107 MacDougal Street

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1858
A row house goes up in 1858 on a lot Nicholas Walsh bought in 1851
Nicholas Walsh bought the lot at 107 MacDougal Street in 1851 from the heirs of Robert Benson, but the four-story brick row house was not built until 1858. The facade was likely altered in 1923 by the architect Ferdinand Savignano, who was hired for alterations to both this building and 15 Minetta Street. It now has a stone-faced ground floor and a recessed ribbon window.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1918
A basement café and dance hall occupies a house that was already a restaurant by 1914
The building at 107 MacDougal Street was already a restaurant by 1914. An account from 1918 lists a café with dancing in the basement and on the first story, with apartments above. The ground floor later became the Rienzi Café, which stayed until 1965, and then the SpeakEasy, a folk-music club active in the 1980s.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1982
February
Songwriters launch The CooP, later Fast Folk, from the SpeakEasy club
In February 1982 a cooperative of Greenwich Village singer-songwriters launched The CooP, a record-and-magazine series later renamed Fast Folk, from the SpeakEasy club at 107 MacDougal Street. Members packed the LPs in the club themselves and mailed them to anyone who paid two dollars for a record. Angela Page had taken over booking the club in 1981, and early releases launched artists such as Suzanne Vega and Lyle Lovett.
Source: Wikipedia

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