290 West 11th Street

West Village | built 1910

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. 1860

    A four-story building with a shop at street level rises at 290 West 11th Street

    The building at 290 West 11th Street dates to 1860, four stories high with a store on the ground floor. The Greenwich Village Historic District report notes that its Greek Revival doorway and the window lintels topped with anthemion ornaments were inserted in the twentieth century, so the period-looking details are later additions. A fire escape with an attractive handrail is shared with its neighbor at No. 292.

    “This four-story building, with store at street level, was built in 1860. Twentieth Century changes included the insertion of a Greek Revival doorway…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1873

    March 18

    An oyster saloon's overheated range sets off a fire that reaches the grocery at 290

    At 1:20 a.m. on March 18, 1873, the range in Joseph Hallock's oyster saloon next door overheated and started a fire that spread into Henry Kearney's grocery in this building before firefighters arrived. Kearney lost about $5,000 in stock, though he and the building's owner, Michael McKeon, were insured. An officer of the Fire Marshal's office noted that the saloon had suffered a fire from the same cause on September 3, 1870.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1907

    February 24

    Former tenant James Kingsley is shot in the back as he flees a Carmine Street saloon

    James Kingsley, who lived upstairs at 290 West 11th Street in 1903, got into trouble with drink more than once. On February 24, 1907, he and three companions declined to pay at John McGee's saloon at 57 Carmine Street, and when one of them dared the owner to shoot, McGee drew a revolver. As the group ran out, McGee shot Kingsley in the back, and the next day's Sun headline credited McGee with having the nerve.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1933

    September 8

    The New York Times reports a termite colony eating into 290 West 11th Street

    A landlord, Thomas Williams, converted the aging building to apartments in 1931. Two years later, on September 8, 1933, The New York Times reported that Harry Stuckner, the city's unofficial termite catcher, had found a colony in the lower part of 290 West Eleventh Street. The insects were gnawing at the supporting beams and joists, and the paper warned of possible demolition, but the 73-year-old building survived.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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