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.

39-41 Commerce Street, ca. 1933. An interesting example of the Second Empire style can be found at 39 and 41 Commerce Street in the Greenwich Village Historic District. These two houses were built in 1831-32 in the Federal style for Peter Huyler, a milkman. Later, in the early 1870s, architect D.T. Atwood added the mansard roof for owner George Huyler. The slate at the roof, as well as the hipped roof dormers, are still intact.

39-41 Commerce Street, February 2, 1937. The L-shaped Commerce Street, which runs between 7th Avenue South and Barrow Street, has a number of, likely apocryphal, stories about its name origins. Some say that it was called Commerce after an early 19th Century smallpox breakout prompted business from downtown to move to this area of the Village. Another suggests that it was named as part of a series of streets named after French revolutionary virtues, including Art, Science, and Reason. This theory though has been thoroughly debunked by Don Rogerson, author of Manhattan Street Names Past and Present. Commerce was truncated in the 1910s when Seventh Avenue South was extended to Varick Street and nos. 1-8 were demolished for the construction of the new Avenue. Nos. 39 and 41, seen here, were constructed in 1832 by Peter Huyler of New Jersey. The original homes were two-and-a-half stories high, with dormers in a peaked roof (the mansards were added by Peter's heirs in 1873). A unique feature of the homes is the shared garden space between them (a large enough space to have been occupied by an additional home). While the entrances to the homes were once on the Commerce Street facades, by 1932 they had been moved into the garden-facing walls . By the time this photograph was taken in 1937 the homes had been long sold away from the Huyler family and had been divided into four apartments in each home.