Pierre Ouvrier House

247 West 13th Street | West Village | built 1854

Open on the map5 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. 1854

    Mary Ann C. Rogers builds six Italianate rowhouses on West 13th Street, including No. 247

    In 1854 Mary Ann C. Rogers put up a row of six brick Italianate town houses on this block, numbered 239 through 249. The Landmarks Preservation Commission notes that No. 247 kept its original door frame moldings and its doors with octagonal lower panels, while its parlor windows were later lengthened. Two houses in the row were later demolished to make room for an apartment building.

    “In 1854 Mary Ann C. Rogers built six handsome Italianate town houses (Nos. 239-249)…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1874

    December

    Piano maker Louis Ouvrier serves on the jury in Boss Croker's murder trial

    Louis Ouvrier, who lived here with his piano-making father Pierre and his brothers, was seated on the jury in the case against Tammany Hall figure Richard Croker, accused of killing John McKenna on election day 1874. The jurors could not reach a verdict and Croker went free. The Daytonian in Manhattan writer suggests that fear of crossing the Tammany machine may have shaped the deadlock.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1881

    April 9

    Pierre Ouvrier, founder of a high-end piano firm, dies at 73 after a stroke

    Ouvrier, born in the French Pyrenees in 1808, came to New York in 1841, co-founded Martins & Ouvrier in 1846 and reorganized it as Ouvrier & Sons in 1867. His wife Marguerite had died on January 15 with her funeral held in the house; he broke his thigh soon after and was struck by a stroke on April 4, dying five days later. His sons carried on the business as Ouvrier Brothers.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1946

    Writer Herbert Kubly lives here while reviewing music for Time, with a play on Broadway

    Herbert Kubly, an author and playwright, rented a floor-through apartment in 1946. He was then the music critic for Time magazine, and Men to the Sea, a play of his, was on Broadway. The composer Ned Rorem recalled meeting him that year in his 1994 memoir Knowing When to Stop, describing a man who rose late and then worked through the afternoon.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1956

    September 23

    Photographer Lisette Model announces a twelve-session camera course at 247 West 13th Street

    By the mid-1950s the photographer Lisette Model had an apartment here. On September 23, 1956 The New York Times reported that she would teach a twelve-session course called The Function of the Small Camera at 247 West 13th Street, meeting weekly at 8 pm for a $60 fee. A New School exhibition had shown her work alongside Berenice Abbott's four years earlier.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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