide dining room with a 22-foot-wide open kitchen with an island and a 24-foot-wide living room.  The main level also has an 11-foot-wide home office, two bedrooms and a 25-foot-long master bedroom with a balcony and stairs down to a 38-foot-wide patio garden on the lower level that has three more bedrooms and a 41-foot-long family/recreation room. 

Apartment 1A has a 30-foot-long living/dining room next to an enclosed 12-foot-long kitchen, a 24-foot-wide master bedroom with a small balcony, and two smaller bedrooms on the upper level and a 23-foot-wide great room/den that opens onto a 26-foot-wide patio on the lower level along with a 14-foot-long “day” room, a 16-foot-long library/office and a 23-foot-long kitchen on the lower floor.

History

According to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, “this was the third of four warehouses built on the block by Henry J. Meyer on land leased from the Trinity Church Corporation.” 

“Meyer’s ship chandlery business, located ata 395-7 Greenwich Street (1860-1) in what is now the TriBeCa West Historic district, had flourished during the civil War. Around 1866 he began to develop one of the early general storage warehouse operations in Manhattan, with the conversion of his Greenwich Street building for that use and, in 1867, the construction of 41-5 Vestry Street, the first of his warehouses on this block. The warehouses at 54-6 Laight Street (1870) and 437-441 Greenwich Street (1875) completed the complex. This warehouse was acquired in the late 1880s by William Menck who had developed the building at 37 Vestry Street in 1882.  In the 1920s, Menck’s two buildings were leased by the Weinberg & Posner engineering company and the Russian-American Warehouse & Shipping Company.  This building, which replaced a brick building on the lot, later became a facility of Port Warehouse’s extensive operation in the area and remains in use for storage by the International Oriental Food Corporation,” according to the commission’s report when the historic district was created.