Lion's Den
214 Sullivan Street | Greenwich Village | built 1900
Open on the map6 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.
- 1837
Methodists buy the lot for a church, an earlier building on this site
In 1837 the lot at 214 Sullivan Street was bought for the Associated Methodist Protestant Church, whose church was an earlier building on this site. The property was sold in 1842 to the Sullivan Street Methodist Church. A church stood here until a factory replaced it in 1899, and it housed several congregations in between.
- 1862
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church buys the church in Little Africa, an earlier building here
In 1862, when the neighborhood was known as Little Africa, the Sullivan Street church building was sold to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, an earlier building on this site. Atlas maps of the time label it "Colored Bethel" in 1879 and "African Methodist Church" in 1887.
“…the church was sold to the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and is noted on atlas maps of the time as "Colored Bethel" (1879)…”
- 1895
An Italian immigrant parish moves into the old church until a fire drives it out
By 1895 the St. Raphael Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, whose chapel Father Pietro Bandini had named Our Lady of Pompeii, moved from Waverly Place to the church at 214 Sullivan Street, an earlier building on this site. A fire forced the group out, and it relocated to 210 Bleecker Street, where the parish was incorporated in 1898. The parish's present church dates from 1926-28.
Source: Village Preservation
- 1899
A six-story paper box factory replaces the church, and it stays in that trade until 1969
The old church gave way to a six-story Renaissance Revival loft in buff brick, designed by John Philip Voelker and built in 1899-1900 for Eugene Gerbereux. The Landmarks Preservation Commission says it was put up for the paper box company of Gerbereux, Dufft & Kinder, and that it kept making paper boxes until 1969. The sidewalk entry at the north end still carries a frieze lettered 214 FREIGHT 218.
- 1990
Lion's Den opens as a music club at 214 Sullivan Street
Lion's Den opens in 1990 on Sullivan Street, at number 214, which sits between Bleecker Street and West 3rd Street. Performers over the years include Ben Folds, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, Pharoahe Monch and Lady Gaga.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2007
Lion's Den closes and reopens the next month as Sullivan Hall
Lion's Den closes in December 2007 after 17 years. In January 2008 the club reopens at the same address as Sullivan Hall.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Lion's Den (nightclub)Wikipedia
Nearby
- 220 Sullivan Street3 entries
- 212 Sullivan Street2 entries
- 210 Sullivan Street2 entries
- Washington Green224 Sullivan Street | 1 entry
- Former Triangle Civic Improvement Association208 Sullivan Street | 3 entries
- Kettle of Fish114 MacDougal Street | 2 entries