The Grand Circus building was built in 1887 by David Whitney, lumber baron; he died in 1900. In 1914, his son, David Charles Whitney, demolished the Grand Circus building, and built the David Whitney Building, seen here.

While looking up dates, I also learned that Charles Lindbergh's mother was born here, in a house that predated the Grand Circus building.

While electric elevators were in limited use around 1850, not all new buildings were so equipped. My parents lived in an old five story N. Y. tenement apt. in the early 1930's and even though they got a 3rd floor apt., there were some people who lived on the 5th floor walk-up and had to use the stairs to get up and down. I would think that people would not even go to a dentist on the 5th floor walk-up, but it might have been a great location for a cardiologist.