The Back Fence
155 Bleecker Street | also 203 Thompson Street | Greenwich Village | built 1835
Open on the map3 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.
- 1890
An 1890 alteration drops the stoop and turns the ground floor into a store
This 1835 row house was altered in 1890: the original stoop came off and the first floor was lowered to street level for a store. The filing describes a four-story building with a shop at the bottom and one or two families living above. A 1914 alteration application for this house and its neighbor at 157 Bleecker hints that a motion picture theater may have operated in the pair.
- 1910
A poultry slaughterhouse operates in the rear extension for decades
A two-story extension behind the house, apparently built between 1857 and 1867, contained a poultry slaughterhouse from as early as 1910 until at least 1968. It operated separately from activities in the main building.
- 1945
The Back Fence opens as a bar and becomes a live-music venue for 68 years
The Back Fence opened at this corner in 1945 as a bar. As the Greenwich Village folk-music scene boomed, it dropped "bar" from its name and turned to live music, mostly cover bands. It closed in 2013 after 68 years.
“The Back Fence, a live music venue, opened here in 1945 as a bar ... The bar closed in 2013, after 68 years on the scene.”
Nearby
- Kenny's Castaways157 Bleecker Street | 6 entries
- Circle in the Square Theater (former)159 Bleecker Street | 5 entries
- 151 Bleecker Street1 entry
- 206 Thompson Street2 entries
- 163 Bleecker Street1 entry
- 211 Thompson Street2 entries