127 MacDougal Street House
127 MacDougal Street | Greenwich Village | built 1829
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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.
- 1829
Hat merchant Alonzo Alvord builds No. 127 MacDougal Street as one of four Federal rowhouses
The 2-1/2-story house was one of four, Nos. 125 to 131, built on speculation around 1828-29 by Alonzo Alwyn Alvord, who sold hats downtown. Washington Square, a potter's field until 1826-28, was becoming an elite residential neighborhood. The row had Flemish bond brickwork, a low stoop with wrought iron, an Ionic-columned doorway and pedimented double dormers. The Rankin and Freeland families owned No. 127 from 1839 to 1901.
“This was one of four houses (Nos. 125-131) speculatively built on lots owned by Alonzo Alwyn Alvord , a downtown hat merchant…”
- 1833
Painter Anthony Lewis DeRose buys No. 127 MacDougal Street, and his widow stays on after his death
Anthony Lewis DeRose (1803-1836), a New York-born portrait, historical and miniature painter, bought the house from Alvord in 1833. He had shown work at the American Academy and the National Academy, and his portrait of Davy Crockett belongs to the New-York Historical Society. After he died in 1836 his widow, Susan Ann, remained until the property was foreclosed in 1839 and passed to Henry Rankin, president of the Globe Insurance Company.
“Alvord sold the house in 1833 to painter Anthony Lewis DeRose (1803-1836 ) and his wife, Susan Ann.”
- 1870
Actors John Duffy and Charles Williams, both African-American, are tenants of No. 127 in 1870
That year's census names John Duffy and Charles Williams, both African-American actors, among its tenants. Earlier, from 1847 to 1856, it had been leased to a tailor, Sinclair Tousey. The change fit the neighborhood south of Washington Square, where commercial uses and working-class immigrants ended the fashionable era by the Civil War and many houses became boardinghouses.
“The 1870 census listed African-American actors John Duffy and Charles Williams as tenants of No. 127 MacDougal Street.”
- 1912
House owner Mary Chapelle is convicted of keeping a disorderly house, then pardoned by the governor
Mary Chapelle, a French-born woman, owned No. 127 and its neighbor No. 129 from 1911 to 1920. In 1912 she was convicted, together with Katie Hicks, owner of No. 131, as one of two notorious keepers of disorderly houses. The governor pardoned both women in 1913. A New York Times article had already reported a poolroom operating in the house in 1904.
“…convicted in 1912 along with Katie Hicks, the owner of No. 131, as "two notorious keepers of disorderly houses;" they were pardoned by the governor in 1913…”
- 1920
A Chinese restaurant, the Bamboo Forest and Tao Tea Garden, rents the lower floors through the 1920s
By 1920 the lower part of the house was in commercial use, and for the rest of that decade its tenant was a Chinese restaurant, the Bamboo Forest and Tao Tea Garden. The 1930s and 1940s brought a jewelry business, the plumbing contractor Frank C. Pascale and the Salon des Artistes gallery. By 1920 the roof also had a "studio dormer," made by joining the two old dormers.
“Through the 1920s, Bamboo Forest and Tao Tea Garden, a Chinese restaurant, was a tenant.”
- 1950
Galleries and bookshops fill No. 127 in the 1950s, from the Johnnes Gallery to the Book Cellar
Through the 1950s the commercial tenants at No. 127 leaned toward art and books. They included the Peretz Johnnes Gallery and bookstore, Gallery Pierino and the Book Cellar. Hanlan Associates, a seller of cookware and luxury foods, shared the building. After the 1950s urban-renewal push south of Washington Square, the surviving streets nearby, MacDougal among them, became popular for coffee houses, restaurants and clubs.
- 1951
A 63-year lease on Nos. 127 to 131 MacDougal Street brings a modernization plan, and the Times credits Aaron Burr
In 1951 the Calhoun family leased Nos. 127, 129 and 131 for 63 years to the operator Thomas M. Graham, who hired the architects Knubel & Persich to modernize them. The New York Times reported that he meant to keep the old architectural charm, and wrongly said the buildings had been built by Aaron Burr.
“The Times in 1951 reported on the Calhouns ' 63-year lease of Nos. 127 to 131 MacDougal Street to operator Thomas M. Graham…”
- 2004
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the 127 MacDougal Street House a landmark
The commission held a hearing on April 20, 2004, at which nine speakers, including representatives of Greenwich Village preservation groups and local elected officials, backed designation. It had first heard the case in 1966. On June 8, 2004, it designated the house and its tax lot as an individual landmark, one of the few intact Federal rowhouses of its type in Manhattan.
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