131 Charles Street House
131 Charles Street | West Village | built 1899
Open on the map4 entries
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.
- 1889
The Caragher family adds a stable building to the back yard
John F. Waldorf, a truckman, lived at 131 Charles Street from about 1870 until 1889. Its next owner, Francis Caragher, was also associated with a trucking firm, and the Caraghers added a stable building to the back yard in 1889. That outbuilding, known as 131-1/2 Charles Street, later became a home for photographer Diane Arbus.
“In 1889, a stable building (W. H. Walker, builder) was added by the Caraghers to the back yard…”
- 1962
Thomas Bruce Morgan, an Esquire editor and Lindsay press secretary, buys the house
Thomas Bruce Morgan and his wife, Joan Tarlow Zuckerman, owned the front house from 1962 to 1968. Morgan worked as a writer and editor at Esquire, served as press secretary to Mayor John Lindsay, and wrote several books. During those years the rear house was occupied by Diane Arbus.
“From 1962 to 1968, No. 131 Charles Street was owned by Thomas Bruce Morgan and his wife, Joan Tarlow Zuckerman…”
- 1968
Architect John Stonehill and his wife Judith, author of a Greenwich Village guide, buy the house
John J. Stonehill, an architect, and his wife Judith bought 131 Charles Street in 1968 and were still the owners when the Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote its 2006 report on the area. Judith Stonehill wrote a guidebook to Greenwich Village and co-wrote a book on Brooklyn.
“The owners of No. 131 Charles Street since 1968 have been architect John J. Stonehill and his wife, Judith Stonehill…”
- 2023
Village Preservation helps defeat a plan to dig under the house and its rear building
In August 2023 the Landmarks Preservation Commission declined to approve a revised plan to alter 131 Charles Street and the rear 131-1/2 building and dig beneath both for underground recreation space. Village Preservation opposed it, saying it would remove defining features of the double-landmarked buildings, and more than 750 supporters sent over 1,500 letters.
Source: Village Preservation
Further reading
- The 1834 David Christie House - 131 Charles StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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