Austen House

133 Christopher Street | West Village | built 1819

Open on the map5 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. 1819

    Cartman William Austen builds a modest brick house beside Newgate Prison

    In 1819 the Village of Greenwich was a quiet hamlet, and William Austen, a cartman, had a two-story brick house built at 133 Christopher Street. It was 27 feet wide, with a dormered attic, Flemish-bond brick and a plain wooden doorframe, and sat just east of Newgate State Prison. The prison was abandoned in 1829, after which the waterfront neighborhood grew industrial.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1837

    Revolutionary War veteran Richard Amos reportedly dies in the house

    According to report, Richard Amos, a hero of the Revolutionary War, lived in the Austen house during the 1830s and died there in 1837. The street takes its name from Charles Christopher Amos, who inherited the Sir Peter Warren estate, and by then the neighborhood nearer the river was shifting toward industry.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1855

    The house gains a third floor and absorbs an old alley

    In the mid-1850s the house was raised from two and a half stories to three and widened at the left, over a former alley. The change from Flemish to running bond in the brickwork shows where the alteration begins. The same alteration produced the window railings and the roof cornice.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1867

    November

    A boarder is arrested, accused of forging a check cashed at a Jersey City bank

    In October 1867 boarder Lucretia Foss went with the landlady, Mrs. McGeihan, to a Jersey City bank, where Mrs. McGeihan cashed a $200 check. A month later Foss was arrested and accused of forging it. The New York Times called her a lady-like woman who claimed a mistake and called the case remarkable. She was held awaiting action by the Governor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1935

    February

    Two toddlers set the family apartment afire with an electric grill

    By the 1930s Charlie's Oyster and Chop House occupied the basement and the upper floors were small apartments. In February 1935 three-year-old Aldine Meacham and her sister Jean, aged two, set their family's apartment on fire while playing with an electric grill. The family moved to a nearby building that caught fire two months later.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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