251 West 11th Street

West Village | built 1827

Open on the map6 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. 1827

    After the 1822 yellow fever panic, grocer Henry Potter builds two houses on Hammond Street

    Yellow fever drove New Yorkers who could afford it to Greenwich Village in 1822, and the population boom tempted amateurs into building. Grocer Henry Potter put up two Federal houses at Nos. 45 and 47 Hammond Street. No. 45 became 251 West 11th Street in 1864.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1827

    The oldest house on its block, with later floor and cornice added

    The Landmarks Commission's 1969 report calls No. 251 the oldest house on its block, built in 1827 for Henry Potter, a grocer. It was originally two or two and a half stories, shown by the Flemish bond brickwork that stops at the third-floor sill. The third floor, bracketed cornice and pedimented doorway lintel were later additions.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1839

    April 8

    Resident Jacob Hoffman is run down and killed at a Butt Enders parade

    On the night of April 8, 1839, Jacob Hoffman left No. 45 Hammond Street to watch a parade by the Butt Enders, a rowdy working-class Democratic faction. On Broadway he fell and was run over by a cart in the procession. A coroner's inquest on April 10 ruled the death accidental.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1872

    Wheelwright and politician George A. Jeremiah, a long-time owner, runs again for alderman

    George A. Jeremiah, a wheelwright with a shop at 406 Tenth Avenue, had served in the State Assembly and as alderman and ran for alderman again in 1872. His family owned the house for more than half a century. He raised the attic to a full floor with an Italianate cornice and added a triangular pediment over the doorway.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1916

    May 16

    Boarder John Daly is arrested with a gang swapping plates on a car they meant to steal

    John Daly, 26, boarded in Martha Gross's rooming house here when he and four others were caught in Brooklyn on May 16, 1916 changing a New Jersey plate for a New York one on a big gray automobile. A patrolman grabbed the driver as a shield and fired in the air; a gunman escaped, but Daly and three others were arrested. The car held three revolvers and two baseball bats.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1919

    March 25

    A resident's son falls through a glass marquee at the homecoming parade

    Edward Isinger, 14, of 251 West 11th Street, joined the crowd on Fifth Avenue on March 25, 1919 to cheer troops returning from World War I. Seeking a better view, he climbed onto a glass marquee over an entrance, and it gave way. He landed on a man below, who was unhurt, and broke his own leg.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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