This is a 1740 map of Lower Manhattan by John Carwitham. Note Stone (Duke) Street near the center. It follows the same path today.

First, some history. According to NYC historian Hope Cooke (who between 1963 and 1975 was the Queen of Sikkim), author of Seeing New York::

From early settlement, elite Dutch families, including brewers, lived on winding Stone Street, then segmented into 'Brouwers" or Brewer's Street to the south of Coenties Alley and "Hoogh" or High Street to the north.

(The section of Stone Street between Broad Street and Coenties Alley was obliterated by the construction of 85 Broad Street in 1983. But the curved elevator lobby mimics Stone Street's old path.) Another section of Stone Street runs between Whitehall and Broad Streets.

Stone Street got its name in 1656. It was something of a boast, as it was the town's first road to get paving. (The Belgian blocks on Stone Street now are new construction.)

Between 1691 and 1797 Stone Street was called Duke Street; after the Revolution, most of New York's street names recalling royalty had their names changed.

Many of the buildings on Stone Street date to 1836, when Lower Manhattan was rebuilt following a devastating fire in 1835. No building on this part of Stone was built later than 1929.

At 57 Stone Street is a 1909 building with a front-end gable, faced with yellow glazed bricks. It is a playful nod to 17th-century styles when wealthy Dutch merchants tried as best they could to replicate the houses they lived in back in Holland. Gabled houses were a signal of wealth in New Amsterdam.

Only on Stone Street can the 1919 Chubb & Sons Building be considered a modern intrusion! In 1919, though, attention to detail was still a big part of architecture; notice the fancy entablature with the building number.

Far from a longstanding establishment, Winslow Jewelers is a a new addition to the retrofitted Stone Street.