Commerce Street twin houses
39 Commerce Street | West Village | built 1832
Open on the map1 entry
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.
- 1832
The twin houses at 39 and 41 Commerce Street were built by a milkman, not for feuding sisters
A local tale says a sea captain built the two matching houses, joined by a walled garden, for daughters who would not speak to each other. In fact a New Jersey milkman, Peter Huyler, built them in 1832 as an investment and rented them to middle-class families. Their first doorways faced Commerce Street, and the shared garden may have held roses along with vegetables.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- Then & Now photos: 39 Commerce StreetVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now
Nearby
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