Asaph Stone House

107 Waverly Place | Greenwich Village | built 1840

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1840

    Merchant Asaph Stone builds his own house at No. 107

    Wealthy merchant Asaph Stone begins five speculative Greek Revival rowhouses on Waverly Place in 1839 and keeps No. 107 for himself. The 25-foot-wide house stands apart with cast-iron fencing, stoop railings and a parlor-level balcony, plus double entrance doors carved with anthemions. Stone and his wife Jane move in around 1840 with their twelve children and fill the rooms with paintings and sculpture.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1854

    September 27

    Asaph Stone, his wife and his youngest daughter die in the wreck of the steamship Arctic

    After visiting their daughter Mary in Europe, Asaph and Jane Stone board the steamship Arctic at Liverpool for the voyage home. On September 27, 1854, the Arctic collides in thick fog with the French ship Vesta off Newfoundland. The lifeboats hold only a fraction of those aboard, and every woman and child perishes, including Jane and Mary, along with Asaph. Part of the family's art collection is auctioned at the house in April 1855.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1920

    Poets Ridgeley Torrence and Robert Frost live in the house

    Poet Ridgeley Torrence lives at No. 107 by 1917, when he serves in the Army Field Service. In 1920 Robert Frost stays at the house as a shorter-term resident. During his stay he meets fellow poet Percy MacKaye, who tells him about a possible fellowship at Miami University in Ohio.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1936

    Remo Bufano runs a marionette theater in the basement

    By 1936 sculptor and puppeteer Remo Bufano and his wife Florence operate a marionette theater in the basement of No. 107. A 1938 Federal Writers' Project guide calls it the only permanent marionette theater in New York City, with 300 seats and a 25-cent admission price. In 1954 the house hosts a model "Interior of the Year" apartment furnished by more than 50 manufacturers, and a gut renovation from 2001 to 2005 returns it to a single-family home.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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