Landmarks Preservation Commission September 16, 2008, Designation List No. 405 LP-2284 FIRE ENGINE COMPANY No. 53,175 East 104th Street, Borough of Manhattan. Built 1883-1884; architects, Napoleon LeBrun & Sons. Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1632, Lot 29. On October 30, 2007, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of Fire Engine Company No. 53, The hearing was duly advertised according to provisions of law. Four witnesses spoke in favor of designation, including representatives of the owner of the building, Manhattan Community Access Corporation; the Historic Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, the Metropolitan chapter of the Victorian Society in America, and the New York Landmark Conservancy. This building was previously heard (LP-1835) at a public hearing on July 15, 1991. Summary Erected in 1884, Fire Engine Company No. 53 was designed by the prominent firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, architects for the Fire Department between 1879 and 1895. Fire Engine Company No. 53 is an excellent example of N. LeBrun & Sons’ numerous mid-block firehouses, reflecting the firm’s attention to materials, stylistic detail, plan and setting. Napoleon LeBrun, who had established his firm in New York City in 1864, achieved renown as a designer of office buildings, including those for Home Life Insurance Company, and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. LeBrun & Sons helped to define the Fire Department’s expression of civic architecture, both functionally and symbolically, in more than forty buildings. Built during the early period of intensive growth in northern Manhattan, this firehouse represents the city’s commitment to the civic character of essential municipal services. The tenure of the LeBrun firm with the Fire Department coincided with a campaign to provide a strong municipal presence through an increase in public building projects. During this era, it was often the practice of architects working for the city to adapt the same design for different locations, as an economical and rapid means of creating public buildings that also clearly identified their civic function. Fire Engine Company No. 15 built in 1883-34, at 29 Henry Street, and Fire Engine Company No. 54 built in 1888, at 304 West 47th Street, have virtually identical facades to Fire Engine Company No. 53. Like most late nineteenth-century New York City firehouses, Fire Engine Company No. 53 has a large central opening at the ground level, flanked by smaller doorways. The design incorporates elements of the Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles. The cast-iron trabeated base is enlivened by foliate capitals incorporating sunflowers and torches. Molded brick panels above the windows and terra-cotta medallions in the form of stylized sunflowers adorning the frieze below the cornice are among the Queen Anne motifs of the design. At the roofline stylized console brackets executed in corbelled brick support small pedimented forms adorned with sunbursts. The building was in use as a fire station until 1974, and is currently privately owned by Manhattan Community Access Corporation.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS The Fire Department of the City of New York1 The origin of New York’s Fire Department dates to the city’s beginning as the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Leather fire buckets, first imported from Holland and later manufactured by a cobbler in the colony, were required in every household. Regular chimney inspections and the “rattle watch” patrol helped protect the colony during the Dutch period. By 1731, under English rule, two “engines” were imported from London and housed in wooden sheds in lower Manhattan. The Common Council authorized a volunteer force in 1737, and the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York was officially established by act of the state legislature in 1798. As the city grew, this force was augmented by new volunteer companies. Between 1800 and 1850, seven major fires

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