James W. Elliot House

11 Abingdon Square | also 4 8th Avenue | West Village | built 1856

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. 1855

    Physician James W. Elliot builds an Italianate house facing Abingdon Square Park

    In 1855-56 James W. Elliot, a physician, built this narrow five-story Italianate house as his own residence on the east side of Abingdon Square. It is the only house left from the block's original row, now squeezed between two large apartment buildings. The ground-floor store is a later addition. When it was built, the Greek Revival houses on either side were nearly twenty years old, and a view of the park made it a desirable address.

    “…erected in 1855-56 for James W. Elliot, physician, as his own residence and is a dignified example of Italianate style…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1870

    April

    The Elliot doctors list the house for rent after ten years of medical use

    James Woodward Elliot, born in England in 1824, and his brother Frederic both earned medical degrees and practiced from the house. The household gave both 2 Eighth Avenue and 11 Abingdon Square as its address, switching between them freely. In April 1870 Elliot advertised the five-story brownstone for $2,000 a year, noting that two first-class physicians had occupied it for a decade. The family moved to 34th Street, then returned around 1877 and left again in 1884.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1948

    A 1948 renovation turns the last old house on the block into furnished rooms

    Through the first half of the twentieth century the Greek Revival and Italianate houses along this block were replaced by apartment buildings, and by the 1940s No. 11 was the last one standing. A renovation completed in 1948 created furnished rooms on the upper floors. It likely also removed the stoop, partly bricked up the tall second-floor windows and added an Art Moderne metal storefront for a restaurant. In 1993 the rooms became apartments.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1981

    October 23

    Critic Mimi Sheraton reviews the Alamo Cafe, one of several restaurants on the ground floor

    In the early 1980s the ground floor held the Alamo Cafe, a Texas and Mexican restaurant that New York Times critic Mimi Sheraton called friendly if seedy in a review on October 23, 1981. Italian restaurant Mappamondo followed in April 1992. In July 2003 Shag opened, named for the white shag carpet on its walls, serving small plates such as mini-hamburgers. In 2023 the sandwich shop Cappone's signed a lease.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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