GREENWICH STREET LAMPS

by Kevin Walsh

325 Spring Street fills an entire rectangular block between Spring, West Houston, Washington and Greenwich Streets and has been home to several trucking businesses, including United Parcel Service, since 1949.

Personally, I’ve always treasured the building for its bulky, Machine-Age-inspired lamppost masts, which likely originally carried Westinghouse AK-10 “cuplight” incandescent lamps. They can be found on both Greenwich and Washington Streets between Spring and Houston and are the only examples of their type in the city. They have supported a variety of lamp fixtures from incandescents to LEDs.

I worked at ModKomp, at 545 Greenwich, for two months in the spring of 1992. It was once of the more rough-and-ready environments I’ve worked in. ModKomp was an old-school type of place and I entered via a loading dock; the shop itself looked like a typesetting and printing museum and contained machinery from a different, prehistoric age. Owner Henry Kuhn was a “mensch,” however, and when I was hired for my next job at Publishers Clearing House, he gave me a lift out to Port Washington to look at at an apartment there (it was a rec room in a basement; I didn’t take it).

I did enjoy working in the far west Village, and walked from the train from Bay Ridge through the Village and also roved Tribeca on my lunch hour, laying the groundwork for Forgotten NY. This and the new computer knowledge I had acquired were putting the FNY pieces in place, though I did not realize it at the time. Who knows Henry’s whereabouts these days, and the building where his business was located was knocked down years ago. Come to think of it, Publishers Clearing House at 382 Channel Drive has also been razed as that company relocated to Jericho in 2017.

Sick transit, Gloria!

As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.

1/30/23

3 comments

Andy January 31, 2023 - 9:39 pm

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (before 1972, the Port of New York Authority) built this structure in 1949 (as correctly noted). It was originally called the New York Union Motor Truck Terminal, designed to streamline freight trucking operations in Lower Manhattan. It was not a coincidence that its location was right near the Holland Tunnel. Long haul tractor-trailers entering Manhattan would unload their cargo here, inside a secure building, and transfer the cargo to smaller local delivery trucks for final consignment. Idea was to minimize use of tractor-trailers on narrow downtown streets. Unfortunately, the building was not a financial success and the Port Authority got out of the truck terminal business, and either leased the building to private trucking concerns or sold it outright. Not sure which happened or in what order, but at least the initial building purpose is basically unchanged.

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Esteban Melendez February 23, 2023 - 6:53 am

A great website I’ve been following for more than ten years. Maybe near twenty!

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Esteban Melendez February 23, 2023 - 6:57 am

I’ve been following FORGOTTEN NEW YORK for more than ten years easy. Love the different places to read
about with their history.

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