9 Jay Street

In the 1870s Margaret M. Krekeler ran her boarding house and restaurant at the corner of Jay and Staple Street. New York Hospital was located in 67 Hudson Street at that time and needed more space. The hospital purchased the site from the Edward C. Center estate in April 1905. The architectural firm of Robertson & Potter was given the commission to design the new building.

Completed in 1907, the orange brick structure was based on a firehouse design. The architects reined in costs by using brick for most of the decorative elements—quoins at the corners and around the windows and voussoirs, arched shaped stones above. “The first floor was girded in a series of brownstone and a pressed metal cornice was adorned with lions’ heads and dentil molding decorated the façade. The Staple Street side has a terra cotta cartouche on the third floor and displays the entwined monogram of New York Hospital. The corner site allowed for two vehicle entries, one on Jay Street and a second vehicle entrance to the rear of the building on Staple Street. An elegant street bridge connected the third floors of the House of Relief (67 Hudson) to the stable and laundry building (9 Jay Street). The inventive overhead shortcut allowed workers to rush laundry back and forth without going to ground level or being exposed to the elements.”

In the 1990s, the space housed medical offices. In 1998, it was purchased and converted into a live/work residence. The building that housed horse-drawn ambulances on the first floor and laundry facilities above is highly intact—including the picturesque street bridge. New doors on the Jay Street side were added for a garage.

Description provided by Daytonian Manhattan and Mara Flash Blum