Engine Company 33 firehouse embodies New York fire department architecture: big, bold, and colorful – like the men who live, work and sometimes die there.
The house dominates Great Jones Street on the block between Lafayette Street and The Bowery. Its monumental limestone Beaux Arts arch, scooped out of the four-story red brick facade like a band shell, recalls the top of New York’s demolished Singer Building. That tower, also designed by Ernest Flagg, was the world’s tallest building when completed in 1909 – 11 years after this firehouse.
The firehouse, now shared by Ladder Company 9, was among the first designed by Flagg. Until 1895, Napoleon Le Brun (and sons) had been the NYFD chief architect; the firm designed 40 firehouses in 16 years.
Tragically, this house lost 10 of its 14 firefighters on September 11, 2001. (The NY Times article was incorrect on this point.)
Engine Company 33 Vital Statistics
- Location: 42 Great Jones Street between Lafayette Street and the Bowery
- Year completed: 1898
- Architect: Ernest Flagg, W. B. Chambers
- Floors: 4
- Style: Beaux Arts
- New York City Landmark: 1968
- National Register of Historic Places: 1972
Engine Company 33 Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report
- Daytonian in Manhattan blog
- The New York Times SHADOWS ACROSS THE CITY; Just Regular Guys in the Urban Wild, Until the Bell Rings (September 23, 2001)