67 Vestry Street, PHA: NYC Home of the Week
233 West 11th Street: NYC Home of the Week
How well do you know your Christmas tree facts??
Did you know this is how “Waverly Place” got its name?? Early maps I looked at from closer to 1833 show the “proper” spelling, “Waverley.” It’s not clear exactly when the last “e” was dropped. Fitting it was called “Art Street,” given how many artists move in at the turn of the 20th century!
114 Waverly Place in Greenwich Village is the NYC Home of the Week 👇 Built in 1826 as a brick Federal style townhouse, it’s been completely transformed over the years. It was during its 1920 conversion to artists studios that it received a stucco facade and its iconic top level. It was one of 8 buildings inherited by the “Queen of the Village,” in 1985. Others included 18 and 20 Christopher Street and 14 Gay Street. In total, the buildings had about 30 rental units and she liked renting them to artists and writers. Though she passed away with a real estate portfolio worth around $25M, she lived in a room in one of her deteriorating buildings and often didn’t charge her tenants rent. 114 Waverly finally sold after she passed away in 2018, at 98 years old! The buyers—celebrity design couple Cortney and Robert Novogratz—paid $8.5M for the delapitated building. Over several years, they completely resurrected the building and even added an elevator! Unfortunately, the Landmarks Commission wouldn’t let them keep the facade pink, because the color was too “new,” so a more historic yellow was chosen and approved. 114 Waverly is 22’ wide and 6,800 square feet. The asking price this time around was $22.85M.
Stuyvesant Street, Part 3! Imagine a 150’ x 200’ garden immediately to the east of the Hamilton Fish House at 21 Stuyvesant Street (see Part 2 of this series!). It was called “Elizabeth Fish’s Garden.” Elizabeth was a great, great grand daughter of Peter Stuyvesant, who purchased most of what would become the East Village in 1651. Elizabeth’s dad, Petrus Stuyvesant, created Stuyvesant Street in 1787 more or less as a driveway to the Stuyvesant Mansion (see Part 1 of this series). In 1826, East 10th Street was gouged through her garden as a part of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan that set out the grid pattern for streets and avenues that NYC is now known for. It left this wedge of land that I can never pass without admiring. I would love to see pictures or a painting of that Garden, though!
PH11 at 140 Jane Street in the West Village went into contract with an asking price of $45M. In fact, despite no public marketing, the building already has 5 units in contract with a combined asking price of $138.75M. Here’s some more about the building and PH11!
The top NYC house to go into contract last week was 11 Bank Street, in the West Village 👇 It’s not every day that the least interesting thing about a house from 1845 is that it was once owned by a member of Napoleon’s army. Other interesting things about the possible ghost, I didn’t have time to include in the video! The 1956 buyers were Dr. Harvey Slatin and his wife Yeffe Kimball. The tin with the ashes were labeled as those of Elizabeth Bullock, who was cremated January 21, 1931. Bullock apparently was killed in a nearby car accident and also lived a few blocks away, but had no clear connection to 11 Bank Street. Slatin and Kimbell kept the remains, in part, because they thought someone might one day come for them. Also, Bullock was a rather “benign ghost,” who didn’t cause much trouble. When they decided to accepted the offer of the California priest to provide the Christian burial, some Bank Street neighbors objected, as they “liked having a resident ghost.” I love the West Village. Best I can tell, the house has not sold since Slatin and Kimbell bought it in 1956, and it’s still in their family.
The top NYC downtown home in contract last week was #3A at 137 Duane Street, in Tribeca 👇 This now-rectangular building started as a T-shaped loft building from 1864, built for a prominent rubber goods merchant (who once sued Goodyear, though he lost). The T-shaped building had the address 62-66 Thomas Street aka 139 Duane Street, the longer side on Thomas and the stem extending south to Duane. In 1926, the Diamond Shoe Corporation acquired the massive T-shaped building along with 137 Duane, and commissioned an award-winning combination of the two buildings, which among other things completely changed the Duane Street facade. The Downtown League deemed it the alteration of the year! Nearly 10 years later, they acquired and incorporated 141 Duane, resulting in the rectangular building here today. Thankfully, the original Thomas Street facade has remained largely intact. About 15 years ago, the building was turned into 19 homes. Unit 3A has a 75’ wall of arched cathedral windows only possible on the Thomas Street side. The loft is 5,698 square feet with 14’ ceilings, original cast iron columns, and an unbelievable 64’ x 49’ great room. This massive home is currently set up as a 3 bedroom, 4.5 bathroom, and a large media room. The asking price is $10.995M.
138 State Street, in Brooklyn Heights. On the market since June of this year and asking $6.45M, it went into contract last week. This massive home on beautiful State Street is 25’ wide and 5,625 square feet, and has 5 levels plus a cellar. I love how blocks like this reveal their unique beauty in different seasons. The color of the leaves was stunning on the mature trees lining the block. The new owner of this home will most definitely renovate and update it a bit, but I love some of the old details that have survived to this point.
