75 HUDSON, Tribeca

by Kevin Walsh

75 Hudson Street, south of Franklin in Tribeca, was grand when first built in the mid to late 1800s, with its Corinthian columns on the first floor. But it looks like it’s hearkening back to Tribeca’s indifferent days of the 1960s when Tribeca was a gritty manufacturing and importing neighborhood, with residences that were hardly posh and not a fancy boutique in sight.

Every building in NYC has a story. In the late 19th and early 20th Century 75 Hudson was home to the offices of John Campbell & Co., importer and manufacturers of intermediates and dyestuffs, or chemical compounds used to make dyes. The company had a huge plant in Newark, NJ and was fairly well-known in its day, selling products under the name Camel Dyes. The company was acquired by American Cyanamid in 1938.

8/26/14

4 comments

chris August 27, 2014 - 3:50 pm

I bet someone richer than Croesus lives there and the building looks like that in order to avoid any unwanted attention

Reply
Edwin Flagg August 31, 2014 - 2:37 pm

This glorious ruin was originally the East Coast encampment of Blanche & Jane Hudson, two sisters from the golden age of Vaudeville & Hollywood.

Their primary residence was a mansion in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles, which was sold at auction in the early 1960s after the wheelchair bound Blanche died on Malibu Beach & Jane was sent to a mental institution. It is believed she tortured her sister for decades after the accident that crippled her, blaming herself for causing it although that turned out not to be the case.

The Hudson Street residence was used primarily as a “pied a drunk tank”, if you will, when they were performing or attending premiers in Manhattan, followed by their infamous legendary after parties.

A few years back, an old grand piano with an almost completely destroyed & smashed in lid was brought out & put to the curb.

It’s been rumored to be the one Jane played back in LA, usually accompanied by a drunken tirade against her sister.

All very, very tragic.

Reply
Harry Volpe September 3, 2014 - 3:30 pm

Sounds like the inspiration for the flick “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?”!

Reply
josh March 7, 2015 - 8:42 am

tongue firmly in cheek?

Reply

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