262 Bleecker Street

West Village | built 1833

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1833

   Developer Charles Oakley builds 262 Bleecker Street as the first of a row of five houses

   No. 262 was built around 1833 as the first house in a row of five for Charles Oakley, a prolific Greenwich Village developer. The Landmarks Preservation Commission calls the row an excellent example of late Federal style, with shops on the ground floors. In 1894 it was joined internally to No. 264, though each facade stays largely unchanged.

   “No. 262 Bleecker Street was constructed c. 1833 as the first in a row of five houses for New York-born agent Charles Oakley…”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1884

   December 8

   William Freeman convenes Black New Yorkers at 262 Bleecker Street to discuss their political position

   On December 8, 1884, William Freeman, who chaired the Colored Republican General Committee, held a meeting of Black citizens here, probably in a cellar room, to prepare for a mass meeting planned for December 29 at Chickering Hall. He had asked Frederick Douglass to speak, and Douglass replied pessimistically that he did not see what the meeting could add, saying only that he might attend.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 1908

   May 24

   A five-year-old girl vanishes from 262 Bleecker Street in a custody fight

   Marie Foscolo's mother had left the family for the stage in 1907. On May 24, 1908, a caretaker found that the girl, five, was missing, along with her two uncles. Her father George, a Greek immigrant, told police she had likely been taken to her mother, and The New York Times headlined the story "Twelve-Toed Girl Missing." Six months later he was still seeking a court order to make his wife produce the child.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1986

   July 23

   Zampognaro, an Italian food shop at 262 Bleecker Street, is first in New York to sell oil in terra-cotta crocks

   By the 1980s the ground floor held Zampognaro, an Italian food shop on a block that had long been the edge of Little Italy. On July 23, 1986, New York Times food writer Florence Fabricant noted that it was the first New York retailer to stock oil in the traditional terra-cotta crocks. The next year Marian Burros reported it was one of few places in the city selling authentic focaccia.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

• Charles Oakley's 1833 No. 262 Bleecker StreetDaytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

• 264 Bleecker Street5 entries
• Faicco's Italian Specialties260 Bleecker Street | 3 entries
• Rev. C. F. Frey House266 Bleecker Street | 4 entries
• 268 Bleecker Street2 entries
• Jacob Romaine House7 Leroy Street | 5 entries
• Murray's Cheese building1 Leroy Street | 8 entries

All 1,156 buildings with stories in West Village