Asa B. Meech House
108 Washington Place | also 108 West Washington Plce | West Village | built 1833
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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.
- 1832
John Nichols and fellow builders erect a row of nine late Federal houses, including No. 108
Nos. 106 through 122 Washington Place were built in 1832 and 1833 by tradesmen led by the mason John Nichols, who lived nearby on Grove Street. Nichols sold No. 108 and its neighbor No. 110 when they were finished. No. 108 still has its original areaway railing with cast-iron finials; the third story, Neo-Grec cornice and double doors came later.
“Both this house and the adjoining No. 108 were sold by John Nichols, the builder, upon their completion in 1832.”
- 1833
Merchant Asa B. Meech moves in, later serving as a Manhattan alderman
Asa B. Meech, head of a forwarding and commission firm that he had founded in Buffalo, bought the house in 1833. By the 1840s he was an alderman and owned much property in Greenwich Village and downtown. He and his wife Elizabeth lived here for 14 years before returning to Buffalo in 1847.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1916
Dr. James Navoni converts the house to a duplex and adds a studio window
Dr. James F. Navoni bought the 22-foot-wide house in 1916 and planned to turn it from a three-family house into a duplex. With Greenwich Village now the center of the city's artist community, he installed a studio window group with a balconette on the second story. Painters Sania Rosental Brown and Frank Osborn lived here in 1917-18 and both showed work at the Society of Independent Artists in 1917.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1918
A silent-film actress sues for divorce after her husband mails a love letter to the wrong address
Isabel Ashley, who acted on screen as Isabel O'Madigan, leased the basement and parlor floors in 1918. Her husband James, a theatrical manager on tour, mailed a love letter meant for someone at a 122nd Street address to the Washington Place house instead. In December Isabel sued for divorce and made the letter public, seeking $25 a week in alimony; he blamed her love of card games and costly gowns.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1922
Producer Philip Moeller hosts Theater Guild meetings in his apartment
By the early 1920s the stage director and playwright Philip Moeller lived here. He was among the organizers of the Washington Square Players and a co-founder of the Theater Guild of New York, whose meetings he hosted in his apartment. A photograph published in The Billboard in December 1922 shows guild members gathered in his rooms.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The 1832 Asa B. Meech House - 108 Washington PlaceDaytonian in Manhattan
- Then & Now photos: 108 Washington PlaceVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now
Nearby
- Joseph Annin House114 Washington Place | 5 entries
- 359 Avenue of the Americas4 entries
- 357 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
- 361 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
- 355 Avenue of the Americas1 entry
- 353 Avenue of the Americas1 entry