Louis Comfort Tiffany—son of Charles Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Co, the famed jeweler then located on Prince Street and Broadway—is better known for his lovely stained glass works.
But as a young man, he studied painting, and from his rented studio at a YMCA he depicted impoverished Duane Street in 1877.
The Belgian block paving is uneven and dirty; a wood frame building appears to house a plumber, while a man out front seems to tinker with potted plants.
It’s certainly not the Duane Street in posh Tribeca we’re used to today.
Ephemeral New York 