183 Bleecker Street

Greenwich Village | built 1829

Open on the map3 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. 1829

    Real estate speculator Peter Debaun builds the Greenwich Village row house now numbered 183 Bleecker

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    Tax assessment records show that Peter Debaun, a real estate speculator, built this three-story brick house in 1829, when it was numbered 181 Bleecker Street. It probably had a stoop, an exposed basement and a peaked roof with dormers. By 1896 the house was being used as a hotel.

    “Tax assessments indicate this house (originally 181 Bleecker Street) was constructed in 1829 by real estate speculator Peter Debaun.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1900

    Anthony Comstock raids the Black Rabbit, a gay resort at 183 Bleecker, after police had closed it once

    The Black Rabbit at 183 Bleecker Street was shut by the police in 1899 but soon reopened. In 1900 Anthony Comstock, who led the Society for the Suppression of Vice, raided it in person and declared that he had never seen so wicked a place. Like The Slide at 157 Bleecker, it gave gay men a rare haven, and the two are among the earliest known surviving sites in the city tied to LGBT life in the 19th century.

    “…the Black Rabbit, 183 Bleecker Street, was also closed by the police, in 1899, but re-opened, and was then personally raided in 1900 by Anthony Comstock…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1923

    A 1923 alteration lowers the ground floor of 183 Bleecker, ending the house's original basement

    A 1923 alteration brought the first floor down to sidewalk level at 183 Bleecker Street, which eliminated the original basement. From 1905 to at least 1968 the ground floor held a business, while one family lived on each of the second and third floors. In 1968 the first story changed from a store to a restaurant.

    “A 1968 alteration (ALT 1220-1968) converted the first story from a store to a restaurant.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village