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.