50 West 12th Street

Greenwich Village | built 1854

Open on the map4 entries

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

1. 1854

   A brownstone-fronted house goes up at 50 West 12th Street for Robert N. Freeman

   The brownstone-fronted house at 50 West 12th Street is built in the years before the Civil War for its first owner, Robert N. Freeman. Freeman is arrested on a charge of keeping gold watches that importers and a jeweler had entrusted to him to sell on commission.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1915

   An artist and a stage dancer rent floors in a renovated 12th Street house

   Irving Simon, president of the Levia Realty Company, buys the house for $22,000 in 1915 and spends $8,000 more on renovations, including a skylight studio on the fourth floor and new plumbing, electricity and heat. Artist Adolf Lawson pays $800 a year for the first floor, while the third and fourth floors go to stage dancer August Duncan for $1,800.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

3. 2005

   Talking Heads musician David Byrne sells the house to an artist

   By the end of the 20th century the house, reconverted to a private residence, is owned by David Byrne of the Talking Heads. Around 2005 he sells it to artist Melinda Hackett.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 2010

   A circular treehouse in the backyard survives a legal battle

   Artist Melinda Hackett commissions Nick Cohen and Ashley Koral to design and build a circular treehouse with a winding staircase in the backyard's London plane tree, at a cost of $5,000. After an anonymous neighbor complains, she faces three Department of Buildings violations, appears before the Environmental Control Board and pleads her case to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. In the fall of 2010 the commission grants the treehouse a stay of execution.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

• "The Little Treehouse That Could" at No. 50 West 12th StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
• Then & Now photos: 50 West 12th StreetVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now

Nearby

• Dr. Oliver White House52 West 12th Street | 4 entries
• Henry Morehouse Taber House42 West 12th Street | 4 entries
• Rev. Edwin R. T. Cook House62 West 12th Street | 4 entries
• Jonas and Henrietta Phillips House36 West 12th Street | 4 entries
• The Little Half House35 West 12th Street | 2 entries
• John Williams Morgan House39 West 11th Street | 5 entries

All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village