24 Minetta Lane

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.

1881
Benjamin F. Bowne has a five-story tenement built on Minetta Lane
A five-story neo-Grec tenement went up at 24 Minetta Lane in 1881, designed by M. C. Merrit for the owner, Benjamin F. Bowne. Its ground floor was converted to commercial use before 1921. When the Landmarks Preservation Commission surveyed the district, a sign for La Boheme, a former tenant, was still visible on the east wall.
“Built as a tenement, the first story was converted to commercial use prior to 1921.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1910
Census records still show more than one African-American family at 24 Minetta Lane
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The Landmarks Preservation Commission's South Village report counts 24 Minetta Lane among a few surviving buildings where census records, as late as the 1910s, still showed more than one African-American family. The others on the Lane were 1-5 and 16. They were among the last traces of Little Africa, the community that had settled the blocks around Minetta Street and Minetta Lane by the mid-1800s.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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