Engine 30 moved from its former headquarters at 253 Spring Street, originally built for National Hose 24 of the Volunteer Department in 1856, into its own home on February 1, 1905. There they remained, along with Battalion 5, until 1959 when the company was deemed superfluous and disbanded. Engine 30 was a triple section company from 1909 to 1911. The first two sections had a steamer and a hose wagon each while the third section contained a large hose wagon used for the high pressure water system.

Other units to have used the building include: Ladder 8 (1914-1915), Rescue 1 (1920-1947), Ambulance 3 (1947-1963), Satellite 1 (1967-1974), Oxygen Therapy until (1948-1974), and the Medical Offices (1948-1974). The New York City Fire Museum moved into the building on July 6, 1987. The Fire Museum began as two collections, both started in the 1930's.

At that time, when many pieces of early fire regalia and equipment could still be found in the nation's attics and barns, Harold V. Smith, President of the Home Insurance Co., commenced assembling a private museum of fire fighting at his firm's headquarters in New York.

FDNY was also building its own historic collection then, saving old apparatus as it was taken out of service and collecting memorabilia from its members and their families. The department exhibited these materials at the Fire College and then in an old firehouse on Duane Street. In the 1980's these two collections were combined in one museum and the NYC Fire Museum was born.