William Kunstler House

13 Gay Street | West Village | built 1844

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.

1851
A woman runs a boarding house at 13 Gay Street by 1851
By 1851 two women had settled on Gay Street, and one of them ran a boarding house at No. 13. Later in the century the street's pleasant houses drew many tradesmen, from carmen and policemen to a printer, a painter and a brass finisher. The Greek Revival house itself had been built by Thomas Cumming in 1844.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1976
William Kunstler and Margaret Ratner marry and raise their daughters at 13 Gay Street, also his law office
The civil rights lawyer William Kunstler and the attorney Margaret Ratner rented this 1844 townhouse and married in 1976. Their daughters Sarah (born 1976) and Emily (born 1978) grew up here, and the couple later bought the house. Kunstler worked from a separate first-floor office, from which he defended clients ranging from the Chicago Seven to the Attica prisoners.
Source: Village Preservation

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