Horse-drawn steam engine apparatus, outside the Engine Co. 24 firehouse at 78 Morton Street, 1911.

No. 78 Morton Street served as the firehouse for Engine 24 from 1865 to 1975.

Built in 1864 as the ‘Howard Engine Company No. 34,” known affectionately as “Red Rover,” this engine company was first organized in 1807 as a volunteer fire-fighting company. It was eventually absorbed by the FDNY and became Engine No. 24. In 1975 in the middle of the city’s financial crisis it was decommissioned, and lay empty for many years. Much of the facade’s ornament was stripped away, but ealier this decade the elaborate detailing over and around the building’s windows were restored. The building now contains a residence.