15 Cornelia Street

West Village | built 1920

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.

1853
Two four-story houses go up at 15 Cornelia Street in 1852-53, one at the front and one at the back
The Italianate house at 15 Cornelia Street and a companion building at the back of the lot were put up in 1852-53. City tax records show the assessed value of the property jumping from $1,400 to $5,300 in 1853, and by 1858 two four-story houses were on the lot. The street-front building was later resurfaced with brickface and lost its cornice.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1880
African-American households live at 15 Cornelia Street from 1880 to 1920; by 1930 most residents are white
Census records show that both houses at 15 Cornelia Street were home mostly to African-American families between 1880 and 1920, part of a wider pattern on Cornelia Street in those decades. In 1930 enumerators counted fifteen white households in the buildings, ten of them single people living alone. The property had passed to Florg Realty Corp. in 1928.
“…occupied primarily by African Americans from 1880 to 1920. In 1930, Census enumerators recorded the presence of fifteen white households, ten of which were single…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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