Stasis

From the New York Public Library archives, a firehouse at 73 Water Street in lower Manhattan:

Based on the style, it was probably built in the 1910s. A lot of very similar houses were constructed around then, with the next wave of new houses and modernizations in the 1930s. The very ornate stone building on the far left is the old First Precinct of the NYPD, completed (despite appearances) in 1911.

The eastern fringe of the Financial District remained semi-industrial through the 1940s, with few modern office towers, and somewhat decrepit for a while after. In the 1960s a wave of urban renewal was pushed into the area by a combination of city agencies and private developers. Water Street was widened and a bunch of new towers were built along Water and between Water and South Street, at the river. (If you’re wondering why Water Street isn’t at the water: it used to be. Landfill has moved the East River shore from Pearl Street to WaTer Street to Front Street to South Street.)

The firehouse at 73 Water Street was demolished as part of the site for the massive building at 55 Water, built 1969 to 1973. The old First Precinct was also taken out of service by the NYLP in 1973, although the building is still there. The police department reorganized its precinct boundaries, and lower Manhattan is served by the (new) First, Fifth, and Seventh precincts a bit to the north. I’m not sure where the fire department operated out for this area for the next fifteen years, but the long-term replacement for the building at 73 Water Street is in the base of the adjacent tower at 32 Old Slip, which took the site of the old US Assay Office and was completed in 1987. This street view photo gives a sense of the new firehouse in the base of the skyscraper: