The apartment building at 2 Fifth Avenue has been home to several notable LGBT figures who have made impacts in the fields of activism, health, theater, and literature. One resident, Larry Kramer, (b. 1935) helped catalyze the response to the AIDS epidemic as co-founder of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). His literary achievements as playwright include The Normal Heart (1985) and its sequel The Destiny of Me (1992). He is also well known for his controversial book Faggots (1978) and his screenplay of Women in Love (1969). Edith “Edie” Windsor & Dr. Thea Clara Spyer also lived here. Edith “Edie” Windsor was a LGBT rights activist and her wife Thea Spyer moved into their apartment in the mid-1970s. Windsor, who resided here at the time of her death in 2017, was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States case, which overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Warren Weaver Hall, ca. 1975. Upon its completion in 1965, the New York Times described New York University’s Warren Weaver Hall as “the largest mathematics and teaching center in the world.” Designed by the firm Warner, Burns, Toan and Lunde; Weaver Hall replaced “light manufacturing buildings” on Mercer, West 3rd and 4th Streets, and the former 15th Precinct police station at No. 251 Mercer.

"Brown Building, originally the Asch Building. Site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, 1975." The Asch Building was built in 1900–01 by architect John Woolley, who designed it in the neo-Renaissance style. Because it was known for "fire-proof" rooms it was attractive to garment factories who were susceptible to fires. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory moved into the top three floors a year after the building was completed. It was on these top three floors (8th, 9th, and 10th) that the Triangle Fire occurred in March of 1911. Despite the fire hoses not being able to reach the floors that were on fire, and the massive loss of life, the building survived intact. In 1916 New York University began to use the 8th floor for a library and classrooms. In 1929 the building was purchased by real estate developer and philanthropist Frederick Brown, donated to the university and renamed the Brown Building. Today the top floors are occupied by science classrooms and labs. There are a number of plaques at the base of the building that memorialize the fire and a larger memorial is currently being planned for the facade of the building.

Provincetown Playhouse ca. 1992 On November 22, 1918, the Provincetown Playhouse staged their first performance in their Village location. Founded in 1915 in Massachusetts, the Provincetown Players were a group of actors and theater writers who moved their company down to the Village in 1916, eventually settling in their permanent home at 133-139 MacDougal Street.

26 Washington Square North, ca. 1971. Washington Square North was once nearly fully lined with Greek Revival townhouses. Flanking the large mansion of William C. Rhinelander at the west corner of Washington Square North and Fifth Avenue and the slightly earlier Federal house at no. 20, the townhouses spread out in both directions facing what would become a park in 1850. Referred to as "the Row," the homes were constructed in the 1830s under the auspices of the Trustees of Sailors’ Snug Harbor. The homes were to be the residences of wealthy bankers and merchants from a leasehold which supported the retired sailors. This area was considered the perfect location for the upper classes who were looking distance themselves from the crowds and working classes of lower Manhattan. No. 18 was once the home of author Henry James' grandmother, and he immortalized the neighborhood in his 1881 novel Washington Square. According to the LPC designation report this row, with its classic ionic columns and length of wrought-iron railings, "may well be considered the prototype, in this country, of the monumental Greek Revival Rowhouse.” Today, west of Fifth Avenue only nos.19-26 remain of the early 19th century constructions. They are owned by New York University.

108 Waverly Place ca. 1933 108 Waverly Place is as unusual as its residents. The building is one of a few that remain of nine rowhouses built around 1826, but extensively altered over the years. The facade of No. 108, with its cut masonry and crenelated cornices simulating a castle, dates to 1906, and was designed by Charles C. Haight. The arched window on the ground floor is a 1927 alteration that replaced a former garage entrance. From the Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report of 1969: This group (108-114 Waverly Place), in its present appearance, is unique to Greenwich Village. These four houses are all that remain of a row of nine built in 1826 for Thomas R. Mercein. He was president of the New York Equitable Fire Insurance Company, and had also served as City comptroller. In No. 108, we see a love for the picturesque as this new front is a granite-faced, rough ashlar facade with crenelated cornice, simulating a small castle. It was designed in 1906 by Charles C. Haight for Miss Grace Wilkes. At that time the stable and coachman’s apartment were combined, and the roof over the attic floor was raised, and it now has a steeply sloping studio window. The present two-centered arched window at ground floor that replaces the former garage entrance is a further alteration in 1927 when the entire building was converted into a dwelling. Additionally, the building has a marker affixed to it that reads, “Prior Home of The Institute of The Jazz Studies founded by Marshall W. Stearns 1952.” Marshall W. Stearns played drums in his youth and studied medieval English at Yale University, obtaining a Ph.D. He taught English at a number of colleges, and during this time frequently wrote about jazz music for magazines. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1950 and used the proceeds to finish his seminal 1956 work The Story of Jazz, a popular introduction to jazz. He taught jazz at New York University and the New School, and in 1952 he founded the Institute of Jazz Studies at 108 Waverly Place, which he also directed.

"Originally constructed in 1831 to house the fledgling Greenwich Village Free Medical Clinic, the building was a philanthropic venture designed to provide care to the working-class neighbors and domestic servants of the wealthy in the area, and to reduce communicable illness in the interest of public health. The founders of the Dispensary saw it as a valuable contribution to both social welfare and scientific good — particularly well-positioned to study the diseases of the working poor otherwise not receiving medical care. It served more than three thousand patients and was busy enough by 1855 to require the installation of a third floor. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Dispensary was primarily providing free dental care, but its operators’ reluctance to serve people with AIDS led to its shuttering in 1988." To learn more about the Dispensary, check out Salonee Bhaman's profile in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History

The NoHo Historic District was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on June 29, 1999, with the NoHo East Historic District designated in 2003 and expansions to the original district boundaries approved in 2008. This virtual walking tour features 25 buildings within the approximately 130-building original NoHo Historic District, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The highlighted buildings represent the range of construction periods and array of building types, styles, and uses that occur throughout the district. We encourage you to explore this fascinating stretch of Manhattan virtually, or to use this tour as a jumping-off point as you take your own walk through the historic district! The three-part tour is organized by phases of development, based upon the same categories found within the LPC NoHo Designation Report. Part III includes buildings constructed from the 1890s to 1910s: The Booming Nineties a) 611-621 Broadway, The Cable Building b) 65-69 Bleecker Street, The Bayard-Condict Building c) 696-702 Broadway d) 34-36 Cooper Square, "Village Voice" Post-Consolidation Growth e) 756-770 Broadway, Wanamaker's Department Store Annex f) 684 Broadway (aka 2 Great Jones Street) g) 740-744 Broadway (aka 2 Astor Place) \-- To return to Part II of the tour, click here. To revert back to Part I of the tour, click here.

203 Prince Street ca. 1978 The land on which 203 Prince Street stands (and the rest of the block) had formerly been part of Richmond Hill, the estate of former Vice-President Aaron Burr (who, by coincidence was arrested and charged with treason on February 19, 1807; he was later acquitted, but the charge and his killing of Alexander Hamilton so tarnished his reputation in America that he fled the country, eventually selling his property such as this). By 1833, leather inspector John P. Haff owned the property and several additional lots on the block. According to Daytonian in Manhattan, while Haff’s official profession was inspector of sole leather, he was also an authority on agricultural techniques and a speculative builder both in New York and New Jersey. In 1833 Haff began building three handsome Federal-style residences on Prince Street where well-to-do merchants had begun settling. Among these was No. 203, a Flemish bond brick home two stories tall with a dormered attic. The Haff family leased the property until ca. 1865, when it was sold. At this time, the neighborhood around No. 203 Prince had dramatically changed. No longer an enclave of the wealthy merchant class, the Eighth Ward had a growing population of poor immigrants. In 1877 the Episcopal Church of Saint Ambrose at Thompson and Prince Streets opened a mission house in 203 Prince Street, headed by the Rev. D. G. Gunn and managed by Mrs. Mary Laidlaw. Its purpose, according to The Churchman on October 13 of that year, was “to give assistance to the worthy poor, to visit the sick and needy, to relieve the distressed, to feed the hungry, and to give employment to those out of work.” Originally 2½ stories tall, the house had a full third floor added in 1888, when the original attic floor was removed. The architect carefully lined up the windows with those below and designed nearly-identical sills and lintels. Note the change in the brick pattern above the second-floor windows, from Flemish bond — alternating long and short sides of brick — to running bond — all bricks with long side exposed. Flemish bond brickwork is characteristic of federal architecture while running bond is more common to late 19th-century construction.

Much like the history of the beloved Sunshine Cinema, which cycled from a church to a movie theatre with a couple of other uses in between, the IFC Center followed a similar path. The original building at 325 Sixth Avenue was constructed as a Universalist church in 1831 and later housed St. Jude's Episcopal Free Church and the Union Reformed Church. In 1893 it became the home of J.\&R. Lamb Studios. This firm was established in 1853 and stained glass, and later mosaics, marble, carved wood and metal pieces for churches, libraries, and private homes. In 1937 the former church was converted into the Art Deco Waverly Theatre by architect Harrison Wiseman. The Waverly was immortalized in a song in the musical Hair and hosted the original long-running midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Closed in 2001, the theatre reopened in 2005 as the IFC Center after another renovation, which added a new metal facade but retained the 150+-year-old gabled roof.

Church of the Ascension, ca. 1979. Built by architect Richard Upjohn between 1840-41 in the Gothic Revival style, the Church of the Ascension is compared in the registers listing to Trinity Church, also built by Upjohn between 1839-1846. The listing also details a remodeling of the interior from 1885-1889, undertaken by Stanford White of McKim, Mead, & White. This remodeling lightened the space considerably, removing galleries on the north and south and adding stained-glass windows and the mural “the Ascension of Our Lord” by artist John La Farge. The sculptured angels over the main altar are the work of Louis St. Gaudens and the two angels in the mosaic were done by D. Maitland Armstrong.

Greenwich Village has been the home of many women, whose actions have changed the fabric of New York and America.

15 Christopher Street, ca. 1975. Built in 1827 by textile manufacturer and New York Assemblyman Samuel Whittemore, the wood frame house behind No. 15's brick facade is one of the oldest standing in Greenwich Village. In Edmund Vincent Gillon's 1970s photograph, the first-floor storefront is occupied by the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, which moved to this location in 1973. Founded in 1967 on Mercer Street, the shop is credited as the first bookstore with an avowed focus on gay and lesbian authors. In 2009, the store closed, undone by an industry-wide decline in book sales compounded by the financial crisis.

Federal style townhouse at 41 Barrow Street, 1932. This brick house was one of seven built by the developer Charles Oakley between 1824-6. During the 19th century, it was home to Dr. Virgil Thompson and, later, Police Captain Ira S. Garland.

Washington Square Park ca. 1935 Washington Square, at the base of Fifth Avenue, emerged in the Victorian era as one of New York City's most fashionable neighborhoods. Projecting dignified calm and cosmopolitan charm, the square drew favorable comparisons to similar patrician precincts in nineteenth-century London and Paris. To Henry James, born on nearby Washington Place, Washington Square (where his grandmother lived) had "a riper, richer, more honorable look than any of the ramifications of the great longitudinal thoroughfare- the look of having something of a social history." Originally a marshland drained for use as a potter's field and public gallows in the later eighteenth century, Washington Square underwent its upscale metamorphosis in the mid-1820s, when the area was converted into a military parade ground and subsequently reconfigured as an eight-acre public park, complete with fountain and intersecting pedestrian paths. In 1837 New York University established its headquarters on the square's east border. Affluent downtowners soon gravitated to this newly developed section of Greenwich Village, moving into the stately Federal-style townhouses constructed at the park's perimeter. By the century's end, a monumental arch designed by Stanford White and built from Tuckahoe marble dominated the Northern edge of Washington Square. Largely financed by the well-heeled homeowners who lived on the square, this imposing structure replaced a temporary portal erected in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration as the nations first president. By the 1890s, various economic and demographic changes had conspired to trigger the flight of upper-class families from Greenwich Village; much of the district's housing stock had grown dilapidated, real estate values and per capita income began to plummet, local church congregations started to migrate north, and slum tenements and drab factories were encroaching the side streets running east and south of Washington Square.

"Audre Lorde, too, points to the House of Detention as the epicenter of 1960s Greenwich Village. 'Information and endearments flew up and down, the conversants apparently oblivious to the ears of the passersby as they discussed the availability of lawyers, the length of stay, family, conditions, and the undying quality of true love. The Women's House of Detention, right smack in the middle of the Village, always felt like one up for our side — a defiant pocket of female resistance, ever-present as a reminder of possibility, as well as punishment.' …The House of D was an 11-story art deco stone structure that towered over Village rooftops. Billed when it opened in 1932 as a 'school for citizenship' with hospital wards, vocational training, and sinks, toilets, and windows in the cells, claims to its reform mission had faded by the 1960s… Inside the House of D lesbians stood their ground as boldly as they did outside. Confined in the 'skyscraper prison,' inmates and their visitors dominated the streets with their voices, their gestures, and their shouted intimacies. Stolen privacy led to the public, flaunted queerness that required bold defense in a hostile territory outside. Confinement did not contain lesbian ferocity." Continue reading this excerpt from the Gotham Center for New York City History's roundtable on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

Carmine Street buildings slated for demolition ahead of the downtown extension of Sixth Avenue, July 30, 1926. Prior to the 1920s extension, Sixth Avenue terminated at Carmine Street. The extension and associated demolitions were undertaken for two purposes: facilitating construction of IND subway tracks and providing a connection for vehicular traffic to/from the Holland Tunnel, via Canal Street.

29 Washington Square West ca. 1930s During her time as First Lady, from 1933 to 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt changed the role from the passive hostess to active political leader and became an outspoken politician in her own right. She held press conferences on important issues such as women's rights and children's causes and led marches and protests. After the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945, she resided here at 29 Washington Square West until 1949. She later became a U.S. delegate to the United Nations, chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and is widely regarded as one of the most renowned civil rights activists of the 20th Century.

Judson Memorial Church, 2000. Adoniram Judson was the first American Protestant foreign missionary. In 1888 his son, distinguished preacher and church leader Edward Judson, began the process to create a church in memorial to his father. Supported by a number of wealthy Northern Baptists, including John D. Rockefeller, Judson spared no expense in his plans for the church. He hired Standford White as architect, John LaFarge for the stained glass, and sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens. The resulting building, an eclectic Lombardo-Romanesque style church, was completed in 1893. The grand campanile, or bell tower, was completed in 1896. The church, nearly from its inception, has been engaged in social health and justice activities. In 1920 the Judson Health Center was established as a community healthcare facility. They opened the first drug-treatment clinic in Greenwich Village (1960-1962). Under the long leadership of pastor Howard Moody (1956-1990), the church became involved in arts, social justice, and anti-war movements. Art projects created include the Judson Dance Theatre and Art Gallery. They operated an abortion counseling and referral service before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal and a support group for those with HIV-AIDS and their caregivers in the 1980s, while many churches ignored the AIDS crisis. They were actively involved in local and national movements for civil rights, peace, women’s rights, and gay rights. Today the church remained active in the arts and is a leader of the leading role in the New Sanctuary Movement for immigrant rights.

Bertolotti's Restaurant, May 19, 1939. Though perhaps not apparent from this 1939 photograph, the building here at 85 West 3rd Street was constructed in the 1830s. In 1844 the writer Edgar Allan Poe moved into the building, then 85 Amity Street. Here he worked on “The Raven" and ''The Cask of Amontillado.'' He and his wife vacated the home in 1846 for a small cottage in the Bronx. Later tenants included actress Lillian Russell and, for nearly 70 years, an Italian restaurant called Bertolotti's. The small building survived most of the 20th century with NYU growing around it. In 2000 the school announced plans to demolish the building for an expanded law library and was met with vocal push back by preservationists, community members and scholars. Eventually NYU agreed to preserve the facade of the building. During construction of the new Furman Hall, the facade is moved down the block and reconstructed within the facade of the new building. Though it supposedly looks as it would have in 1845, preservationists have maintained that the changes of location and surroundings (it is no longer free-standing) and the new brick facade (the old bricks were not reused as planned) create something akin to a movie set, not a historic structure.

"Founded in 1890, Judson Church had served as a bridge between the upper classes on 5th Avenue and the impoverished Italian neighborhood below Washington Square. As many Italian families eventually moved to the suburbs, the congregation declined to fewer than 25 people by the 1950s. The church sought social relevance and hired ministers who were also artists to connect with the growing creative and intellectual communities in the Village. The idea was to open the sanctuary to bear witness rather than proselytize, and to embrace the 'free church' belief that the space of worship is not holy and need not be confined to traditional religious practices. The exhibition acknowledges Associate Minister Bud Scott‘s role in founding the Judson Gallery and Associate Minister Al Carmines’ vision for the Poets’ Theater. The theater was founded on two conditions: there would be no censorship and no requirement to produce religious dramas. However, the work of Reverend Howard Moody was also critical since he integrated activism into the church’s liturgy and mission and took up many of the social issues that the exhibition referenced, such as opening one of the first drug treatment facilities in the Village and an abortion referral service." For more on Judson Memorial Church, check out this article by Joanna Steinberg in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

Bleecker Street Cinema, ca. 1977. Bleecker Street Cinema began its tenure at 144 Bleecker Street in 1962. Filmmaker and social activist Lionel Rogosin founded the space and opened the 200-seat theatre to present his 1959 film Come Back, Africa. A spot for art house, avant-garde, and foreign films the cinema closed in 1990. For less than a year the venue reopened and featured gay adult films, before a brief return to art films, and eventual closure in 1991. The theatre was an influential cultural venue for the independent film scene in New York. It was also a location for a number of more commercial movies including Desperately Seeking Susan and Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors. Today the building has been split again with no. 144 housing a pharmacy and no. 146 a stationary store.

276 Bleecker Street; February 2, 1937. Anchored by the famous Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, Bleecker Street stood in the center of Little Italy and was lined with food specialty stores. The Mandaro family, which owned this cheese store, made many of their own cheeses and imported others. Although Mandaro’s is gone, similar shops can still be found along Bleecker Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. The Mandaro storefront has been absorbed by the ever- expanding John’s Pizzeria, a neighborhood institution that opened in 1934.

Fifth Avenue Bus at Washington Square South and Thompson Street, October 21, 1936. Founded in 1885 as the Fifth Avenue Transportation Company, the horse-drawn omnibus line was established to hinder the installation of trolley tracks on fashionable Fifth Avenue. It was incorporated as The Fifth Avenue Coach Company in 1896. The Fifth Avenue vehicles went from horse-powered to gas-powered in 1907, and the company soon began manufacturing their own coaches, including those of the double-decker variety. In 1930, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company purchased 100 Yellow Coach “Z-type” double-decker buses. The bus in this image looks to be one of these coaches. The New York Transit Museum also has a 1930 coach in its historic fleet (its oldest bus rolling stock). The coach, affectionately nicknamed "Betsy," is featured during the Museum's annual Bus Fest.

2-6 Minetta Street, November 21, 1935. Located above a small historic lower Manhattan waterway called Minetta Brook, Minetta Street has a long and diverse history. The stream was moved underground in the 1820s because it was impeding the development of the area. The crooked Minetta Street was originally a path along the brook, created by the “partially-freed” African American population that had settled nearby in the mid 17th century. In the late 19th and early 20th century the street was known for its seedy occupants, including prostitutes and saloons that catered to Irish gangsters. After a concerted effort by local police to clean up the area, by the 1920s, Minetta Street and Lane were the more quiet and quaint blocks they remain today.

Grand Central Hotel ca. 1870 On August 3rd in 1973, what was once one of the largest and most elegant hotels in the country collapsed onto Broadway, killing four and injuring many. The eight-story, 400-room Grand Central Hotel opened in 1870 and was built in the Second Empire style by architect Henry Engelbert for carpet manufacturer Elias S. Higgins. Located at 667-77 Broadway (near Bond Street, south of West 3rd Street), it was one of the largest hotels in the United States when it was built and was lavishly furnished. In the late 19th century, the hotel with its restaurants and grand spaces became a hub of New York society. As the 20th century progressed, the hotel’s name was changed to the Broadway Central, and its luster faded. By the 1960s and after changes in ownership, the building came to be used as a welfare hotel. Complaints from residents and neighbors about crime, drug use, and prostitution in the building, as well as deteriorating and unhygienic conditions, spurred the State to investigate and penalize the owners. Re-branded as The University Hotel by the early 1970s, the hotel attempted to salvage its image. But by the summer of 1973 bigger problems than image would reveal themselves. Residents reported to the City that cracks had formed throughout the hotel and several structural walls had begun bowing outward. Years of neglect and un-reported interior renovation work had taken its toll on the hundred year old structure. Early on August 3rd, hotel patrons began hearing what they described as “’bongs,’ ‘tings,’ and ‘groans,’ and other noises,” and seeing falling plasterwork throughout the building. By the late afternoon most of the over 300 hotel guests had evacuated, when at about 5:10 P.M. a huge section of the building abruptly collapsed, spilling a huge pile of rubble down on to Broadway. As firemen sifted through the rubble – more than twenty feet high in some places — four bodies were found. The remaining sections of the hotel were demolished and removed. Also lost on the Mercer Street side of the building were six popular off-Broadway theaters that composed the Mercer Arts center. Mercer Arts Center is featured on the HBO show Vinyl. The live theaters on the Mercer Street side were run by Sy and Cynthia Kaback. It was Steina and Woody Vasulka who rented the kitchen of the Center for shows starting on June 15, 1971 before moving to Wooster and Broome streets and finally locating The Kitchen to 512 West 19th Street, where it still is today. Housing for NYU Law School students was eventually built on the site and remains today.

113 Waverly Place, ca. 1950.

14 West 10th Street (second building from the left), May 29, 1933. The Greek Revival house at 14 West 10th Street was constructed sometime in the 1850s. The house, in the fashionable area near Washington Square Park, was home to members of New York's high society in the 19th century. In 1900 Mark Twain lived in the house for a year or so. In the long history of the house at least 22 people died while residing there. (This is not an inconceivable number given the home's age and the fact that for much of history people died at home). In 1937 the single family home was divided into multiple apartments. Starting around that time residents began taking note of strange occurrences and haunting visions. Author Jan Bryant Bartell lived in an apartment there for seven years and wrote about her supernatural experiences there. It has been called the "House of Death." Unfortunately the building also hosted a real life gruesome event in 1987 when a former New York defense attorney beat his illegally adopted daughter to death in the house.

Louisa May Alcott Residence ca. 1933 Though she is most associated with the city of Boston, abolitionist and feminist Louisa May Alcott stayed here at her uncle's house at 130-132 MacDougal Street for two years after the publication of her most famous work, Little Women. She was raised by transcendentalist parents Amos Bronson Alcott and Abigail May and grew up around intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. When she was young her family served as station masters on the Underground Railroad. She also read and was greatly influenced by the "Declaration of Sentiments", published by the Seneca Falls Convention on women's rights. As an adult, she wrote for the Atlantic Monthly and served as a nurse during the Civil War. It was her letters home-revised and published in the Boston anti-slavery paper Commonwealth and collected as 'Hospital Sketches'-that first brought her critical recognition for her observations and humor. She became even more successful with the publication of Little Women in 1868.

The Mad Hatter Tearoom ca. 1892 The one-story building at left has early LGBT history in its incarnation as the Mad Hatter, which was located in the basement from 1916 to c. 1930. The first tearoom in the Village, the Mad Hatter attracted a bohemian crowd (and a number of upper class “slummers” who came to watch them). Eliza Helen Criswell – who went by “Jimmie,” had short hair, and wore sandals, artsy smocks, and tailored suits and ties for formal events – owned the establishment with her partner Mathilda Spence for a number of years. Beginning in 1945, the ground floor space was the location of the Pony Stable Inn, a lesbian bar. Like other Greenwich Village lesbian bars of the 1940s-1960s, such as the Sea Colony and the Bagatelle, the Pony Stable Inn attracted mostly working-class white women who adhered to strict butch/femme gender roles \[for an explanation on butch/femme, see the entry on the Sea Colony]. Almost all gay bars of the time in New York City were run by the Mafia and frequently raided by the police. A McCarthy-era tactic of infiltrating gay spaces with informants was also common, making women reluctant to talk to those they did not know for fear of police entrapment. As Lee Zevy (who would later co-found Identity House NYC) described of her first visit to the Pony Stable Inn with a few more experienced friends, “Nobody talked to anybody because everybody was deeply, deeply in the closet, even at the bar.” Acclaimed black lesbian feminist, writer, and activist Audre Lorde wrote of the reluctance to speak with anyone at a lesbian bar at the time for fear of coming across a plainclothes policewoman: “There were always rumors of plainclothes women circulating among us, looking for gay girls with fewer than three pieces of female attire. That was enough to get you arrested for transvestism, which was illegal.”

The Hotel Earle (Now The Washington Square Hotel) has been a haven for writers and artists for more than a century. Everyone from Bob Dylan to Norah Jones has been housed under its roof!

George Bruno residence at 1 Macdougal Alley (aka 176 Macdougal Street), August 5, 1927. Macdougal Alley was created in 1833, for access to the carriage houses of property owners on Washington Square North and West Eighth Street. The corner building was home to the Prohibition-era Jumble Shop tearoom (later tap room, following repeal), and in recent decades a restaurant, laundromat, florist, and bridal shop. Macdougal Street and Alley are both named for Alexander McDougall, the Scottish born merchant and Revolutionary War figure who was a representative to the Continental Congress, the first president of the Bank of New York, and New York State Senator.

Alexander Lyman Holley Statue, ca. 1900. Sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward in collaboration with Thomas Hastings, this bronze bust casted and dedicated in 1889 commemorates one of the founding fathers of engineering and industry. Sitting atop an Indiana limestone pedestal in a park replete with a grand arch, fountain, dog park, and chess tables, funds from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and Save American Treasures allowed the MAS Adopt-A-Monument program to restore this sculpture in 1999.

205 Bleecker Street as viewed from Hancock Street, a now de-mapped road in Greenwich Village. The street disappeared not long after this photograph was taken, swallowed up by the creation of Sixth Avenue South.

While Manhattan's streets were largely laid out with the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, this grid system was only implemented between Houston and 155th Streets. The plan left Greenwich Village with its long-established mews, alleys, and courts, many of which date to the city's early colonial period, intact. While not exclusively in the Village, most of the secret streets on this list are located there among the organically developed 18th-century street plan. While some changes have come to these streetscapes in the last century, in most cases their concealment and a healthy dose of historic preservation work have aided in their continued survival in the 21st century.

59 (right) and 60 (left) Washington Square South are the two four-story homes next to the wood-frame corner structure. When writer Willa Cather moved to New York in 1906 she lived in a studio in no. 60.

“If you’ve never heard of Pfaff’s saloon, or its coterie of Bohemian artists, that’s not surprising. More than 150 years have elapsed since this scene’s heyday, and time moves in mysterious — sometimes heedless — ways. History is not a meritocracy... To be precise, Pfaff’s (pronounced fafs) was beneath where the shoe store is now. It was an underground saloon in every sense of the word. There’s still a hatchway in the Broadway sidewalk, just as there was in the nineteenth century. It provides entry into the store’s basement, a long, narrow space, lit by electric bulbs and piled high with boxes of shoes. During the 1850s, it was dim, gaslit, and packed with artists. Pfaff’s saloon was the site of an incredibly important cultural movement, the meeting place of America’s first Bohemians. Their leader, Henry Clapp Jr., was editor of the hugely influential Saturday Press. Clapp deserves credit as the person who brought Bohemianism to America, both the word and the way of life. He was joined by a struggling experimental poet, well into middle age, yet still living at home in Brooklyn with his mother, Walt Whitman.” For more on Pfaff's, check out this exclusive by Justin Martin in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

The Whitney Museum is now one of New York City's unparalleled art institutions. But it took a while to get there. Here's a brief history of the Whitney Museum

Jefferson Market Library ca. 1938 The fanciful clock tower of the Jefferson Market Court, the tallest of Greenwich Village’s 19th-century buildings, was a local landmark that appeared in many of Abbott’s Village views. In 1877, Calvert Vaux and Frederic C. Withers designed this Ruskinian Gothic courthouse and jail to replace an old open market and wooden fire tower. In 1931, the jail was torn down for an eleven-story women’s house of detention, which in turn was torn down in 1974 and replaced by a community garden. Abbott photographed the front of the courthouse in 1935, revealing the full exuberance of the Vaux-Withers design. In 1938, she rephotographed the courthouse, this time standing on Sixth Avenue and using a hand-held camera. Vacated by the courts in 1945, the courthouse was saved from demolition in 1967 and renovated as a branch of the New York Public Library.

Theater, performance spaces, and the arts have always been an important part of the Village, East Village, and NoHo’s cultural heritage and built environment.

The original Rhinelander Mansion, No. 14, on the west corner of Fifth Avenue, was built in 1839-1840 for Mary (Rogers) Rhinelander as her family’s residence and continued to serve the family until the death of her daughter in 1914. The house, and adjoining No. 15, were a pair of splendid Greek Revival town houses, each 42 feet wide and three and one-half stories high, with attic windows in the fascia. At each, a stoop led to the entrance portico, framed by Corinthian columns, and an iron balcony graced the parlor floor. No. 15 was built as the residence of Gardiner Greene Howland, who had previously lived with his brother Samuel at No. 12 Washington Square North on the block east of Fifth Avenue. They were important shipping merchants.

San Remo Cafe, 1937. The San Remo was a cafe and bar which opened in 1925 and closed in 1967. In the 1950s it became a popular haunt for literary and artistic notables of the Beat and Bohemian generation. Regulars included Gore Vidal, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Dylan Thomas, Miles Davis, Jackson Pollack, James Baldwin, and Allen Ginsberg. A later account of the Cafe said this, “With its pressed-tin ceiling, black-and-white tile floors and dollar salads with all the bread and butter you could eat, the San Remo attracted a younger, hipper crowd more into experimenting with drugs than The White Horse’s habituées,” The bar and its patrons are described in a number of literary works authored by those who hung out there, including Jack Kerouac's 'The Subterraneans.'

Our Lady of Pompeii Church ca. 1928 On March 7th, 1898, Our Lady of Pompeii Church was incorporated as a separate parish. This South Village icon has been serving the neighborhood since 1926, but Our Lady of Pompeii has been a part of the Village since 1892. The Our Lady of Pompeii church that stands today was designed by architect Matthew W. Del Gaudio and constructed between 1926 and 1928. But the parish had several prior homes. In 1890, it began in a building located at 113 Waverly Place, as part of the Saint Raphael Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, under the leadership of Father Pietro Bandini. Father Bandini named his chapel there “Our Lady of Pompeii.” He worked to help the many Italian immigrants adjust to their new lives in America. By 1895, the Society moved to 214 Sullivan Street, but fire forced them out and they moved to an existing church at 210 Bleecker Street. This church was originally built in 1836 for the Unitarian Universalists, but was sold to the African American Roman Catholic congregation of Saint Benedict the Moor in 1883. There had been a significant African-American population in the area around Minetta Street, but as the century was coming to a close, they began moving further uptown, and Our Lady of Pompeii parish acquired the property and moved in on May 8, 1898 under the leadership of Father Antonio Demo (the square adjacent to the church now bears his name).

"On March 25, 1911, a mere three days after the founding of the Wage Earner’s Suffrage League, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire transformed what Americans (especially in rural areas) knew and how they thought about factory work. When the fire broke out on the upper floors of the Asch Building at closing time on Saturday March 25, 1911, panicked workers instinctively ran for the nearest exits only to discover that the doors had been locked ostensibly to prevent employee thefts. Trapped in the inferno on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the building too high up for ladders and hoses to reach, desperate workers jumped to their deaths. The fire claimed the lives of 146 immigrant workers, mostly Jewish and Italian women. Front-page banner headlines in newspapers across the country bore news of the tragedy and immediately heightened public awareness about the dangers of the industrial workplace. The time had come for state intervention. New York convened a factory investigating commission that would eventually pass more than thirty workplace fire, safety, and health laws. In 1914, the Smith Bill went as far as limiting the number of hours that women and children would be allowed to work." For more on how the Fire galvanized New York City's nationally pivotal suffrage movement, check out this article by Karen Pastorello in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church ca. 1932 Even before the Irish potato famine of 1845, waves of Irish immigrants began to enter New York City. St. Joseph’s parish (now called the University Parish of St. Joseph’s), located on Sixth Avenue between Waverly and Washington Places, just west of Washington Square Park, was formed in 1829. Its founding is credited to the first Irish who settled in Greenwich Village, those who came to serve as domestic servants or to work on the construction of buildings when the Village’s population swelled due to outbreaks of yellow fever and cholera that beset the core city in 1799, 1803, 1805, and 1821. The parish originally served an area from Canal Street to 20th Street and was the sixth Catholic parish established in New York City. The cornerstone of the Church was laid on June 10, 1833, and despite several extensive renovations, the church that stands now is still the original.

Edgar Allan Poe residence, Waverly Place. Undated photo, ca. 1900. This turn of the century snow scene includes the Waverly Place townhouse were Edgar Allan Poe once lived. No. 137, at left, was built in 1829 by Thomas Cumming a builder who developed several houses in the surrounding area, including on Gay Street. When Poe came to New York in 1837, he first settled in Greenwich Village, before moving to farmhouses on the Upper West Side and in Fordham. On Waverly Place, Poe was close to the Northern Dispensary, where he was often treated.

Sixth Avenue El over West Broadway at West Third Street, ca. 1938. This view is looking south on West Broadway, from near Washington Square Park. The photo was likely taken shortly before Sixth Avenue El service was discontinued in December, 1938. Few elements of this street scene remain: The elevated tracks were dismantled shortly thereafter; the Open Door (left) at No. 567 West Broadway has been replaced by the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library; No. 562 (upper right) has been replaced by new, low-rise construction. Even the street names have changed: West Broadway is now LaGuardia Place, above Houston Street.

When searching through the chronicles of Greenwich Village history, some things almost seem too Village-y to be true, with all their quirky details and theatrical anecdotes. A prime example: The Pepper Pot Inn at 146 West 4th Street, a 1920s multi-level restaurant that became a sensation. Purchased in 1918 by Carlyle “Doc” Sherlock and his wife Viola, this spot came into being as the neighborhood surrounding Washington Square Park transitioned from affluent enclave to working-class territory and artists’ haven. Doc and Viola themselves tried to make it as actors on the big screen, but they soon left that world to become the owners of “the most popular eating place in the Village and a nation-wide destination.” The basement level of 146 West 4th served as the bustling restaurant of The Pepper Pot, where customers could enjoy a variety of cuisines, followed by Viola Sherlock’s own homemade desserts. Strings of peppers and paper lanterns decorated the ceiling, while the tables displayed enormous candles made of the wax drippings of all the candles that had sat there before. Artists seated at the table would carve figures into these mounds of wax, and the light from these candles illuminated the dark basement room. Home › South Village › The Pepper Pot Inn, “The Realest Thing in Bohemian Atmosphere” The Pepper Pot Inn, “The Realest Thing in Bohemian Atmosphere” A view down West 4th Street with The Pepper Pot's big vertical sign and ads on neighboring buildings. Via http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com. The Pepper Pot Inn, “The Realest Thing in Bohemian Atmosphere” Laura FleischmannLaura FleischmannPosted on August 2, 2019 Posted in South Village, Uncategorized — 4 Comments ↓ When searching through the chronicles of Greenwich Village history, some things almost seem too Village-y to be true, with all their quirky details and theatrical anecdotes. A prime example: The Pepper Pot Inn at 146 West 4th Street, a 1920s multi-level restaurant that became a sensation. Purchased in 1918 by Carlyle “Doc” Sherlock and his wife Viola, this spot came into being as the neighborhood surrounding Washington Square Park transitioned from affluent enclave to working-class territory and artists’ haven. Doc and Viola themselves tried to make it as actors on the big screen, but they soon left that world to become the owners of “the most popular eating place in the Village and a nation-wide destination.” A view down West 4th Street east from 6th Avenue with The Pepper Pot’s big vertical sign and ads on neighboring buildings. Via http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com. Lanterns, Candles, and Chili Peppers The basement level of 146 West 4th served as the bustling restaurant of The Pepper Pot, where customers could enjoy a variety of cuisines, followed by Viola Sherlock’s own homemade desserts. Strings of peppers and paper lanterns decorated the ceiling, while the tables displayed enormous candles made of the wax drippings of all the candles that had sat there before. Artists seated at the table would carve figures into these mounds of wax, and the light from these candles illuminated the dark basement room. On the parlor and second floors of this 1828 house, guests could dance and enjoy music. An image of the dance floor also appears to show a ceiling of greenery and more lanterns, with beautiful sunlight coming in from a tall window. Then above this was the Bridge Room, where Carlyle and Viola’s “friends of the motion picture, theatrical, bridge and chess world” could play and watch “exhibitions” of expert players. As The Pepper Pot continued to flourish through the Roaring ‘20s, it became a popular spot for a new wave the neighbors didn’t care for – jazz! As Daytonian in Manhattan describes, “In the days before air conditioning open windows let in the night breezes but also let out the blaring music.” As a result, the Sherlocks’ landlady across the street, Mrs. Creveling, and her neighbor stopped by Jefferson Market Court to file a complaint. The landlady told the magistrate of “those funny ditties that they play” and the liquor continuing to flow despite prohibition. Dr. Sherlock arrived in court on February 17, 1921 ready to fight this case. But according to the New York Times from the following day, he “waited in vain for the complaintants.” And so, the music and enjoyment continued at The Pepper Pot. A year later The Evening World newspaper described the place as still “extremely Greenwich Village – with an automatic piano in the candle-lit basement and a group of furious jazzers two floors above.” A few years later, Carlyle and Viola moved to their country home and another person managed the place, which by this time had expanded to include Nos. 148 and 150. Newspaper reviews continued to paint a picture of a funky hangout, complete with a fortuneteller, tap dancing, singing, dim lights, and neighborhood celebrities “of whom there have been many in the proud Pepper Pot past.” The good times k...

John Althouse warehouses, Greene Street, March 28, 1947. A six-story brick and cast iron warehouse completed in 1884 for John Althouse, on the site of the Althouse Iron Works, an 1850s-era foundry. During the Civil War, the Althouse property served as a barracks for the 40th New York Volunteers. The warehouse was designed by William Ewan Worthen, who built an adjacent storage property at No. 146 Greene Street for Althouse in 1877.

MacDougal Alley, March 20, 1936. A cul-de-sac off MacDougal Street, MacDougal Alley is actually a mews. In a mews, the buildings have to have been working stables or carriage houses at some point. And the homes seen here were just that, for the large homes that lined nearby West 8th Street and Washington Square North. Named after a Revolutionary War hero, Alexander McDougall (the original spelling of his name), the small street had been home to a number of artists and art related venues. Gertrude Vanderbilt established her studio at no. 19, which has since become the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture. Jackson Pollack lived at no. 9 for a year in the late 1940s and sculptor Isamu Noguchi lived at no. 33, which was demolished mid-century during the construction of nearby 2 Fifth Avenue.

Washington Square Park ca. 1908 Originally a potter's field and gallows, Washington Square was later reclaimed as a parade ground and then converted to a park. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century Georgian houses lined the park's periphery, several examples of which still stand on Washington Square North. By the early twentieth century, boarding houses appeared on the south side of the park, attracting many artists as tenants.

Home and Office of WIlliam Kunstler ca. 1933 William Kunstler was an American radical lawyer and civil rights activist, known for his involvement in some of the most high-profile and controversial civil rights and civil liberties cases of the late 20th century. A native New Yorker, he attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Yale College, and Columbia University Law School in 1948. Kunstler practiced family and small business law in the 1950s and was an associate professor of law at New York Law School (1950–1951) before entering civil rights litigation in the 1960s. Kunstler's defense of the Chicago Seven from 1969–1970 led The New York Times to label him "the country's most controversial and, perhaps, its best-known lawyer". He is also well known for defending members of the Catonsville Nine, the Black Panther Party, the Weather Underground Organization, Attica Prison rioters, and the American Indian Movement. Kunstler also won a de facto segregation case regarding the District of Columbia's public schools and "disinterred, singlehandedly" the concept of federal removal jurisdiction in the 1960s. In late 1995, Kunstler died in New York City of heart failure at the age of 76.

My Archive Spring 2019 "This photo was taken in 1981. The gentleman on the right end is my grandfather, Paolo Anfosso, with his retired neighborhood cronies. They gathered most days in Minetta Triangle or Fr. Demo Square. He and my grandmother, Yolanda, were fixtures in what was then the very Italian Greenwich Village. They lived at 259 Bleecker Street above Zito's Bakery for over 70 years. Paolo was a chef in Jersey City who spoke mostly Italian. Yolanda was a kindergarten teacher first at the Children's Aid Society then, St. Anthony's on Sullivan St. The 3rd gentleman from the right was his good friend also named Paul. The story goes, someone saw them all gathered one day and stopped to ask if they would have their picture taken. To us, this has become a family classic moment in time." —Jean Gross

While it may look like the fountain has been standing since the park’s construction in 1852, the structure we see today was actually the product of a 2007 renovation. This renovation, spanning four years, reoriented the location of the fountain to properly align with the archway (designed by Stanford White), creating one of those picture-perfect NYC views down Fifth Avenue. However, the plan was not widely accepted by the community. Prior to construction, there were several lawsuits filed against the city to block the project from taking place. Ultimately the city won, and the final phase of the project was completed in 2011

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Landmarks Law, which for the first time allowed buildings, neighborhoods, and sites to be preserved through landmark designation in New York City. Designated on April 29, 1969, the Greenwich Village Historic District is one of our city's oldest and largest historic districts. At over 2,200 buildings and 100 blocks, it covers much (but not all) of Greenwich Village between University Place and Washington Street, 13th Street and West 4th Street/St. Luke's Place. Its continuing preservation and oversight remains at the core of Village Preservation's mission, along with that of the 15 other historic districts, over 100 individual landmarks, and eight interior landmarks designated in our neighborhoods since — you can view an interactive timeline of all of these designations here. The Greenwich Village Historic District is undeniably charming — so much so that it’s virtually impossible to come up with a top-10 list of its most alluring architectural gems. But with no insult to sites not included, here is one run at 10 of the most charming sites you’ll find in this extraordinarily quaint historic quarter.

Ice delivery on West 4th Street, just east of Sheridan Square, ca. 1950. The corner delicatessen (at left) is located at the corner of West 4th Street and Sheridan Square. Next to the right is the shop of Pedro Pujol, known for his modernist copper jewelry. At far right is Miss Douglass' Bake Shop.

396 Sixth Avenue, ca. 1969. Nathan's Hot Dogs was one of the first tenants to occupy No. 396 Sixth Avenue, a one-story commercial space built in 1950. According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, photographer Doris Diether "took this picture because of objections to Nathan's move to 8th Street. At the time, it was the first chain restaurant to move onto the street and there were concerns that it would move operations outdoors." Following Nathan's departure, the building was renovated in the early 1980s into a two-story storefront for B. Dalton, a local bookstore. Barnes and Noble later took over the space, though, after 12 years renting, it was priced out in 2012.

Doorway of 61 Washington Square South, March 1945. Referred to as the “House of Genius,” the rowhouse at 61 Washington Square South was so named for the creative and bohemian writers, musicians, and artists that lived in the boarding house there. Madame Blanchard, a Swiss immigrant, began leasing the home in 1886. She converted the single-family home into a rooming house that only rented to creative types. Considered a cultural landmark, residents included writers Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and opera singer Adelina Patti. The four-story red brick rowhouse, which had been constructed in the early to mid 19th century, was one of a row of similar buildings between West Broadway and Thompson Street, which all occupied a role as literary and artistic residences. In 1937 Madame Blanchard, the house matron died. In the 1940s, no. 61 and its neighbors were purchased by developer Anthony Campagna, who planned to demolish the row for a new apartment complex. In response to this plan, the neighbors and artists pushed back, establishing the Committee for the Washington Square Living Art Center. They hoped to retain the structures for a live and work art space. Despite their efforts, the residents were evicted and the buildings were razed in 1948. The developer did not construct the planned apartment house and instead sold the land to NYU, which built a student center. This failed preservation battle is considered the impetus for passionate preservation efforts by the neighborhood and the eventual designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District in 1969.

These images are taken from Certificate of Appropriateness applications to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for sites located within the area covered by Village Preservation – Greenwich Village, the East Village, NoHo, the Meatpacking District, and the South Village – since late 2009, when Village Preservation began maintaining these applications on our website. These are applications for changes to landmarked properties which are substantial enough that they require review by the full Landmarks Preservation Commission and a full public hearing. Often times these applications include historic photos of the building or even surrounding buildings as part of the documentation and argument supporting the proposed application for changes. Regardless of the applications (which can also be viewed in each case – just click on the link to see along with the outcome), these images are invaluable visual documents of the history of these buildings. Explore more images like this here.

88 Grove Street, ca. 1915. No. 88 (at right with the ironwork at the roofline) was constructed in 1827 as a Federal style home by Henry Halsey, a mason. In the 1860s the house was remodeled into a French Second Empire style complete with slate mansard and classic dormer windows (all the rage at the time). When this view was captured in the early 1910s, the structure was obscured by ivy and home to Italian landscape architect Ferruccio Vitale. Later the building was purchased by James Graham Phelps Stokes, referred to as a “millionaire Socialist." Today no. 88 looks very much as it did when it was altered in the middle of the 19th century.

Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein (in suit on right) cuts the ribbon, 1982. From its founding in 1980 until 1984, GVSHP was known as the Greenwich Village Trust, as noted on the sign.

From Washington Square Park to the Whitney Museum, there is always a new piece of New York City social and cultural history to discover on a walk through Greenwich Village. The neighborhood is steeped in history. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Village was the center for the LGBT and counterculture movements and still continues to be a welcoming and accepting place for all. With a plethora of jazz clubs and local music venues to stop in and soak up the local scene, you’ll need to stop for a coffee or a quick bite at one of the storied cafes or restaurants along your way. Many of the great dining options around the neighborhood have been around for decades—some boast over a century of service—and whatever cuisine you’re in the mood for, Greenwich Village is sure to serve it up.

1 Sheridan Square, 1933. From 1938 to 1948 Barney Josephson ran Café Society, New York's first racially integrated nightclub at 1 Sheridan Square. Josephson was a former shoe salesman whose extensive travels in Europe inspired him to create a jazz club that might look like the racially diverse cabarets he attended in Europe. On opening night Billie Holiday performed and she would later debut 'Strange Fruit' at the club. The venue only lasted for a decade. Josephson had leftist leanings and in 1947 his brother refused to refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. As a result the club was lambasted by writer and critics, the patrons stopped coming, and the Sheridan Square (and the second uptown location) were forced to close.

Above the display windows of Crate & Barrel, and the crowded Broadway and Houston Street sidewalks is a facade of uniquely decorative flourishes that hint at a time of transition for New York’s infrastructure. This building is a massive structure and was included within the boundaries of the NoHo Historic District. Two sculptures of classically-garbed women stand astride a massive circular window, sitting atop a pediment that reads ‘The Cable Building.’ The ‘cable’ in the building’s name refers not the kind of cable that transmits telegraph, telephone, or television, but the kind that pulls cable cars. Built from 1892 to 1894 by the Broadway & Seventh Avenue Railroad Company (later the Metropolitan Traction Company), the building was a unique example of a multi-use structure. It housed in its lower floors the machinery needed to propel much of the Broadway cable car system, with a large office building above. Four 32-foot wheels kept the network of cables in motion for as many as sixty cable cars traveling up and down Broadway from the Battery to Midtown (the cars moved by clamping on to the moving cable embedded in the street). The building was built with a steel and iron frame, with terra cotta and stone facing by the noted firm of McKim, Mead, and White. The New York Times noted “Although the large windows clearly denote a commercial space, the delicate terra cotta, light orange brick and elaborate copper cornice are characteristic of more monumental design. The sculptor J. Massey Rhind designed two colossal female figures flanking the doorway — commissioned sculpture is also unusual on commercial buildings. The Real Estate Record and Guide called the new Cable Building ”the highest achievement of the art” and remarked that, with its example, ‘no excuse remains for building cheaply or meanly on any New York City property.’” As the prediction of the demise of ‘cheaply’ or ‘meanly’ made buildings didn’t quite pan out, neither did the Metropolitan Traction Company’s hopes for business success. Less than a decade after the building and its massive steam-powered cable moving machinery were constructed, electric technology made it obsolete. In May of 1901, the final cable car trundled down Broadway and the line was electrified. A few years later in 1904, the subway system would begin opening and connecting the city. The building would stand to see the significant widening of Houston Street in the 1930s and housed many small-scale manufacturers and offices, including businesses like National Pants, Hercules Shoe Lace and the Doll Parts Manufacturing Association. By the mid-1980s after changes in ownership, the building was largely converted back to office use, and in 1989, the Angelika Film Center opened on the southwest side of the building, occupying much of the space that previously housed the cable car machinery.

Longo Sanitary Bakery, ca. 1935.

The Village Gate, 158 Bleecker Street, on the ground floor and basement of the Atrium building, ca. 1975. Designed by Ernest Flagg, Mills House No. 1 (today called the Atrium Building) was completed in 1897. The building was the brainchild of Darius Ogden Mills. His idea was to develop clean, "healthful" hotels which would allow struggling men to get a leg up. Between 1897 and 1904 he built three single-room-occupancy hotels as alternatives to slum housing. The Mills House No. 1 was the largest. While the rooms were tiny by any standards, only five by seven feet, each one looked out onto either the street or one of two 50 by 50-foot courtyards. According to the New York Times, "each room had an iron bedstead, a hair mattress and pillow, a feather pillow, a chair and a clothes rack; there was no room for anything else. The walls stopped about a foot short of the ceilings, apparently to assure good ventilation." A stay here cost 20 cents a night. In the 1970's the building was reconfigured into regular apartments, although the airy courtyards, glass skylights, and most of Flagg's exterior survive. Between 1958 and 1996, the Village Gate, a nightclub, occupied the first floor and basement of the building at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel, 24 Fifth Avenue ca. 1926 Replacing the Brevoort mansion at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West 9th Street, the Fifth Avenue Hotel was built in 1926 as a high-class apartment hotel. Apartment hotels provided people with the option of a permanent residence with the provision of housekeeping and cooking services. Typical units ranged in size from one to three rooms and each came with a serving pantry in lieu of a kitchen. This handsome building is 15 stories in height with a limestone, two-story base and brick in two different shades of buff to lend texture to the upper floors. Terra-cotta ornament is featured throughout the exterior colored in blue, brown and gold

No. 7 Washington Square North, ca. 1925. Built by the Scottish-born merchant John Johnston in 1832-3, No. 7 was the largest house on the block. After Johnston’s death in 1851, the house remained in the family: His son, John Taylor Johnston, would become the first President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the time of Samuel H. Gottscho’s photo, ca. 1925, the residents were Robert W. de Forest and Emily de Forest, the elder Johnston’s granddaughter. According to Robert de Forest, “on the day of \[the Met’s] founding, I became engaged to the daughter of one of the founders and married her as soon as I could.” De Forest would go on to become a Trustee of the museum and, in 1913, its fifth President. Architecturally, all is not as it seems along Washington Square North. A 1939 renovation connected the townhouses of Nos. 7-13 as a modern apartment building, without altering the appearance of their historic facades. The residences, now owned by New York University, are entered on Fifth Avenue.

Fugazzi's Bar and Grill, ca. 1940. Formerly a fish market, the all-night cafeteria is famously mentioned in Allen Ginsberg epic poem, Howl. Supposedly, Ginsberg worked as a custodian at the bar.

The former Mad Hatter tearoom, 150 West Fourth Street, 1932. The wood-framed, brick-fronted building at 150 West Fourth Street dates to the early 1800s, but became a Greenwich Village fixture in 1916 when the sculptor Edith Unger opened the Mad Hatter tearoom in its basement. The Mad Hatter claimed to be the first tearoom in Greenwich Village, a hangout for the neighborhood’s so-called Bohemian types: artists, writers, performers, and hangers on. As curiosity about the Bohemian lifestyle became fashionable, the Mad Hatter became a popular downtown destination. However, the tearoom’s popularity was to be short lived: by the time of Charles Von Urban’s 1932 photograph, the basement-level entrance had been sealed, though the “Mad Hatter” lettering is still visible, just above the sidewalk.

Zito's Bakery, 259 Bleecker Street. Taken February 3, 1937. The day after photographing Mandaro’s Cheese Store, Abbott returned to Bleecker Street to make its counterpart, Bread Store, owned by Anthony Zito. Zito’s was the older and larger of the two family businesses: Mandaro had been in the neighborhood for 15 years and Zito for more than 30; Mandaro’s business was primarily retail, while Zito supplied restaurants and groceries throughout the City; Mandaro’s business was valued at $5,000, and Zito’s at $12,000. The narrow, crowded Bleecker Street sidewalk afforded Abbott little flexibility in composing these storefront photographs. The intricate geometry of Bread Store — the fancifully shaped breads, the “five-cent” signs, the basement entryway, the large wicker baskets, the white brickwork, and the complicated reflections from across the street — make this one of Abbott’s most memorable photographs. In a variant, a young man’s head and shoulders rising from the basement lends the work a surrealist touch. Abbott preferred the version which, like many of Atget’s Parisian storefronts, shows a shopkeeper looking out at the photographer. Zito’s still operates at 259 Bleecker Street, run by Anthony’s son Charles and grandson Charles, Jr.

Judson Memorial Church ca. 1935 When McKim, Mead & White brought a note of gaiety to a drab city of brownstones with Madison Square Garden, they introduced the best of the Italian Renaissance to New York. It was followed by an ever increasing series of handsome buildings and churches, of which this group with its campanile is one of the finest.

Washington Square Arch ca. 1925 Originally erected in staff and plaster by Stanford White in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of Washington's inauguration as President, the arch found such popular favor that it was rebuilt in permanent materials. Statues of Washington in war and peace face northward up the Avenue, and it is interesting to note the freedom in design of the panels behind them relative to the otherwise Classical design.

While their significance is often underestimated or dismissed by heterosexual society, bars and other establishments played a pivotal role throughout the 20th century — but particularly in the pre-Stonewall era — as centers for LGBT activism and community. These spaces, whether always gay friendly or only during certain times of the day or week, gave LGBT people the freedom to be themselves in a way they usually could not be in their personal or professional lives. This curated collection largely reflects the bar and nightlife scene of downtown Manhattan; as we research more sites we encourage you to reach out to us with suggestions in upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs.

127, 129, 131 MacDougal Street Houses ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1828-29 STYLE: Federal These three buildings were constructed in the Federal style, characterized by its 2-1/2-story height, Flemish bond brickwork, low stoop with wrought-ironwork, entrance with Ionic columns, entablature and transom, molded lintels with end blocks, peaked roof, molded cornice, and pedimented double dormers.

82 Washington Place, ca. 1975. Rendered in a French Beaux-Arts style, this six-story apartment building was completed in 1903 by architects Horenburger & Straub. Famous residents have included author Willa Cather and urbanist and Robert Moses adversary Jane Jacobs.

Judson Memorial Church was named by founder Rev. Edward Judson for his father, Rev. Adoniram Judson,the first American Protestant "foreign missionary," who went to Burma in 1812 and died at sea on the way home with no other memorial.

The Jefferson Market Library, constructed in 1874-77, was “one of the ten most beautiful buildings in America,” according to a poll of architects conducted in 1885. The Ruskinian Gothic structure, originally a courthouse, is considered one of the finest examples of High Victorian architecture in America.

Wm. Grotecloss photography studio, No. 227 Bleecker Street, circa 1860. This frame building stood at the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets, approximately at the location of present-day Father Demo Square.

Washington Square Arch Wrapped, 1980. In 1980 artist Francis Hines wrapped the Arch in 8,000 yards of polyester netting. Using rope and fabrics and metal and mechanical devices, Hines' work often included covering large objects, similar to artists Christo and Jean-Claude. Described as “a giant bandage for a wounded Monument,” the work stayed up for six days and aimed to call attention to and raise funds for park improvements.

Mabel Dodge Luhan Residence, 23 5th Avenue ca. 1915 Mabel Dodge Luhan was born in Buffalo, New York, to wealthy banker Charles Ganson and his wife Sarah Cook and grew up among the social elite. While living in New York City in 1912, Gertrude Stein introduced her to the Greenwich Village intelligentsia and provided Dodge's introduction to the artists and collectors organizing the Amory Show of modern art, which is considered the event that launched Dodge into action. Dodge organized weekly salons in her apartment at 23 Fifth Avenue (since replaced by the building with the address 25 5th Avenue) to include a mix of intellectuals and artists. John Reed and Max Eastman met with Margaret Sanger and Charles Demuth. Most importantly, the salons often crossed class barriers as Dodge invited those of different classes such as Emma Goldman and Bill Haywood to bring new voices into the conversations she hosted. She wrote that she wanted her guests to mix “in an unaccustomed freedom a kind of speech called Free.” In 1919, she moved to Taos, New Mexico and began a literary colony and hosted a number of influential artists and poets including Ansel Adams, Willa Cather, Georgia O'Keeffe, Aldous Huxley, and D.H. Lawrence. She died in 1962 at her home in Taos, which is now a National Historic Landmark.

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This is the location that the Fire Patrol moved to when it vacated 31 Great Jones Street. This new location is the 5th and last built for the Patrol. Constructed in 1907 and designed by architect Franklin Baylies, it has an immediately recognizable classic-firehouse look. The Patrol stayed in that building for almost a hundred years, saving damaged goods and chugging along as the only insurance supported salvage company. The Fire Patrol was suddenly disbanded in 2006 and the building put up for sale, sparking Village Preservation to seek to landmark it as quickly as possible. In 2010 news anchor Anderson Cooper bought the building, but lucky for us, he kept the character of it intact while renovating it to fit the needs of a private residence

Caffe Reggio, date unknown. This South Village mainstay opened in 1927 and its original owner, Domenico Parisi, spent his life savings of $1,000 to purchase their 1902 espresso machine. They claim to be the first coffee shop in the United States to serve Italian Cappuccino. According to a 1945 New York Herald Tribune article, "Dominic's Espresso machine is a shining Gargantua equipped with many spigots, filled with hot water and steam, which makes a cup of coffee in just about three seconds... A visit to the Caffe Reggio is an experience worth having." This spot was also one of the many locations in Greenwich Village where a young Bob Dylan played in the 1960s.

The Hotel Grosvenor Apartments were constructed in 1926 on the site of the 1876 Grosvenor Hotel. The original hotel was one of the earliest businesses in the fashionable mansion district.

My Archive Spring 2019 "This is a family photograph of my grandfather, Andrew Bambace who was born in Calabria, Italy in 1900. He immigrated to America in 1920. Our family comes from a region rich in agriculture, so fruits and vegetables is what he knew. He literally built a push cart out of discarded wood and sold apples and oranges. He would push from West 4th Street to 34th Street. Then the great depression came, and he had to abandon his cart. He then roasted chestnuts on a corner of 34th Street. It became increasingly difficult to survive, but he managed to save for ship passage and in 1928 he returned to Italy, discouraged but not about to give up on his American dream. He married in 1931, sold a small piece of land and in 1934 he came back to New York and opened this store in the photograph at 10 Cornelia Street (between Bleecker and West 4th Street). “Nonno” lived right up the street in a 6th-floor walk-up, 165 West 4th Street." "That little fruit and vegetable store was patronized by many locals and some of them were the young, struggling writers, artists and actors of the day. My mother helped out in the store and she would tell us about these “regulars.” Eva Marie Saint and her then-boyfriend Jeff, (who she eventually married), Robert Culp and James Broderick. Also, the actor Dean Jagger (who played the General in the film “White Christmas”) were “Nonno’s customers”. My mother was very artistic and sometimes she would hang her paintings and drawings in the store. Dean Jagger bought one of them. They all shopped at Nonno’s because he always carried the best vegetables and fruit. When they asked him where did he get such fine quality produce, he would answer “I grow everything on my roof and window sill” and they believed him!" "Greenwich Village was populated with many Italian immigrants, and the narrow Village streets were bustling with Italian shops, my grandfather’s being one of them. He wanted to expand to a larger location on 8th Street, but he did not have enough money, (he continued to support his many siblings in Calabria who were impoverished and broken by the war). The 8th Street property was bought by his competitor, Mr. Balducci. My grandfather’s little store closed in 1963 after one of his daughters died suddenly, and then his health deteriorated. Growing up, I have fond memories of walking up Sixth Avenue with my Grandfather. He would hold my hand and as we made our way past 14th Street he would recount his many journeys on foot all the way uptown to meticulously choose his produce. I also vividly recall the aroma of the potted basil plants facing the sun on his kitchen windowsill on West 4th Street. Grandfather’s store never had an official name, but everyone in Greenwich Village knew where to go for the best produce and lively conversation with a charming, beloved shop keeper named Andrew." —Mary Lofaro

289 Bleecker Street, ca. 1979.

2 Fifth Avenue visible above MacDougal Alley, ca. 1955. Designed by the firm of Emery Roth Sons for the developer Samuel Rudin between 1951 and 1952, 2 Fifth Avenue is a massive 353-apartment building. The major portion of the structure is the large 20-story white-glazed brick building (visible in this photograph). At the south end of the lot the building faces Washington Square Park, and it was designed to complement the low rise structures that face the park. 2 Fifth Avenue here is a five-story red brick building that works with the 19th century mansions that sit to its west. The building has been the home of a number of well-known New Yorkers including former Mayor Ed Koch and writer and activist Larry Kramer. The pair had an acrimonious relationship, as Koch was mayor for the first decade of the AIDS epidemic and his failure to act had serious repercussions for the gay community.

Washington Square Arch, ca. 1961. Clipping on the back of the photograph is entitled, "Guarding Washington Square Fountain Yesterday." The caption reads: "Police surround fountain in Washington Square to prevent troubadours from singing.

Longo Sanitary Bakery, 1937. This Bleecker Street bakery dates to 1905 when an Italian baker purchased the building at no. 201 for $5,000. The ground floor shop was opened by 1907 selling baked goods and items that the Italian immigrants were accustomed to buying, including espresso beans, dried mushrooms, and spices. According to the grandson of the original owner, the large bread baking ovens were also used by neighbors to cook items that did not fit in their smaller home appliances. The current owner's father learned the business of coffee after the long hours required for baking became too much. He purchased Porto Rico Coffee Importers and moved it from no. 195 to this storefront. Today the coffee store remains and is still owned and run by the Longo family.

By Salonee Bhaman The dusty red brick façade of the Northern Dispensary sports a hand-lettered sign, a throwback to a bygone era. Built in a neo-Georgian style, the triangular, three-story building occupies the entirety of its oddly shaped, now-trendy West Village block bound by Christopher Street, Grove Street, and on two sides by Waverly Place. Remarkably, given its bustling and costly surroundings, the Dispensary is empty—a shell observing a city in constant flux. Underwritten by a mixture of public and private funds, the building and the land it sits on fall under a restrictive deed requiring that the premises serve the poor and infirm. Just what that requirement means has become a question determining much of the Dispensary’s fate over the 20th century. Read this in its original format here.

Northern Dispensary, April 24, 1934. The triangular dispensary building is a cartographic curiosity: it has two sides on one street (Waverly Place, which forks around the building), and one side on two streets (Grove and Christopher Streets, which share its northwestern face).

Cafe Wha? ca. 1933. The cafe and theater has a rich history. Built in 1907, it is one of the oldest Off-Broadway venues still in operation. It was originally used to house horses but was converted into a theater in the 1958. The Players Theatre contains a main stage with more than 200 seats and a 50-seat black box theatre as well as four rehearsal rooms. According to the South Village Historic District Designation Report, “Gene Frankel directed and held theatre workshops at the Players Theater from 1959 to at least 1968. The Café Wha? has occupied part of the building since the 1950s except for a period when it was replaced by the Café Feenjon. Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby are among the performers who played the Café Wha?” Players Theatre has hosted a large number of off-Broadway productions since opening its doors. Most notably in the early 1990s, Natalie Portman starred in the musical Ruthless, in which Britney Spears also participated as an understudy. An archive of every production at the theater can be found here.

The Brevoort Hotel and "Mark Twain House" on Fifth Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets, October 24, 1935. Berenice Abbott’s 1935 photo captures lower Fifth Avenue in its waning days as a boulevard of the stately townhouses. The 27-story apartment building at 1 Fifth Avenue (extreme right) is a harbinger of the developments to come. The corner townhouse at left was known as the “Mark Twain House,” but its historical significance long predates the author’s brief residence in the winter of 1904 (or 1906, sources differ). The house — called “one of the most architecturally notable houses in all New York” in the 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report — was built by architect James Renwick Jr. for his family’s estate. The light-colored building at right (actually a set of multiple townhouses connected by a shared cornice) is the Brevoort Hotel, named for Henry Brevoort, Sr., the owner of a large farm north of 9th Street that predated Greenwich Village development. Brevoort, a vehement opponent of the grid plan, successfully persuaded the city to bend Broadway at Tenth Street to accommodate his property. In 1953, the entire block was razed for the construction of the Brevoort superblock apartment building.

The three townhouses combined to form the new museum building.

Washington Square Arch with No. 1 Fifth Avenue behind. March 3, 1929. The Washington Square Arch, a Tuckahoe marble triumphal arch designed by Stanford White, commemorates the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as President. William Rhinelander Stewart, a Washington Square resident, had erected a wood and plaster arch in 1889. After Stewart’s temporary tribute proved popular, White was commissioned to design a permanent monument, which was completed in 1892. The arch includes a little-used 102-step spiral staircase inside its western end, leading to an skylit attic room and rooftop.

659 Broadway, ca. 1980. No. 657-659 was built in the late 1860s, to designs by architect Griffith Thomas. Like other buildings along this stretch of Broadway — many of which are also attributed to Thomas — No. 657-659's large block-through lofts were used by manufacturing companies, before conversion to residential in the latter 20th century. While a fire in February 1979 caused extensive damage to Nos. 643-655 to the south, this building was relatively unscathed.

Washington Square Arch with 2 Fifth Avenue (left) and 1 Fifth Avenue (right) visible in the background, ca. 1955.

Provincetown Playhouse, December 29, 1936. The Provincetown Players were began as a casual performance event put on by a group of writers and friends in the bohemian summer spot of Provincetown, Massachusetts. After two seasons in New England, the group officially organized and moved to New York City to present a season of theatre. They originally performed in a space in 139 MacDougal Street. In 1918 the group converted a former bottling plant into a theatre, known from then on as the Provincetown Playhouse. The original players included Eugene O’Neill, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Djuna Barnes. After the 1923 season, the Players formally disbanded, though there were a number of related associates who attempted to produce work under the name through the 1920s. The building that once housed the theatre was purchased by NYU and in 2008 they attempted to demolish the building for a new law school facility. After much community push back, they agreed to preserve the facade and a small section of the interior theatre walls (though a local preservation group has accused the school was breaking this agreement in regard to the interior features).

Giuseppe Garibaldi monument, Washington Square Park, ca. 1975.

Hotel Earle, ca. 1902-08. Named for its owner, Earle L’Amoreaux, the slim, eight-story Hotel Earle went up on Waverly Place, just west of Washington Square, in 1902. Six years later, L’Amoreaux expanded the hotel by building an identical tower next door. In 1917, he added an additional floor and connected to a further adjoining building at the corner of Macdougal Street. As Washington Square and Greenwich Village transition from an elite enclave to a Bohemian district, many notable artists were either guests or residents, including Ernest Hemingway, Dylan Thomas, and Bob Dylan. In 1986, the Earle was renamed the Washington Square Hotel.

Lafayette Hotel, February 3, 1937. The Lafayette Hotel consisted of three historic townhouses which functioned as the hotel (first at the Martin Hotel, then the Lafayette) from the 1880s until 1953 when they were demolished. During and after the First World War, the hotel became a favorite gathering location for airmen (both American and French stationed in New York). The owner of the Lafayette, Raymond Orteig, was the person who offered up the prize money for the first trans-Atlantic flight, won by Charles Lindbergh in 1927. The ground floor cafe was a well-known spot for writers and artists of the bohemian movement. The building was depicted not only by Berenice Abbott in this photograph by also by painter John Sloan.

Washington Square Park, April 16, 1936. What today might be a scene of benches covered in lodging students, a dog park, and buskers trying to make a dime, was once a potters field. In 1797, New York City bought a plot of land that had once been a farm to create a potter’s field—a burial ground for the indigent, poor, criminals, and victims of epidemic. Occupying what is now the eastern two-thirds of the park, the burial grounds remained open for more than 30 years. The area also hosted a hangman's gallows used by a nearby prison. By the 1810s the potter's field had largely been filled to its capacity (unsurprising with yellow fever epidemics in 1797, 1798, 1801, and 1803). Burial spaces for the Cedar Street and Pearl Street Presbyterian churches were also located nearby in the early 19th century. In 1827 the area was declared a public square and over the next century became the park as we know it today.

GVSHP Executive Director Regina Kellerman conducts TV interviews ahead of the groundbreaking of the Sheridan Square Architectural Dig, 1982.

120 West 3rd Street African Free School No. 3, 120 West 3rd Street (formerly 120 Amity Street): This is the former location of African Free School No. 3, one of seven schools dedicated to the education of the children of free and enslaved blacks in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The first African Free School was the very first school for blacks in America. The African Free School Institution was founded in 1787 by members of the New York Manumission Society, an organization devoted to the full abolition of African slavery. At the time of its creation, many African residents in the city were still slaves. The mission of the institution was to empower young black people and educate them on something other than slavery, which was a complicated and bold proposition for the time. In 1785 the Society worked to pass a New York State law prohibiting the sale of slaves imported into the state. This preceded the national law prohibiting slave trade, passed in 1808. The 1783 New York law also lessened restrictions on the manumission of enslaved Africans. In New York, a gradual emancipation law was passed in 1799, which provided that children of enslaved mothers would be born free. However, long periods of indentured servitude were required; 28 years for men and 25 for women. Existing slaves were eventually freed until the last slaves were freed in 1827. The first African Free School, a one-room school house located in lower Manhattan, was established in 1794 and held about 40 students. Here, the children of both free and enslaved blacks were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. Boys were also taught astronomy, a skill required of seamen, and girls were taught sewing and knitting. After a fire destroyed the original building, a second school was opened in 1815 and held 500 students. African Free School No. 2, located on Mulberry Street, was Alma mater to abolitionist and educator Henry Highland Garnet. African Free School No. 3 was established on 19th Street near 6th Avenue, however, after objections from whites in the area, it was relocated to 120 Amity Street (now known as 120 West 3rd Street). By 1834 the seven existing African Free Schools, with enrollment surpassing a thousand students, had been absorbed into the public school system.

West side of Broadway from Bleecker Street to Bond Street. (No. 647 is the second building from the left), date unknown. The building at no. 647 was originally the Coleman House Hotel. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, the vault of the basement housed a Rathskeller-like beer and wine cellar restaurant called Pfaff’s; it was a favorite haunt of the bohemian literary set, including Henry Clapp, Jr (editor of the Saturday Press and "King of Bohemia") and Walt Whitman. It was known as a place where men could meet other men, and it was open to women at a time when the sexes did not meet in such public company. The saloon closed in this location in 1864 though it would move to various other buildings though much of the rest of the 19th century. This building's later tenants included a hat shop and an envelope factory. Today the original building still stands with a shoe store in the first floor retail space and a newly opened cellar bar that takes inspiration from its 19th century predecessor.

468-472 West Broadway, ca. 1976. W.B. Marvin, the owner of the Marvin Safe Company, hired architect Oscar S. Teale in 1855 to erect this six-story brick and iron factory after his firm's previous headquarters caught fire. At the time of construction, Marvin's company was a key player in the industry with products that ranged in size from small office models to large vaults. When the building opened in 1856, Marvin leased the ground floor to the C. & C. Electric Motors Company. More than 250 employees, all male, worked in the factory at the height of its use. The building, now also residential, maintains a commercial bottom floor that is leased to Hugo Fine Arts Galerie.

10 Sheridan Square, steel framing, March 6, 1929.

The Rhinelander House, Washington Square North, January 1950. Built for William C. Rhinelander in 1940, the Greek Revival mansion at Washington Square North and Fifth Avenue became a preservation flashpoint after the Rhinelander Real Estate Company sold the property for development in 1944. After a half-decade in limbo, the house was demolished in 1951, over the objections of the nascent Washington Square Committee, formed in January 1950. Today, the nineteen-story 2 Fifth Avenue stands on the site.

Located in the heart of the South Village and the South Village Historic District is the oldest continuing South Village Italian organization, Tiro a Segno, today located at 77 MacDougal Street. It has been at this location since 1924 and has served the Italian American community since its founding on August 14, 1888. Tiro a Segno calls itself “the oldest Italian heritage organization in the United States” and today it continues its mission, devoted to the dissemination of knowledge of Italian culture. 77 MacDougal almost looks like an Italian embassy with the Italian flag and American flag prominently displayed in front. In fact, it is three c. 1850 row houses that were originally built in the Gothic Revival style. Until about 1940, they had full-height cast-iron balconies on their front facades, as seen in the c. 1940 tax photo below. In 1924, Tiro A Segno moved to its permanent home at 77 MacDougal Street with a shooting range and bocce court in the basement. Today it is more typical to find visitors enjoying fine wine or cuisine than engaging in target practice. Some reports claim that Giuseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy, was a member, although that is unlikely since he died in 1882. However, members have included Lee Iacocca, the tenor Enrico Caruso, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia, one of New York City’s most revered Mayors and the first Italian-American to hold that position.

Man playing chess in Washington Square Park; unknown date.

Liquor Raid at Luigi's, Greenwich Village Progressive-era and Prohibition reformers often took aim at saloons, arguing that spent wages and alcohol consumption hurt working-class families. While $60,000 of illegal liquor was confiscated from Luigi’s in the raid shown here, the owner was not charged, as he claimed that the alcohol was left over from before Prohibition. Image Info: January 24, 1923 CREDIT: Museum of the City of New York, Cityana Collection, gift of Mr. Benjamin Blom, 91.69.20.

52 West 9th Street ca. 1933 52 West 9th Street has a rather unusual studio window. According to the designation report for the Greenwich Village Historic District, this house was built in 1848 for physician Austin Sherman. But the unusual studio renovation took place some time in the early 20th century. Here the studio is not only unusually high (seemingly a nearly double-height space), but is recessed enough to supply a balcony with a balustrade for the lucky resident.

16 Minetta Street, ca. 1940. View looking east from rear (westerly) wall to No. 14 Minetta Street; today, this vantage point is near Minetta Green, a small park east of Sixth Avenue.

15 Christopher Street, Manhattan (1827, Architect unknown) NYC HD, NR-P Originally founded in 1967 in a storefront at 291 Mercer Street, the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop moved to the parlor floor of this rowhouse in 1973 until it closed in 2009. The shop was the country’s first bookstore to cater to the LGBTQ community, selling LGBTQ literature and hosting book signings with LGBTQ authors. Its location in Greenwich Village, a prominent gay community in New York and the world, made it an important gathering place for both local customers and international visitors. Its founder, Craig Rodwell, was a leader in the gay rights movement, volunteering in gay rights groups and organizing protests. He also participated in the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 and organized the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, held one year later, which became the precursor for all future Pride Marches. The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop was also the headquarters of Rodwell’s organization, Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods. In 1993, Rodwell sold the shop, passing away later that same year after a battle with stomach cancer. In 2006, the shop’s long-time manager, Kim Brinster, took over, but soon had to close due to pressures from the 2008 financial crisis and the rise in online book sales.

The small wedge-shaped building at 1 Sheridan Square was built in 1834 for Samuel Whittemore (first owner of the Julius’ Bar building) and was originally three stories with a hipped roof. In 1927-28, it was raised one story, terminated with a stepped parapet, and stuccoed. During this remodeling the basement was joined with that of the adjoining 1902-03 factory building next door, which was converted into apartments. The basement was first the location of the Four Trees speakeasy/restaurant c. 1927-35. Trenton shoe salesman Barney Josephson opened Café Society in the basement space in 1938. Many people, including Josephson, have claimed that it was New York City’s first racially integrated club, but at least one venue, Small’s Paradise in Harlem (opened in 1925), appears to have preceded it. Bookings were made by now-legendary jazz producer John Hammond. It opened with a relatively unknown young singer named Billie Holiday, who played here for nine months and debuted the anti-lynching song Strange Fruit. Billed as “the wrong place for the Right people,” Café Society featured many of the jazz giants of the day, as well as such singers as gospel (and briefly jazz) star Sister Rosetta Tharpe. After his brother was subpoenaed by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1948 due to his leftist political connections, Josephson was attacked by newspaper columnists, and his business fell off greatly. He closed this club in 1950. The space was converted into the Off-Broadway theater One Sheridan Square in 1960. Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company, founded in 1967, moved here in 1978. This was one of New York’s most innovative and influential Off-Off-Broadway theater troupes. In 2003, the New York Times noted that “Playwright, actor, and director, iconoclast among iconoclasts, Charles Ludlam was revolutionizing downtown New York culture in the 1970s with his gender-bending and outrageous theatrical sendups long before terms like ‘gender-bending’ were common.” Ludlam was in a unique theatrical position in New York, as the writer of 29 full-length plays that were produced by his own company. Ludlam died of AIDS in 1987. The Ridiculous Theatrical Company was located here until 1995. Since 1998, the basement theater has housed the Axis Theatre Company.

Provincetown Playhouse ca. 1936 The Provincetown Playhouse, which launched the theatrical career of Eugene O’Neill, was at the heart of pre-World War I Greenwich Village bohemia. The Playhouse had special significance for Abbott, who had left Ohio in 1918 to live at 137 MacDougal Street with her two college friends, who had moved to New York to join the Provincetown Players. Although Abbott’s photograph appears spontaneous — with a dapper young man in the doorway and an elderly passerby reacting to an off-camera occurrence — a variant shows that Abbott shot more than one “take.” In the discarded version, the young man sports a derby, and the overflowing garbage can has been removed. The Playhouse closed shortly after the stock market crash but reopened in 1936 under the aegis of the WPA Federal Theater Project. Rebuilt in 1941, it had a vigorous second life before closing again in the 1980s.

In 1981, a “rare cancer” first seen in a group of gay men primarily in New York and San Francisco eventually became a widespread epidemic more accurately known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This curated collection includes the residences of influential AIDS activists and artists, venues where fundraising events were held, and meeting and demonstration locations of AIDS organizations.

View up Fifth Avenue from the top of the Washington Square Arch, ca. 1908.

10 Sheridan Square, under construction, April 8, 1929. The 14-story apartment house called the Shenandoah loomed over its more low-rise neighbors when constructed in 1929. It remains still one of the taller buildings in the area, directly across from a pocket park on one side and a small garden on the other. Designed by famed apartment house and hotel architect Emery Roth, the simplified neo-Romanesque building includes a multi-colored stonework base with large segmental-arched windows. The tower, with arched loggia (open portico) can been seen in both construction photographs set back from the corner on the Sheridan Square-facing facade (on the right in the photographs). Take note of the small stone and metal sea creatures, elephants, and dragons that decorate the ground floor, which has been occupied by a gay bar called Monster since the 1970s.

Triangle Fire, March 25, 1911 When an accidental fire raced through the top three stories of the Triangle Waist Company factory in Greenwich Village, hundreds of blouse makers escaped on elevators and stairs. Others were blocked by a locked exit door or trapped on the fire escape. Firemen’s ladders could not reach them, and dozens of people jumped to their deaths. Twenty-one-year-old pipefitter Victor Joseph Gatto witnessed the fire from Washington Square Park. Over 30 years later, he painted this vivid depiction of the fire from memory. Image Info: Victor Joseph Gatto, 1944-1945, oil on canvas CREDIT: Museum of the City of New York, Gift of Mrs. Henry L. Moses, 54.75

New York University Main Building, February 1928. Constructed in 1892-1895 as the Main Building of the New York University campus replaced a previous 1835 Gothic Revival structure on the site. Alfred Zucker, the German born architect of the building retained the foundation and a number of elements of the early structure. The impetus for this new building was perhaps less pedagogical than one might imagine. According to the AIA Guide the new building was constructed to accommodate a well paying tenant, the American Bank Note Company. That firm occupied the lower seven floors while the upper floors were used as the main administrative offices and the schools of law, commerce and pedagogy. Following the end of the First World War, the increase in student body necessitated the school taking over the entirely of the building. In 2002 a bequest of $150 million by Julius Silver, a College of Arts and Science alumnus, prompted the building to be renamed the Silver Center for Arts and Science.

Northern Dispensary, ca. 1975. The Northern Dispensary was founded in 1831, then in the northern part of the city. When New York deeded the land to the Northern Dispensary organization, the deed included a firm stipulation: that any building be used for the medical treatment of the city’s poor. Edgar Allan Poe, who lived nearby on Waverly Place, was among the facility’s patients in the winter of 1837. The clinic continued to operate until the 1980s, when the dispensary was fined for refusing to treat a prospective patient who had AIDS. In 1989, the building was purchased by the Roman Catholic Church, whose attempt to open a clinic for homeless AIDS patients was defeated by local opposition. The Northern Dispensary building sits on an extremely valuable lot in the middle of the West Village, but its 1831 deed restriction continues scare away developers. Today, the building is owned by the estate of William Gottlieb, an inscrutable real estate speculator who purchased the property in 1998.

"Built between 1874 and 1877 as the Third Judicial District Courthouse, the Jefferson Market Courthouse, located on Sixth Avenue between Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street, remains a Greenwich Village landmark, albeit serving a very different function. Designed in the American High Victorian Gothic style by the firm Vaux & Withers, it was built to house the Police Court and the District Court. In 1906, Henry Thaw was indicted in this courthouse for the murder of architect Stanford White, whom Thaw suspected of dallying with his wife, the former actress Evelyn Nesbit. Reflecting its judicial function, the building’s sculptural detail includes the trial scene from The Merchant of Venice. The Sixth Avenue El rumbled past the courthouse from 1878 to 1939. By 1958, the building had not been used as a courthouse for over 10 years, and the City was planning to sell the entire block to private developers. Before the enactment of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Law, a grassroots preservation group succeeded in eliciting the support of then Mayor Robert Wagner, who prevailed on the New York Public Library to acquire the building for a branch library, which it remains to this day." For more on Jefferson Market Library and NYC's other 'lost' courthouses, check out this article by Robert Pigott in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

Construction of the Sheridan Square Viewing Garden, 1982. For most of the twentieth century, Sheridan Square served as nothing more than a traffic-safety island. It wasn’t until 1982 that the area went from a paved triangle to a lovely viewing garden. The genesis of this project came in July of that year when a group of Sheridan Square neighbors, the Sheridan Square Triangle Association, convinced the Parks Department to turn this plot of land into a garden. GVSHP’s then-Executive Director, Regina Kellerman, heard about these plans and thought it would be the perfect spot to conduct an archaeological dig since the 4,200 square foot triangle hadn’t been used since the early twentieth century and hadn’t really been touched at all prior to that. Professional archaeologists contributed their time, and Dr. Anne Marie Cantwell, a professor at Rutgers, agreed to direct the site excavation and involve her students. Mostly it was Native American artifacts that were being searched for, many of which were uncovered. The Sheridan Square Viewing Garden stands today, cared for still by its neighbors, as a reminder of the unity and commitment to history of Greenwich Village.

Townhouses on West 10th Street, October 11, 1940. (Note the growth of the tree in front of No. 17!)

No. 12 Gay Street (left, with lantern), ca. 1975. The Federal style row houses at Nos. 12 and 14 were built in 1827-1828 by the developers Daniel H. Weed and Joseph D. Baldwin. During prohibition, No. 12 allegedly housed a speakeasy before becoming a different sort of clandestine meeting place: the house was purchased by the married Mayor Jimmy Walker, to be used for barely-secret assignations with Betty Compton, his showgirl girlfriend.

8 and 10 West 8th Street. This pair was building in 1838 (along with nos. 12 and 14 to the east). In 1914, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney turned 8 West 8th Street into the Whitney Studio Gallery. In 1931, she turned nos. 8,10, and 12 into the first home of the newly established Whitney Museum.

Washington Square Art Show; ca. 1950.

233 Bleecker Street; ca. 1975.

Gerstenzang Brothers was an artificial flower factory run by Louis and Abraham Gerstenzang located at 670 Broadway. The company created flowers for millineries throughout the city as well as fruits, vegetables, and feathers. The American Gas Engineering Journal showcased the factory for its excellent use of gas. Boilers in various rooms turned rolls of cotton into ornament, steam was used to dye feathers, and gas-fed flames melted wax to coat the skin of false cherries. From a tour of the factory in 1918, a guide is quoted as saying: "We have to put the most serious-minded girls we have at the daisy table... Otherwise, they spend most of their time counting the petals mumbling, 'Loves me-loves me not."

From 1972 until 1982, a racially and economically diverse crowd patronized the Duchess, a lesbian bar located on the ground floor of 70 Grove Street. Guidebooks at the time described the bar as, “A friendly and relaxed atmosphere, popular with ‘movement’ women.” and with a “relaxed Feminist atmosphere.” A small space, the Duchess did not offer as many attractions as other bars; a jukebox near the entrance provided music for the small dance floor. It also offered a Sunday buffet and table service, like some other lesbian bars of the time. While staff at earlier Mafia-run lesbian bars monitored bathroom use to supposedly prevent sexual activity, this was not the case at the Duchess. Alison Bechdel, cartoonist and author of the graphic memoir Fun Home, said of the bar: “There was a lot of routine anti-gay hostility on the street. Even in Sheridan Square \[Christopher Park] on a weekend night you’d get hassled for holding hands. But then you’d step past the bouncer at the Duchess, and you were home free …. it afforded me the space to just be, with my guard down, and that was salvational.” - Alison Bechdel, 2016 By 1980, however, the Duchess ran into legal trouble for not serving alcohol to men, an act of “discrimination” that led to the bar losing its liquor license. However, it continued to serve liquor and, on September 8, 1982, the bartender and bouncer were arrested for doing so by two undercover police officers from the “NYC Morals Division.” Ironically, the “anti-discrimination” law for which the Duchess’s license was revoked was one many movement women who patronized the bar had actively supported in an earlier era. Fran Greenfield of Womannews explained the justification for the Duchess’s discrimination as opposed to misogynistic discrimination, against which the law was meant to protect: “On one side there are privileged and powerful groups who use their clubs to keep ‘social undesirables’ clearly on the outside. On the other side there are the people denied privilege and power who rely on their own clubs as a haven in an otherwise hostile world.” The Grove Café / Duchess II / Grove Club / Pandora’s Box After an unsuccessful attempt to continue the space as a lesbian “juice bar” without liquor, and a brief hiatus (based on guidebooks), soon after 1983, the Grove Café opened with a similar atmosphere to the Duchess. By 1989, the name changed to Duchess II, and then again in 1990 to Grove Club, and finally in 1992 to Pandora’s Box. The Grove Club was described in a guidebook as, “One of the most famous women’s bars in the entire world, known as one hang-out where you can still have a good feminist conversation.” By 1992, the bar was again running into legal trouble, but this time from neighborhood residents complaining about bar fights and noise. Cynthia Russo, then-manager of the club, claimed “residents dislike the club because many of the patrons are lesbians and because most are black or Hispanic.” Pandora’s Box apparently closed shortly after, ending the over twenty-year long lesbian legacy of 70 Grove Street.

The Village Barn, unknown date. 52 West 8th Street has a long and interesting history. From 1930 to 1967, the basement housed The Village Barn nightclub. Later, the space attracted abstract expressionist artists, such as Hans Hofmann, who hosted a series of lectures there in 1938. In 1970, Jimi Hendrix purchased the building to start Electric Lady Studios. While Hendrix only spent a few weeks recording at the studio before his death, it has since been used by many notable artists including Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, AC/DC, the Clash, and Weezer.

Women's House of Detention, February 1939. Constructed in 1931 as the Women's House of Detention, the 11-story subtle Frech Art Deco building replaced the Jefferson Market, a jail, and a firehouse. The chapel in the prison included a turntable altar with wedges set up for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services. Never a popular building in the neighborhood, it was closed in 1971 and in 1973 then Mayor Lindsay ceremonially took a hammer to the building. Despite this early act of demolition, a local group fought, unsuccessfully, to retain the building for senior housing. The building was eventually demolished and replaced with the Jefferson Market Garden, a project supported by a group of local garden advocates, grant funding, and water from the Parks Department.

20 Christopher Street This pair (18 & 20 Christopher Street) of charming little Federal houses was built in 1827 by Daniel Simonson, a carpenter who had purchased the lots that year. These two and one-half story houses of Flemish bond brickwork have gambrel roofs, which are now echoed by the roofs of the dormers. Each house has a dormer window, which is triply divided while its gable is decorated with a sunburst pattern. No. 18 has three simple panels on the fascia board of its roof cornice and a paneled doorway with fanlight giving access to the upper floors. No. 20 has its original paneled Federal door and doorframe with panels replacing the original sidelights. In the corners may be seen the original semi-engaged colonnettes, while those which once stood in front of the pilasters on either side of the door have been replaced by brackets at the top under the transom bar. The transom bar is very handsome, consisting of a convex (pulvinated) frieze with a refined cornice above. The leaded transom above the bar is exceptionally graceful and displays circular and oval forms. At both houses the charming wood shop fronts, which were doubtless added at a later date, consist of glass windows and corner colonnettes set under small continuous hoods, which shelter both show window and door.

Every year millions of tourists make their way to New York City. While many of them may bypass the Village to flock to Times Square or the Statue of Liberty for a photo, there are many spots here that have gained popularity as a top spot to Instagram. Many of the popular spots draw tourists with their pleasing aesthetics. But often these traveling shutterbugs know little about the vast amount of history behind the sites. So for our many visitors, today we provide some history of some of the spots they use as a backdrop for their social media feeds.

The first European settlers arrived in modern-day New York in 1614. Twelve years later, the Dutch West India Company brought over eleven enslaved people from Africa. From the settlement of New Netherland, African Americans have played a critical role in the development of New York. In the early portion of New Netherland's history, the Dutch divided Black people into two groups: those who were enslaved, and those who were not. This division persisted until the Civil War in 1861. To southerners, a portion of this period from the 18th century to the start of the Civil War was called the "Antebellum" which means the pre-Civil War era. In the south, these years were marked by economic growth due to the reliance on slavery in the region. This period also marked the beginning of a divide between two schools of thought, those who were against slavery, the abolitionists, and those in support of slavery. This story teaches us about what that period was like for Black people in the North and specifically, in New York City. NYS Social Studies Scope and Sequence Standards: 4.7, 7.7, & 11.3. For Teachers: African American in Antebellum New York Lesson Plan

21 Fifth Avenue ca. 1933 At 21 Fifth Avenue at the southeast corner of 9th Street stood a stunning brick townhouse and a one-time residence of Mark Twain. Referred to in the Greenwich Village Historic District designation report as “one of the most architecturally notable houses in all New York,” the Romanesque Revival style home was likely designed by the noted architect James Renwick, Jr. for his parents, James and Margaret Ann (née Brevoort) Renwick. Renwick, Jr. was also the architect of Grace Church at Broadway and 10th Street in 1843. In designing his family’s home, Renwick, Jr. employed graceful round arches at the window lintels and colonette door surround. Brick corbelling at the window sills and cornice as well as ironwork at the parlor floor balcony added extra dimension to the façade. The side street elevation was equally as detailed with its peaked gable and numerous windows of varying sizes. In 1906, the noted author Mark Twain lived here when he began dictating his autobiography to his collaborator, Albert Bigelow Paine. Despite the beauty of its architecture and its link to famous figures, 21 Fifth Avenue – along with its four townhouse neighbors and the famous Hotel Brevoort to the south – was razed in the early 1950s to make way for the fourteen-story apartment building at 11 Fifth Avenue, known as the Brevoort. Paired with the Brevoort East, the apartment complex occupies the full city block bounded by Fifth Avenue, East 8th Street, University Place, and East 9th Street.

2,4,6 Minetta Street These three houses on Minetta Street dated to 1800, when ”the Minettas” — Street, Lane, and Place — were home to free African Americans. By 1900, the tiny houses had become rag pickers’ warehouses. They were renovated as private homes in the 1920s, when the Village attracted artists, writers, and professionals in search of an American Montmartre. Only months after Abbott photographed Minetta Street, the houses were demolished to make way for a five-story apartment building fronting on Sixth Avenue. Abbott’s composition was typically direct and artful. The stepped shadow falling across the facade of no. 4 echoes the stoop below, while the shadow of a bulbous chimney across the street breaks up the rectilinear pattern of light and dark.

H.H. Upham Company building, ca. 1975. In 1891, the H.H. Upham Company, a leading manufacturer of commercial signs, moved into its new headquarters on South Fifth Avenue (later West Broadway and LaGuardia Place). The Romanesque Revival building, designed by the Brunner & Tyron firm, features terra cotta ornamentation a bronze cartouches inscribed with the company’s founding date and the date of completion for the new structure.

Jefferson Market Courthouse, ca. 1975. The Third Judicial District Courthouse was erected between 1874-1877 on a site adjacent to Jefferson Market. The building, which came to be known as the Jefferson Market Courthouse, was designed by architect Frederick Clarke Withers, the partner of Calvert Vaux. Withers’s ambitious design incorporated High Victorian and Ruskinian Gothic elements, including a 100-foot clock tower, eastern-facing gable, parapets, and countless intricate facade details. A matching prison, also designed by Withers, was built on the same triangular block. In 1927, the Jefferson Market Prison was demolished, ahead of the construction of the New York Women’s House of Detention. The courthouse survived that development, but its long-term future was imperiled. When redistricting shifted court operations to another location 1945, demolition seemed likely. In the meantime, the Police Academy used the structure as a training facility. In the late 1950s, a group of local residents started a campaign to convert the former courthouse into a library — first disguised as an effort to restart the stalled clock on its tower. The scheme was approved in 1961, and the Jefferson Market Library opened to the public in 1967.

77 Bleecker Street, ca. 1975.

Jefferson Market Library ca. The courthouse and watchtower which we see today is all that remains of a complex of buildings which once included, in addition, a market and a jail. These buildings, on their triangular site, were all designed in a uniform style and represented a remarkably coherent piece of town planning carried out by the city government. The style can best be described as Victorian Gothic.

Christopher Park, the triangular landscape across from the Stonewall Inn, has played an important role in the history of the LGBT rights movement. Interestingly, due to a number of possible factors, including the fact that a statue of General Sheridan was placed here in the 1930s, the park has historically been misidentified as Sheridan Square (this is actually a group of streets with a landscaped median around the corner). As such, accounts of the Stonewall uprising and other LGBT-related events that occurred in or near Christopher Park sometimes incorrectly refer to it as Sheridan Square. Even before the June/July 1969 Stonewall uprising, Christopher Park was a favorite hangout for a diverse group of (often homeless) gay street youth and those who might identify today as transgender. By the time of the uprising, crowds took over the park and Christopher Street and, at its peak, several thousand people filled the streets. In 1999, the 30th anniversary of the uprising, Christopher Park was included in the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Stonewall Inn, a nomination co-written by two founders of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. A month after the uprising, LGBT activists Marty Robinson and Martha Shelley addressed a crowd of several hundred people in the park, capping off a rally that began in Washington Square Park to protest the police’s actions at Stonewall. In 1979, the tenth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, New York City announced that a commemorative statue by sculptor George Segal would be placed in Christopher Park. Activist Bruce Voeller initially proposed the idea to place a statue in the park commemorating LGBT liberation. Due to controversy from Village residents, LGBT activists, and lack of official support, Segal’s Gay Liberation (1980) sculpture was not installed here until 1992, when it was unveiled by Mayor David Dinkins. Executed in bronze, with the artist’s signature white patina, the memorial was commissioned by arts patron Peter Putnam, who stipulated that the figures “had to be loving and caring, and show the affection that is the hallmark of gay people…and it had to have equal representation of men and women.” Mysteriously abstract, Gay Liberation avoids direct reference to the uprising. The sculpture, commissioned through the Mariposa Foundation, has become an important focal point of the park. A second cast was installed on the campus of Stanford University in California in 1984, though it was vandalized and restored that year and again in 1994. In the 1980s, landscape architect Philip Winslow, who later died of AIDS-related causes, redesigned portions of the park. His work included installing new benches and brick paving. The overall park configuration still looks as it did during the Stonewall uprising.

Hotel Earle ca. 1915 The Washington Square Hotel has been a haven for writers and artists for more than a century. Built in 1902 as a residential hotel named the Hotel Earle after its first owner, Earle S. L’Amoureux, the hotel occupied a single, eight-story, red brick building on Waverly Place, in the heart of Greenwich Village. In 1908, L’Amoureux built an identical connecting building to create a grand apartment hotel, complete with reading rooms, restaurant and banquet facilities. Four years later, he added a ninth floor and, in 1917, he acquired an adjoining three-story building, bringing the hotel to MacDougal Street, at the northwest corner of picturesque Washington Square. In the 1930s, Knott Hotels, one of the nation’s first hotel chains, owned and managed the Earle and advertised: American Plan from $3.50 single, $7.00 double European Plan from $2.00 single, $3.50 double The 1950s saw great change in the Village which was swiftly becoming the center of New York’s bohemian counterculture, reflected by the Beat generation who gravitated to the coffee houses and jazz clubs. The once-grand hotel began to deteriorate into a shabby apartment hotel, making it an affordable location for struggling artists, actors, writers, and musicians. Ernest Hemingway stayed at there for a few weeks in 1914, just before he went off to serve in World War I. Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, the B-52’s, Maynard Ferguson and Bo Diddley have all been guests at the hotel. Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin were evicted from the Beekman Hotel after, legend has it, the management got tired of his partying and excessive demands on room service. Seeking residence close to one of his favorite bars in the Village, the Minetta Tavern, Dylan checked into the Hotel Earle. He wrote a letter to his parents in May 1950 in which he described the Earle as “right in Washington Square, a beautiful Square, which is right in the middle of Greenwich Village, the artists’ quarter of New York.” In recent years, Judy Paul and her husband Marc Garrett have renovated it to become a charming, beautiful boutique hotel. The restaurant has large picture windows overlooking Washington Square Park which bathe the room with sunlight. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On Sunday afternoons, they do a jazz brunch. A few years back, one of the breakfast waitresses asked if they’d let her perform. She gave them a demo CD to listen to. The Pauls were impressed and gave her the green light. She went on to win five Grammy Awards. That waitress was Norah Jones.

