This photograph shows the exterior of Manhattan Furrier, once located at 685 Manhattan Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Greenpoint.
A family owned and operated business since 1916, it unfortunately shuttered its doors in 2011, much to the dismay of their long-time customers. In NYC, the furrier trade reached its peak in the 1960s and 70s as fur coats were quite fashionable and all the craze. The 1990s gave way to a slow but steady decline in sales forcing many shops to close. Only a handful of family owned and operated furrier storefronts remain active in NYC today.
This photograph is part of an ongoing project by photographers James and Karla Murray to document storefronts in Brooklyn and New York City. For further information on this collection please visit James and Karla Murray Counter Culture exhibition photographs. You may also view more images from this collection by checking out this gallery. Aside from their published works, James and Karla Murray continue to photograph the storefronts of New York City on Instagram which you can check out here.
Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org
This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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