257 West 10th Street

also 519 Hudson Street | West Village | built 1889

Open on the map4 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. 1889

    Rentz & Lange design a five-story tenement for Frank Schaefler at 257 West 10th Street

    Frank Schaefler commissioned architects Rentz & Lange to build a row of flats at 519 to 525 Hudson Street, and at the same time a separate tenement around the corner at this address. The beige-brick building mixes Renaissance Revival and Queen Anne details, with terra cotta ornament and a pressed-metal cornice with a sunburst. Its 18 apartments and their floor plans survive unchanged. Its architectural features mark it as a near relative of the Hudson Street flats.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1900

    December 15

    Smallpox reaches the building, and vaccinators go door to door

    On December 15, 1900, The New York Times reported a smallpox case at this address: 53-year-old Louise Temple, who was removed to the smallpox hospital on North Brother Island. Fumigators cleaned her apartment and her family was vaccinated. On Christmas Eve her seven-year-old daughter Jennie was also found to be sick. Health officials said vaccination was voluntary, though they vaccinated about 4,500 people in two days, and wary immigrant families were persuaded partly by the sight of police.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1922

    Resident Timothy Keating wins a consolation check in the Evening World's daily contest

    In 1922 the Evening World ran a daily full-page contest, "What Did You See To-Day?", with a $25 first prize. Timothy Keating, whose family lived in the building, sent in several observations that year: a count of 2,000 help-wanted ads, his four-year-old son waking him at 3 a.m. to sail a toy boat, and a little girl piling paving stones to reach a mailbox. He finally won a $2 check for one of the ten next-best stories.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1937

    September 24

    Gunmen commandeer a taxi carrying an $8,600 payroll and leave the messenger here

    On September 24, 1937, Henry Margolin of the Benrus Watch Company was carrying $8,600 in a bag from the bank when two gunmen took over his cab at Houston and Hudson Streets. They had the driver stop at 257 West 10th Street, marched Margolin to the second floor, and told him to stay for five minutes. They then drove to Seventh Avenue and ran off with the money.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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