(1877, Benjamin Warner) NYC IL, NYC HD, NR-P Open from 1958-68, Caffé Cino is widely considered to be the birthplace of Off-Off Broadway Theater and was an important incubator space for gay theater. Its founder, Joe Cino, envisioned a café where artists could exhibit their work, and soon began hosting performances of experimental and low-budget theater. At the time, the depiction of homosexual subject matter on stage was illegal, but the café constantly worked around the police through clever advertising and by not requiring a cabaret license since they did not serve alcohol. As such, Caffé Cino became a platform for gay playwrights who had no other venue to experiment so freely. By 1960, it had become an important touchstone for the gay community, but also for unknown artists and playwrights who could not otherwise afford to stage their work. With the burden of theater fees and financial success lifted, creativity flourished and many important playwrights, directors and actors got their start here. The café was also a significant meeting spot for gay men at a time when such places were few. The café closed in 1968, a year after Joe Cino took his own life following the accidental death of his partner, Jon Torrey.

While the holiday season seems to begin earlier and earlier every year, there is a point every winter when New Yorkers know Christmas has actually begun: when the Christmas trees markets come out. But how did this practice come about? Crowding sidewalks with the smell of pine, funneling pedestrians into a gauntlet of jutting branches. The answer involves two essential elements of New York's history: immigration and capitalism.

Minetta Lane and MacDougal Street, ca. 1925. Pictured at left is Minetta Tavern. The restaurant, established in 1937, is named after the lost Minetta Brook, which ran southwest from 23rd Street to the Hudson River. Along with Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O'Neill, E. E. Cummings, Dylan Thomas, and Joe Gould, the eatery has long been a favorite hangout of various artists, writers, and poets since its opening.

Buildings at the southeast corner of Thompson and West Houston Streets; July 2, 1929. Signage for the corner building's storefront touts "Building Coming Down" fire sale prices, ahead of the razing of the entire southern blockfront for subway and street widening work. The white brick building at far right is 152-154 Thompson Street, which today sits at the Houston Street corner.

“The Shenandoah”/10 Sheridan Square/80 Grove Street This building was also originally an apartment hotel, albeit presumably intended for more middle-class residents than the intended tenants of 24 Fifth Avenue. It was built in 1928-29 and designed in what the Greenwich Village Historic District designation report refers to as “a severely simple version of Neo-Romanesque” style. The battlements, use of irregular and multi-colored stone and dark brick lend to a medieval feel to the exterior of the building. The living units were designed predominantly as one-room apartments which served as living, dining and sleeping space, with a bathroom and a pantry directly adjacent.

Washington Square Park, ca. 1975.

155 Wooster Street, ca. 1935. In 1968, Paula Cooper opened her first gallery in this building, becoming one of the first gallerists to open up shop downtown, in a neighborhood that would soon become synonymous with the city's contemporary art scene. Cooper's inaugural show included works by Sol LeWitt, Dan Flavin, and Donald Judd. The gallery relocated to Chelsea in 1996.

Washington Square Methodist Church, ca. 1972. The history of the Washington Square Methodist Church dates back to 1842 and the founding of the Sullivan Street Methodist Episcopal Church, from which the new congregation emerged. The church building on West 4th Street was designed by Charles Hadden and constructed in 1859-1860 and when the community moved into this new building, they changed their name. The Romanesque Revival building was home to the Methodist church until 2004 when the small community moved into a rented space in an NYU chapel. Known as the "Peace Church" for its anti-war advocacy, the congregation in the late 20th century was very progressive community. They welcomed LGBTQ members early on and they were led by the first openly gay clergyman (in New York and of a major major Christian denomination). Rev. Paul M. Abels served as pastor from 1973 to 1984. After selling the building, the church merger with a number of other local Methodist congregations to form Church of the Village, which meets at the former Metropolitan-Duane United Methodist Church on Seventh Avenue. The building was purchased by a real estate developer, but could not be knocked downing owing to its inclusion in a historic district. The building has been converted into condos called "Novare."

Marble House, March 20, 1936. No. 8 (the corner building) was built for John Taylor Johnston, the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Johnston made his fortune in the railroad business. According to his obituary, he was the originator of the entire Central New Jersey Railroad system. Johnston created what was the first art gallery in NYC–to showcase his own collection– in a stable building next to his home before the Met was established. The house, which was called the first marble house in the city, was constructed in 1856 and, as a bright white building, stood out from its slightly later red brick neighbors. After his death the home was occupied by his daughter Frances for some time. She passed away in 1928 while living further uptown on Fifth Avenue. That same year the Johnstons, who had leased the land the home occupied from the Rhinelanders family, gave up the lease when the land owners planned to build an apartment building. The building never came to be as originally planned, due to the Depression. In 1936 when it was photographed, the home had been subdivided into apartments and named the Marble House. It was later occupied in part by NYU. The home and its neighbors seen here (and others unseen) were demolished in the early 1950s for the large apartment house at 2 Fifth Avenue.

Washington Square Methodist Church ca. 1993 The Spiderwoman Theater Ensemble was launched in 1976 at this Greenwich Village church by original members and sisters Lisa Mayo, Muriel Miguel and Gloria Miguel from the Kuna and Rappahannock nations. The Spiderwoman Theater Ensemble is the oldest Native American feminist theater group in the United States, and one of the leading performing arts groups to emerge out of the New York movement, gaining national and international attention. Additionally, this ensemble is the oldest continuing feminist theater group in the United States and internationally. Their work explores the issues of gender roles, cultural stereotypes, sexual and economic oppression – sexism, racism, classism, and violence against women. Spiderwoman Theater’s unique “story-weaving” methodology infuses traditional storytelling genre with organically layered movement, text, sound, music, and visual images. This culminates in a powerful voice for indigenous women and cultural artisans. They founded the Native American Women Playwrights Archive at Miami University in Ohio where they received honorary Doctorates of Fine Arts in 1997 for their life’s work and contribution to the theater.

In celebration of the centennial of George Washington's inauguration in 1889, a temporary wood and plaster arch was erected at Washington Square. Six years later it was replaced by the present seventy-seven-foot marble structure. In 1916 another celebration of sorts was held. A group of artists led by John Sloan and Marcel Duchamp forced open the door to the stairs leading to the top of the arch and held a midwinter party to declare the secession of Greenwich Village from the United States of America. They lit Japanese lanterns, read poems, fired cap pistols, and proclaimed the independence of the state of New Bohemia.

Manhattan: Washington Square North - 5th Avenue (I) Washington Square Park,showing the center fountain with the Washington Arch in thc background,and children at play in the water. I8-22 Washington Square North,west of Fifth Avenue,are the houses in background. August 6th,I932 P.L.Sperr. No Reproductions. NEG ~~376E (2) The same,from another angle . AES ~S766 August 6th,I932 P.L.Sperr. No Reproductions. (3) The same. Augaut 6th,I932 P.L.Sperr. No Reproductions. NES~~ 3767

By Robert Pigott When most New Yorkers think of courthouses, they visualize Foley Square in lower Manhattan or perhaps Court Street in Brooklyn. But there was a time when the City’s courthouses were not so centralized. If you travel to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood and walk along 42nd Street towards the East River, when you get to Fourth Avenue, you will come upon a truly majestic building. An apparently recent sign out front says “Community Board 7.” But engraved in stone over the entrances on opposite sides of the building are the words “MAGISTRATES COURT” and “MUNICIPAL COURT.” This building unlocks the story of New York City’s lost neighborhood courthouses. Until a 1962 amendment of the New York State Constitution, there were Magistrates’ Courts handling minor criminal matters and Municipal Courts for small civil cases. By 1962, these courts had been abolished, and the City’s courthouses were largely centralized in each Borough. But from the late 19th century through the early 1960s, you could find courthouses in every corner of New York City. Some were very modest structures that you would not expect to have been preserved. Others were very grand structures that either has been put to new uses or are sadly lying fallow. Read this in its original format here.

My Archive Spring 2019 "Marques and Jayden at the park" —Juana Rodriguez

Varitype Building, ca. 1985. Designed in an Arts and Crafts style in 1907 by Fred Ebeling, the Varitype Building originally housed studio and manufacturing spaces on its upper floors. Painter John Sloan had studio space in the building in the 1910s and it is featured prominently in his 1922 painting, "City from Greenwich Village." In 1926, 1929, and then again when the building was converted to condos in 1982 the interior, exterior, and ground floor were altered. These modifications including window replacement, a drastic new look (not historically accurate) for the ground floor commercial space, and considerable changes to the facade at the top floor.

Entrance to the Whitney Museum When the conversion of the three houses was complete, the new Whitney Museum of American Art moved in and installed this signage an accompanying cast-aluminum eagle (still visible above the current signage for the New York Studio School). The creation of this museum was largely predicated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's refusal of Gertrude Whitney's donation of around 500 artworks. This original museum was a modest exhibition space and director Juliana Force (a long-time friend and associate of Ms. Whitney) lived in an apartment above the galleries.

Brevoort Mansion ca. 1925 Completed in 1834, the Brevoort Mansion was an imposing Greek Revival home surrounded by gardens and commissioned by Henry Brevoort from two leading architects of the style, Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis. The mansion broke ground with several architectural innovations—a sectioned Greek key pediment and a “paneled” front façade accomplished by slightly recessing the two outer bays. It was designed as much for entertaining as for living; there was a billiard room, a library and two large parlors separated by the entrance hall. In fact, the Brevoorts set the tone for New York parties when, in 1840, they planned the first grand entertainment New York society had seen. Invitations went out in February 1840 for a bal costume, so popular in European society. It would set the pace for social events of high society for the rest of the century. Henry Brevoort died in 1848 and two years later his widow Laura sold the house to Henry De Rham for $57,000 (over $1 million today). It remained in the hands of the De Rham family until 1919, when it was sold to George F. Baker, Jr. and his wife, who toyed with the idea of restoring the old mansion for their personal use. However, by 1920 the Bakers leased the house to the Red Cross for $1 a month and by 1925 the house was slated to be destroyed to make way for the apartment house at 24 Fifth Avenue, originally built as the Fifth Avenue hotel, that still stands at the intersection today.

18 West 10th Street, June 15, 1938. Constructed in 1856 in an Italianate-style, the mansion was built for James Winslow, a wealthy New York banker. The home, four-stories above an English basement, was next door to Winlow's father-in-law and business partner, James F. D. Lanier at No. 16. The building's most striking feature was the three floor to ceiling windows at the parlor level, which matched the entranceway. The original residents only lived in the home for three years. Over the next two decades the mansion would change hands a number of times before being purchased by wealthy and retired sugar merchant Moses Lazarus in 1883. Lazarus, who was in poor health, moved in with his grown daughter, Emma. Emma Lazarus already a known poet, was surrounded by artists on the block, including painter John La Farge who lived two doors down. In 1883, after a trip to Europe, Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus," as part of the fund-raising art exhibition for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Moses died in the home in 1885 and Emma left for a second trip to Europe soon thereafter. She returned to New York and the house in 1887, herself ill. She passed away in November of that year, of what is now believed to have been Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The mansion was sold to Henry B. Livingston, a wealthy scion of an old New York family, before once again passing hands through various of New York's financial elite. For the middle part of the 20th century, the largely unaltered home was occupied by attorney Charles Abrams and his wife, artist Ruth Abrams. Today the basement level has been converted into a separate residence, though the upper floors remain a single-family home.

With good reason, Missouri and Connecticut like to claim the great writer Samuel L. Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, as one of their own. But New Yorkers like to claim Twain as well, and there’s plenty of cause to do so. He did have a love/hate relationship with the city, and lived here often. When he did, he liked to live in Greenwich Village. It’s a crying shame then that his most significant residence here, and a building that was indeed one of New York City’s most beautiful and storied, was razed in the years just prior to the formation of the Landmark Preservation Commission and the subsequent designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District.

GVSHP members, including executive director Regina Kellerman (center), pose while workers set up barricades for the groundbreaking of the Sheridan Square architectural dig, 1982.

Church of the Ascension ca. 1933 Particularly beautiful for its interior and for the great mural by John La Farge above the altar, this church is a good example of Gothic Revival style in ecclesiastical architecture. It appears that the rector, knowing architect Richard Upjohn's High Church proclivities, bought the lot across the end of the property for his rectory in order to prevent Upjohn from building a deep chancel, as was his wont.

114 Waverly Place ca. 1932 According to the designation report for the Greenwich Village Historic District, 114 Waverly Place was built in 1826 as part of a row of nine houses for Thomas R. Merecin. However it underwent a complete and dramatic alteration in 1920 per the designs of William Sanger for Murray P. Bewley. In some ways the studio window is among the least unusual parts of the redesign of this building, which has been described as both “Art Nouveau” and “German Expressionist.”

Opened in 1938 by Barney Josephson, the Cafe Society was the first racially integrated nightclub in New York City. Though it was only open for a little over a decade (the building is still standing), its legacy has lived on long since its doors closed in 1949. Josephson had been a shoe salesman but quit to pursue his dream of owning a nightclub. He knew that Greenwich Village would be possibly the only place in Manhattan that would welcome the progressive club he hoped to establish. Cafe Society welcomed some of the biggest talents in jazz history during its time in operation, including Billie Holiday. It was here that she first performed "Strange Fruit", an explicit song of protest against lynching and racism.

Produce market, ca. 1935. This long street view depicts the corner of Jones and Bleecker Streets south to the church of Our Lady of Pompeii at Bleecker and Carmine Streets.

Greenwich Village Inn, 1933. The origins of the Greenwich Village Inn date to before the First World War when Polly Holliday ran a restaurant that became a gathering spot for Greenwich Village radicals and bohemians. In 1916 she moved her establishment to 5 Sheridan Square. She also took on a new partner, Barney Gallant, an early nightclub entrepreneur. Though the original venue had been full of tried and true Village bohemians, this new spot, with Gallant's marketing, became more of a place where outsiders came to see the bohemians. Soon the place was flooded with flappers, undergrads, and tourists. Gallant made a name for himself—and become a bit of a local hero— when in 1933 a few of his Greenwich Village Inn waiters were arrested for Prohibition violations. Gallant offered himself up in their place and served 30 days in the notorious Tombs. By the 1940s the venue had suffered in reputation and popularity. According to a 1971 book, the Inn was largely a mafia front in its final years. Closed in 1951 the building was taken over by the newly founded Circle in the Square theater and was demolished for a 17-story apartment house in the late 1950s.

The Bigelow Building, ca. 1980. Founded in 1838 by Dr. Galen Hunter, the C.O. Bigelow apothecary practice was sold to its present namesake, Clarence Otis Bigelow in 1880, and is today the oldest surviving apothecary–pharmacy in the United States. The Bigelow building, a transitional Romanesque Revival/neo-Classical structure by architect John E. Nitchie was completed in 1902.

Christopher Street—Sheridan Square Station, 1929.

This summer in New York might be different than the past. However, there are still many ways you can enjoy the season in the city or from the comfort of your home. Here are our top summer spots to visit in the Village.

Main Building of New York University, ca. 1975. New York University’s Main Building (now known as the Silver Center of Arts and Science) was completed in 1892, replacing the University Building, an 1835 Gothic structure.

Great Jones Alley, ca. 1980s. Great Jones Street was named for a lawyer, Samuel Jones, who donated land to the city in 1789 and stipulated that his name be attached to the resulting road. The donation allowed the city to complete 3rd Street between Broadway and Bowery. A problem arose in that another street, in the West Village, had already been named for a Jones (Samuel's brother-in-law, a Dr. Gardiner Jones). The newer street had to settle for the "great" moniker. The small alley that runs south from Great Jones Street, mid-block between Broadway and Lafayette, is called Great Jones Alley. According to rumors, the term “jonesin(g),” meaning an intense craving for a drug, can trace its inception to this small dead-end street where addicts hung out in the 1960s.

