2 Horatio Street

also 125 Greenwich Avenue, 121 Greenwich Avenue | West Village | built 1931

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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1880

    The Caledonian Club occupies 8-10 Horatio Street, an earlier building on the site

    Before the apartment tower, an earlier building at 8-10 Horatio Street housed the Caledonian Club from 1880 until 1897. Church-related organizations used the premises after the club left. The western section of 2 Horatio Street, added in 1959-63, now occupies the site.

    Source: Wikipedia

  2. 1929

    April 1

    Bing & Bing announces it has quietly bought 75 lots around the Village's western squares

    On April 1, 1929, the developers Bing & Bing revealed that they had quietly bought 75 small lots and old buildings, mostly around Abingdon, Sheridan and Jackson Squares, enough for five high-end apartment buildings that included 2 Horatio Street. Leo Bing said the project aimed to turn the district back into a modern version of the upscale residential neighborhood it had once been. The firm hoped to benefit from the coming Eighth Avenue subway, the new West Side Elevated Highway and quick access to the Holland Tunnel. The stock market crashed seven months later.

    “…quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and Jackson Square Park…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  3. 1931

    August 7

    2 Horatio Street opens in 1931, advertising radio outlets and wood-burning fireplaces

    The tower at 2 Horatio Street was inaugurated on August 7, 1931. That year's promotional material promised large, well-proportioned living rooms, each with a wood-burning fireplace, and listed oversize rooms, big closets, dining foyers, dressing rooms and RCA radio outlets among its features. Before the opening, reports said the developers were struggling to find tenants, though Bing & Bing insisted much of the space had already been leased.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1931

    Robert Lyons designs an Art Deco apartment block for Bing & Bing

    Bing & Bing hired architect Robert Lyons, who had designed the Gramercy Park Hotel for them and the 17-story building at 903 Park Avenue, then the tallest apartment house in the world. The brick tower at 2 Horatio has terra-cotta Greek-key bands, rusticated brick at the corners, balconies beneath the fifteenth-floor windows and a terra-cotta tower on the penthouse.

    Source: Wikipedia

  5. 1959

    A west wing adds four apartments per floor, along with air conditioning and new windows

    Between 1959 and 1963 the building was extended at its western end along Horatio Street. The addition gave each floor four more apartments, and the building received air conditioning and new windows. The extension stands where the Caledonian Club once stood. A second large apartment house, at 54 Eighth Avenue, went up in 1959 at the other end of the block.

    “…an addition to the western end of the building, fronting on Horatio Street, added four apartments per floor, as well as air conditioning and new windows…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  6. 1969

    The city's Greenwich Village designation report says 2 Horatio and its neighbor could have fit in better

    In its 1969 report creating the Greenwich Village Historic District, the Landmarks Preservation Commission placed the two big Horatio Street apartment houses inside the district but criticized them. It said the buildings, conspicuous from Jackson Square park, might have been designed more in keeping with the houses on surrounding blocks had a regulatory body existed to guide them.

    “Conspicuous from the park, they might well have been designed in better character with the houses in the surrounding blocks…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  7. 1987

    Bing & Bing sells the building and it becomes a co-op

    Bing & Bing sold 2 Horatio Street in 1985, and the building became a cooperative in 1987. The 17-story building has 242 apartments and sits across from Jackson Square park, within the Greenwich Village Historic District but not an individual landmark.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 1,156 buildings with stories in West Village