I wanted to share some of my favorite areas in the West Village with you. This is a bit of my usual exploring route, that I actually have done thousands of times most likely. That doesn’t mean I’ve ever tired of it. On the contrary, I can never seem to get enough of it. For years I have loved the quiet peacefulness of Hudson Street. It is one of the most serene spots I know of in Manhattan. Much of the Village way of life doesn’t wake up and come to life until noon or later, so that makes this area all the more tranquil. If I have been shopping on Broadway in Soho for instance, even in the mid or late afternoon, and I want to escape the hustle and bustle of the city I can head further west. After crossing Seventh Avenue, as one approaches Hudson Street, the energy in Manhattan changes. There are quiet, almost remote, streets. Until one walks all the way west, before crossing the highway it is peaceful. The streets aren’t crowded in the daytime.
Through the years the cost of going out in this area has gone up substantially. I generally have been able to take long walks, sit quietly in a café or coffee shop, visit the Saint Luke’s Garden, go to the various thrift shops, or dine at a few select places I know that are affordable and fun to go to. I also have enjoyed kayaking in the Hudson River in the last few years. About a year and a half ago the Downtown Boathouse moved the kayaking down to Tribeca at Pier 26. They sponsor the whole experience of kayaking, so all I have to do is show up at the correct times, borrow a kayak and life jacket, lock up my belongings in a small locker and then a volunteer sees me off in the kayak I borrowed. So through the years since I returned to New York City, in 2007, I have been able to find fun and affordable things to do in this area, regardless of the fact that I can’t afford the fancy restaurants that fill the neighborhood. When I was much younger, before the birth of my daughter (twenty seven years ago), I used to hang out at the folk music scene in the West Village, on MacDougal Street. I was drawn to the area when I was very young, particularly after reading about John Reed, Louise Bryant and Eugene O’Neill, who all used to hang out, and lived in the areas around Washington Square Park.
The first house in this small exploration is on Commerce Street. After a brief bit of research I discovered that the house across the courtyard was built at the same time. Both were built for a milkman. (1) (I only photographed one of them.) They have been renovated slightly differently, and perhaps, more likely actually, they may be owned by two different owners now. The roof, of a mansard type, was added later on. (2)
The second photo of houses is of numbers 4-10 Grove Street. These houses were built between 1825 and 1834, preceding the increased popularity of Greek revival forms. The doors have “rectangular top lights, the stair cases outside have hand wrought iron work and the windows are dormer types, which was characteristic of the city’s domestic Federal Style.” (3)
The third and fourth photos are Grove Court, a lovely private Court at 10 and 12 Grove Street. It is entered through the wrought iron gate. I have lost count of how many times I have walked up to this gate to peer into the lovely courtyard and look at the lovely homes. It is a treat to see it in the daytime and breathtakingly beautiful, peaceful and remote looking at night. It looks as if it must be one of the quietest places to live in Manhattan. These houses were built “in the 1850’s for workingmen.” (4)
The fifth photo is a house at 17 Grove Street, at the corner of Bedford. It is one of the “few remaining frame houses in Greenwich Village.” (5) The home was built in 1822. A work shop was built around the back of the house in 1833. The owner was in the window business and made window- sashes. Through the years a “Greek Revival Style doorway” was added in the 1830’s or 1840’s, a third story was added on, and later on a necessary but unattractive fire-escape was installed onto the house. (6) My daughter’s father actually worked on one of the renovations back in 1988.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church is on Hudson Street, right where Grove Street meets Hudson. It is New York City’s third oldest church. When the church was built, back in 1821-22, it was “surrounded by open fields and occasional frame houses and was known as St. Luke’s-in-the-Fields.” (7) There is a private school, St. Luke’s School, on the grounds, and several brick row houses from the 1820’s. The garden at St. Luke’s is a lovely, meditative place to relax in lower Manhattan. They also have a great, small thrift shop.
I don’t have information about the houses on Commerce Street, or Morton Street. They are a continuation of the same kind of styles that were popular in the 1820’s through 1830’s. I believe the apartment building on Morton was built around 1903. During that time stone ornamentation, such as the work outside this building, was popular. There is another building similar on the same block. The building on Barrow Street has co-ops, but I do not know when it was built or where that beautiful style of curved windows came from.
The house on Leroy Street was built in the “Federal Style of 1830.” (8) An architectural feature that can be seen on many of the Village’s houses of the period is the old “horsewalk” marked by the small door at the sidewalk level to the left of the stoop. The door opens on an enclosed alley which led to a stable in the backyard where nineteenth-century New Yorkers kept their horses. (9) The original owner, Jacob Romaine, did not stable his horse there however, if he did own one. “At the rear of his residence was a small house.” (10) This home had originally been part of the Richmond Hill estate. At the time the street was named Burton Street; it was later re-named Leroy Street.
The tiny, super skinny house is 75 1/2 Bedford Street. Its exterior measures 9-1/2 feet, the interior is 8 feet wide and 42 feet long. The house was built on a carriage way, which explains its narrow frame. The home has three floors and 990 square feet of space. It was once home to poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Two actors also lived there, Cary Grant and John Barrymore.
The next photo, after the skinny house, is of the corner of Bedford and Barrow Streets, where the Cherry Lane Theatre was founded by Edna St. Vincent Millay and a few of her friends.
The final photo is of Grove Street, taken near the corner of Bedford in the dark, last winter during a bit of snow flurries. It is one photo but I am trying to give you a glimpse of the beauty of the area in the dark.
One thing I learned doing some of this research, and was struck by, was the difference between what kind of housing a blue collar worker could afford to buy, or was provided to live in by his or her employer, back during the 1820’s to 1830’s. It is astoundingly different than what many of us can afford nowadays. Obviously our country was started out on some good ideals, that time and the economy haven’t been able to keep up. To think a milkman owned two lovely houses on Commerce Street and that the workers were given housing in Grove Court, when today only the super wealthy can afford to live in these places – what a difference! Years ago my grandparents, who were two salespeople, owned three homes, two for rental purposes. Today it would be extremely difficult for two salespeople with five children to own three homes. It would be almost unheard of, unless they worked in some super profitable line of sales!!! I just found it somewhat shocking to find out how even in New York, so long ago, blue collar workers could afford nice homes in these really nice neighborhoods. I assume a lot of it had to do with transportation, so that the workers were in the vicinity of the building, and work that needed to be done.
Well I hope you enjoyed this small exploration of the West Village and its lovely architecture. Once my foot heals up from my surgery and I can get out more, I will try to find some other lovely places to photograph and share with you.
Commerce Street
The bike in front of the above house
Grove Street
Grove Court
Grove Court
Grove Street and Bedford
St Luke’s Episcopal Church on Hudson Street
Commerce Street
Commerce Street
Morton Street
Barrow Street
Morton Street
Leroy Street
Bedford Street
Corner where Cherry Lane Theatre is
Grove Street in the dark with snowflakes
(1)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.62
(2)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.62
(3)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.54
(4)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.56
(5)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.57
(6)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.55
(7)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.62
(8)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.63
(9)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.63
(10)Greenwich Village- A Photographic Guide, by Edmund T.Delaney &Charles Lockwood, pg.63
(11)http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/07/1831-jacob-romaine-house-7-leroy-street.html
All photos and written material by Marilyn Lavender. © Marilyn Lavender, 2015. “All rights reserved.”
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