No. 205 Prince Street, ca. 1977. The corner house is one of two buildings said to have been constructed by Aaron Burr in 1834. Now owned by the artist Anna Thornhill and her husband Simon Nuchtern, the building today remains a residence and includes a studio for Simon's film and subtitling company, Katrina Productions. According to Thornhill, the cellar may have housed a Prohibition-era brewery. After Nuchtern and Thornhill purchased the house in the mid-70s, they hired architects James Swan and Thomas Pritchard to sketch plans for extensive renovations, including an ambitious and as-yet unrealized feature described in a 1976 New York Times feature: a roof made entirely of glass. Edmund Vincent Gillon's late 1970s photo was taken from Father Fagan Square, a small triangular plaza named after a Brazilian-born priest who died rescuing his fellow clergymen from a 1938 fire at the St. Anthony's rectory on Thompson Street.

Judson Memorial Church ca. 1933 Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South Judson Memorial Church was founded by Edward Judson in the late 19th century, during a time when the village had the largest African-American community in the city. Construction on the building began in 1888 with the backing of John D. Rockefeller and other prominent Baptists. The church’s mission has long been devoted to social outreach and since the 1890s, has been known for providing a home to artists, taking courageous stands and meaningful action for social justice, and welcoming everyone without exception. In 1957, Howard Moody became the senior minister and continued the church’s advocacy on civil rights issues, free speech, and and speaking out for issues usually considered immoral by Christians (such as abortion and the decriminalization of prostitution). In the 1950s, it was the first institution in the Village to offer counseling to drug addicts; in the 1960s, it led a nationwide network of Protestant and Jewish clergy who aided women in obtaining abortions before it became legal; in the 1970s, it offered refuge for runaway teens; and in the 1980s, it provided medical resources for AIDS patients. The church sanctuary (designed by Stanford White), campanile tower, and Judson Hall were designated landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The former site of Bethel AME Church, 214 Sullivan Street, ca. 1944. Though it was demolished more than a century ago, this is the former location of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (Bethel AME), the heart of a growing African American community in what was then referred to as “Little Africa”. Before becoming home to the Bethel AME, the site was purchased for the Associated Methodist Protestant Church in 1837, and then sold to the Sullivan Street Methodist Church in 1842. The Bethel AME Church purchased the church in 1862. It is noted on maps of the time as the “Colored Bethel” (1879) and the “African Methodist Church” (1887). In 1895, the church became home to the parish of Our Lady of Pompeii for a short time, which had moved there from Waverly Place. Today, the building at 214 Sullivan Street is a Renaissance Revival factory building that was built in 1899 for a paper box company.

Washington Square Village, an iconic Robert Moses development right across the street from the Center for Architecture. Constructed in the 1950s, Washington Square Village was initially built as a middle-class housing complex, but due to a languishing rental market it was purchased by NYU in 1964 to be used for faculty housing. Those residents who were already living in WSV were able to retain their apartments, some of whom still live there 40 years later! However, it is important to note that Jane Jacobs vehemently opposed the construction of Washington Square Village and University Village. “This is not the rebuilding of cities,” said Jacobs, “this is the sacking of cities.” Jacobs frequently spoke out against “slum clearance” and believed that “There is no logic that can be superimposed on a city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.” For Jacobs, the destruction of historic buildings and neighborhoods like Greenwich Village would irreparably harm the city and its inhabitants. Interestingly, Washington Square Village and University Village have become significant historic structures in their own right. Of particular interest are I.M. Pei and James Ingo Freed’s Silver Towers I and II, constructed in 1960 around a courtyard featuring a sculpture by Carl Nesjär and Pablo Picasso. In 2008, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Washington Square Village and University Village as NYC landmarks. In 2012, NYU submitted a plan to redevelop the empty lots between the superblock’s existing buildings. In response, NYU faculty and Village Preservation formed a coalition to oppose the development; the group claimed victory in 2014. NYU immediately appealed the decision, and it remains to be seen what will happen to this once-reviled development.

12 Washington Square North is part of a row of Greek Revival houses east of Fifth Avenue. All of the houses on this row were apparently built at the same time, between 1832-1833. Handsome porticoes, consisting of fluted Ionic columns carrying a full entablature, grace the entrances of these grand town houses. The doors are framed with sidelights and simple transoms and have paneled pilasters supporting the transom bar. Most of the houses retain entrance doors with a pair of vertical panels enframed by egg and dart moldings. The stoops have stone balusters and paneled newels, except for No. 12 which has paneled, stepped wing walls without balusters. In 1872, the house at Fifth Avenue corner, No. 13, was combined with No. 12 to form a double mansion for William Butler Duncan

Village Plaza Hotel, ca. 1975. Built in 1915, the Hotel Colborne was renamed the Village Plaza Hotel in 1960, when it was sold to new owners. A few years later, the Village Plaza was a seedy SRO hotel, named in contemporary reports as the final fixed address for Linda Fitzpatrick, who was bludgeoned to death alongside her boyfriend in the so-called “groovy murders” of 1967 (the boyfriend went by “Groovy” in Village circles).

Washington Mews, with No. 1 Fifth Avenue rising in the background. May 3, 1934. The 18th-century ship’s captain Richard Randall had a vision for what would become of his Manhattan country estate after his passing: in his will, he stipulated that his land, a large tract north of present-day Washington Square Park, be converted an institution for elderly seamen. After Randall’s death in 1801, rather than convert the increasingly valuable Manhattan real estate into geriatric housing, his heirs elected to fund the development of Sailors’ Snug Harbor on Staten Island by leasing Washington Square parcels for residential development. Washington Mews became a row of carriage houses for larger residences on Washington Square North and East Eighth Street. After carriage use declined in the early 20th century, Sailors’ Snug Harbor converted some Mews buildings to artist studios. The sculptor Paul Manship, whose “Prometheus” is installed at Rockefeller Center, lived for a time at No. 42 (at right). Today, the Washington Mews carriage houses are faculty residences for New York University.

Sullivan Street, March 20, 1927. The Raffetto Bros. pasta store is visible in the ground floor of No. 176. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was born across the street (out of frame) at No. 177.

5-11 MacDougal Alley, ca. 1903. This small street has been home to numerous artists including Jackson Pollock and Gertrude Vanderbilt. At no. 11 once was the former studio of the prolific muralist, Barry Faulkner. Faulkner's 12-panel series in Washington Irving High School depict key moments and figures in New York City's early history. They were conserved under the MAS Adopt-A-Mural program in 1998, with funds from several foundations including Putnam, Herman Goldman and Gramercy Park, in addition to funds from the NYC Board of Education and MAS Members.

Juliana R. Force Residence, ca. 1932.

Jefferson Market Library, NYPL 425 Sixth Avenue Designed by Frederick Clarke Withers of Vaux and Withers, 1874-77; renovation: Giorgio Cavaglieri, 1967 In the 1830s, this small, triangular block became the heart of Greenwich Village when Jefferson Market was built here. In addition to the market, the block also had a small Police Court, prison and watchtower. In the 1870s and 80s, the block was renewed with a picturesque complex of buildings designed by the firm of Vaux and Withers, including the Third Judicial District Courthouse. This magnificent building, designed in the High Victorian Gothic style, is the only remnant of that complex. It features a rich, polychrome palette of materials with bandcourses, Gothic arches, stained glass windows, turrets, a large gable and variegated roof slates. The City seal is found on its Sixth Avenue façade. The crowning achievement is a prominent corner tower, whose top was designed as a fire lookout with an alarm bell and large clock faces to serve the community. When the building ceased to function as a courthouse in 1945, it briefly served as a Police Academy. The building was threatened with demolition in the late 1950s, but public outcry led to its conversion to a branch of the NYPL, one of the first adaptive reuse projects in the country. In 1996, after 135 years of silence, a campaign to reinstate the ringing of the fire bell was successful, and it has rung the hours from 9:00am to 10:00pm ever since.The library is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District, is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

Washington Square North, Nos. 21-26 (right to left), August 12, 1936. The 1969 Designation Report for the Greenwich Village Historic District describes Washington Square North as “the most important and imposing block front of early Nineteenth Century town houses in the City.” Nos 21-23 (furthest right) were built in 1835-6 for the attorney Edmund Wilkes. Today, No. 22, which has rear additions designed by James Renwick, Jr., is the Faculty Club of New York University.

Last horse-drawn street car, 1917. The last horse-drawn streetcar line, the Bleecker Street & Fulton Ferry Line, finally ended service in 1917. Lasting more than a decade after the opening of the subway, the horse-drawn cars also shared the road with electric streetcars for decades. The Bleecker Street line had been in operation since 1864, transporting passengers from the West 14th Street Ferry in Chelsea to the Fulton Ferry in the Financial District. When it closed in July 1917 it was not replaced with a trolley or bus route.

Double-decker Fifth Avenue buses at the Washington Square Arch, March 3, 1929. Until 1958, vehicular traffic and parking were permitted in Washington Square Park. That year, activists including Jane Jacobs and Margaret Mead formed the Joint Emergency Committee to Close Washington Square Park to Traffic in opposition to Robert Moses’ plan to run a six-lane roadway down the middle of the park, as a Fifth Avenue connection to his proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway. On October 23, 1958, the Board of Estimate issues a ruling prohibiting traffic in the park. The ruling was made permanent five years later.

Mori Restaurant, Bleecker Street, November 21, 1935. 144 Bleecker Street was built 1832 as two townhouses (Nos. 144 and 146). Placido Mori established his Italian restaurant at No. 144 in 1883. In 1920, Mori enlisted then-unknown architect Raymond Hood — who would go on to design several New York skyscrapers, including Rockefeller Center — to create a new facade incorporating No. 146 for an expanded restaurant. As part of Hood’s compensation, he received an apartment upstairs. Mori closed in 1937 and the building was later occupied by another restaurant and a handful of activist organizations. Between 1962 and 1990, the building was home to the well-loved Bleecker Street Cinema. Today the building has been split up again with no. 144 housing a pharmacy and no. 146 a stationary store.

Photographs of New York City streets can show us sites and scenes that have long disappeared from the ever-changing city. Along with more permanent features like monuments and buildings, these snapshots can capture some of the most ephemeral aspects of New York: the broadsides, building signs and billboards that constantly changed with new businesses, consumer products and entertainments. From soap to Broadway shows, the street advertising in the Thomas W. Kennedy photographs in the Seaport Museum's collection can tell us a lot about what late 19th and early 20th century Manhattan was selling.

Eve Addams Tea Room, 129 MacDougal Street ca. 1933 In 1925, Eve Kotchever (better known by her pseudonym, Eve Addams) opened her tearoom here at 129 MacDougal Street. She was a Polish-Jewish lesbian immigrant known as the "queen of the third sex" and "man-hater" and supported this opinion with a sign on the door of her establishment that read "Men are admitted but not welcome". The Greenwich Village Quill called the tearoom a place where 'ladies prefer each other". On June 17, 1926, the club was raided by police and Addams was charged with disorderly conduct and with obscenity for her collection of short stories, Lesbian Love. She was deported and was later said to have opened a lesbian club in Paris.

Hotel Marlton ca. 1911 The eight story building we see today looks almost exactly as it did when it was constructed in 1900 as the Hotel Marlton. At the time, the majority of this swath of West 8th Street was comprised of 5-story, fashionable residential buildings. The hotel rose taller and stood out for its curving bays, wrought-iron balconies, handsome entrance, and attractive cornice. For much of its lifetime after its construction, however, it functioned as an SRO (single room occupancy) for struggling Village artists. Most famously it housed Edna St. Vincent Millay and Beat Generation writers such as Jack Kerouac (he wrote Tristessa here), Gregory Corso, and Neal Cassady. The list of significant figures who passed through the Marlton’s doors does not stop there. Would-be Ecuadorian President Galo Plaza was born in the hotel in 1906 to his diplomat parents. Valerie Solanas was living there when she shot Andy Warhol in 1968. Actors including John Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Julie Andrews, and Mickey Rourke also spent time at 3 West 8th Street. Even in its dorm days, Marlton House was not your run-of-the-mill place. In addition to students, there were still permanent residents living there, one of whom reportedly would get visits from Mickey Rourke and one of whom a former student claims was a pimp. This may not have been your average freshman year experience, but it was certainly one that gave dorm dwellers a powerful introduction to life in the Village and the Hotel Marlton.

Marble House doorway, February 1, 1938.

Larry Kramer, a pioneering gay-rights activist, and author lived at 2 Fifth Avenue beginning in the 1980s. On August 11, 1981, he hosted a group of friends at his apartment to discuss the recent announcement of the outbreak of Kaposi sarcoma, cancer attributed to AIDS. The group mobilized quickly, raising $6,600 for medical research and founding the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the first AIDS advocacy and support organization, on January 4th, 1982. By 1987, however, Kramer had become frustrated with the group’s passivity amidst ongoing threats to gay equality and increasing numbers of AIDS victims. On March 10, he gave an impassioned speech at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street, which led to the creation of the grassroots activist group AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) two days later. The organization is credited with calling attention to the political and medical bureaucracy and prejudice contributing to the deaths of those who had AIDS. The founding of both GMHC and ACT UP represented a fundamental shift in the response to and view of the AIDS crisis at the time, from one of government apathy and inaction to a determined effort by those most affected by and potentially at risk for the virus demanding a response by government, the media, and established institutions to recognize their humanity and address the life or death needs they faced.

Brown Building ARCHITECT: John Woolley DATE: 1900-11 STYLE: Neo-Renaissance The Brown Building (originally Asch Building), a loft building constructed for Joseph J. Asch in 1900-01 which housed the Triangle shirtwaist factory on its top three stories, is significant for women’s and labor history as the site of the Shirtwaistmaker’s Strike of 1909, the first large-scale strike of women workers in the country, and the Triangle Fire of 1911, one of the worst industrial disasters in American history. On March 25, 1911, when a fire erupted on the eighth floor of the Triangle factory and spread to the floors above, locked doors and inadequate fire escapes contributed to the deaths of 146 workers, many of whom leapt to their deaths. This tragedy stunned the nation and became a catalyst for a broad range of reforms. Over the next few years, New York City and New York State adopted a battery of new laws to protect the public from fires and ensure the health and safety of workers. The new laws were the most advanced and comprehensive in the country and served as models for other state and local ordinances and for the federal labor legislation of the New Deal era. After the fire, the building’s neo-Renaissance facade remained largely intact.

Fugazi Theatre ca. 1923 From 1922 to about 1929, the short-lived though popular Fugazy Theatre stood on this site. Its interior housed 1,687 seats and one screen. Owned by Humbert J. Fugazy (1885-1964), a boxing promoter and prominent Italian resident who grew up in the South Village, the theater was designed by architects Reilly & Hall. A 1922 drawing appearing in The New York Times indicates that it was originally called the MacDougal Theatre, which makes sense since this was the street the entrance faced. Interestingly, plans had also been filed in 1921 to build a three-story brick theater here designed by F. E. Vitolo and C. W. Schlusing with Fugazy and one Anthony Rosetti as the owners. Numerous sources, including the Times article, show that the realized building was a Reilly & Hall design. The article mentions that the theater was five stories, which echoes what we see in the drawing, and that it was expected to open in October 1922. It also notes that “Besides providing an attractive building for the locality it will also furnish excellent entertainment, combining moving pictures with vaudeville.” The theater was touted as the largest in the heart of Greenwich Village at that time, and that Fugazy was the son of a well-known Italian banker in the neighborhood. At the time of the building’s construction, Fugazy lived at 157 Bleecker Street at the corner of Thompson Street. His past residences also included 142 Bleecker Street (at present-day LaGuardia Place) and 39 Charles Street (near West 4th Street). So what happened to the Fugazy Theatre? According to Cinema Treasures, the City purchased the theater in 1929 in anticipation of subway construction. A 1951 aerial shows that the stretch of property now occupying the Passannante Ballfield had long been cleared of any building here.

Today many are surprised to learn that cars and buses used to run through Washington Square for much of the mid-20th century. In fact, the large flat area of the park around the fountain and the arch is a vestige of the time when motor vehicles used the park as a turnaround. Jane Jacobs was not a fan of the automobile and its impact upon cities and neighborhoods. Along with her friends and neighbors, she waged the fight to get cars and buses out of the square, staging protests, gathering petitions, and lobbying city officials. Not only did the City not want to ban cars, they wanted to build an extension of Fifth Avenue through the park which would serve as an access route to the Lower Manhattan Expressway planned at the time, thus making Washington Square little more than the greenery surrounding a highway on-ramp. Jacobs and fellow activist Shirley Hayes would have none of it. The City tried to entice them with “alternative” plans for allowing cars to remain in the park, including building a pedestrian passageway over the cars. But Jacobs, Hayes, and company persevered, and in the late 1950s, cars were banned from the park on a trial basis, and in the 1960s the ban was made permanent.