51 Barrow Street
West Village | built 1826
Open on the map3 entries
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.
- 1826
Carpenter Jacob Roome is among the first tenants of the 1826 house at 51 Barrow
No. 51 Barrow Street was built in 1826 with its neighbors at Nos. 47 and 49, but unlike most of the row it was not built as a speculation for Charles Oakley. Among the first tenants was Jacob A. Roome, a carpenter, who may have helped build the houses. The house still has its original single dormer and simple wrought-iron railings.
“Jacob A. Roome, carpenter, at No. 51... No. 51 retains its original single dormer…”
- 1885
Policeman Dennis O'Hara of 51 Barrow Street dives into the Hudson to save a drowning woman
Dennis O'Hara, a patrolman of the 2nd Precinct who lived at 51 Barrow, heard a woman's cries at 2 a.m. on December 2, 1885. Bridget Garrity had fallen off Pier 1 into the Hudson. O'Hara stripped off his coat, vest and shoes, swam to her, and held her at a moored boat until a ladder was lowered. He won a silver medal, later a gold medal from Congress for another rescue, and died at the house in 1896.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1918
Printer Luther Bedford of 51 Barrow is charged with obstructing the draft over his magazine Bull
Luther S. Bedford, a printer who lived at 51 Barrow, was a familiar radical to police. He was arrested at Cooper Union in 1908 for handing out pamphlets and in 1909 for tossing handbills into the air. In World War I he founded the magazine Bull, which urged men not to enlist. By August 1918 federal prosecutors were preparing to try him under the Espionage Act. He was dead by July 1919, and the charges were dismissed in 1922.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- Then & Now photos: 51 Barrow StreetVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now
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