20 Christopher Street

West Village | built 1827

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.

1827
A carpenter builds the Federal pair at 18 and 20 Christopher Street in 1827
Read more
Daniel Simonson, a carpenter, bought the lots in 1827 and built two Federal houses side by side, Nos. 18 and 20, in Flemish-bond brick with gambrel roofs. Each has a triple-windowed dormer whose gable carries a sunburst pattern. No. 20 keeps its original paneled door, and its transom has a pulvinated frieze under a refined cornice, with a leaded fanlight of circular and oval shapes.
“This pair of charming little Federal houses was built in 1827 by Daniel Simonson, a carpenter who had purchased the lots that year.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1924
In 1924 Nos. 18 and 20 Christopher Street each have a store with small apartments above
The Department of Buildings described Nos. 18 and 20 in 1924 as each having a store and "non-housekeeping apartments" above. Before 1900 the ground floors had been converted to commercial space, with the front walls knocked out and wood-and-glass storefronts fitted beneath distinctive hoods. Photographer P. L. Sperr wrote on a 1933 photograph that the two houses were especially prized for their quaintness.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby