7. 24-26 East 13th Street

Image via Wikimedia Commons byBeyond My Ken

Photographic materials company G. Gennert was the first tenant of this 7-story storefront on East 13th Street. De Lemos & Cordes, German-born architects who designed the Siegel-Cooper Building and Macy’s Herald Square, designed this Beaux Arts Belle Époque beauty. It was completed in 1893.

In addition to the G.Gennert Company, the area South of Union Square has many ties to the photography business. Village Preservation found that the nearby 60-62 East 11th Street, was home to The Photographic Times, and important early photography magazine that claimed to be the “highest circulating photographic magazine in the United States” in 1880.