5th Precinct, 1900. This 1881-station house is the oldest original police precinct in the city. (Though the Central Park Precinct is in an older building, that structure was built as a stable and wasn't taken over by the police until the 20th century.) This four-story Italianate building was designed by the Police Department’s architect Nathaniel D. Bush, who was also a sergeant on the force! Originally called the 6th Precinct, it was known as the "Bloody Sixth" for the violence in nearby Chinatown, largely enacted by the local Tong gang. The local police dealt with rampant gambling, opium dens, and gang murders. By 1911, the station had been renamed the 5th, and a new fancy police patrol telephone booth had been added to the entranceway. On two separate occasions in the 1960s and 1970s, the NYPD expressed a wish to demolish the building for a new station house and the community fought to preserve the old building. Instead of being razed, the building was renovated and modernized.

To celebrate the New Year, Urban Archive is looking at an eclectic mix of some of the oldest parts of our city.