Grove Press Tour

Barney Rosset moved Grove Press into the second floor of 795 Broadway in 1953, two years after he purchased the business. While located here, the Press introduced the American public to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, its first notable publication. Although other American publishers refused to publish this piece, a 1999 British Royal National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists declared Waiting for Godot the most significant English language play of the 20th century. Its publication catapulted Grove Press to the head of the cultural avant-garde in America, beginning the Press’ and Rosset’s long relationship with Beckett.

Grove Press, called “the era’s most explosive and influential publishing house” and “the most innovative publisher of the postwar era,” produced incredibly important pieces of 20th century literature while working aggressively and effectively to transform American culture in relation to issues of censorship, sexuality, race, and class. Founded in 1947 on Grove Street in the West Village, Grove Press fully rose to prominence after it was purchased by Barney Rossett in 1951. Over the next decades, an astonishing five extant buildings in the area south of Union Square were home to the Press, its literary magazine the Evergreen Review, and the Press’ Evergreen Theater. A sixth building in the area, 61 Fourth Avenue, served as Rosset’s home from at least 1981 until Rosset’s passing in 2012. For a time, Grove Press’ offices were also located here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.