52 West 13th Street
also 54 West 13th Street | Greenwich Village | built 2011
Open on the map2 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.
- 1790
A hidden Federal-style backhouse, reportedly from the 1790s, stands behind 52-54 West 13th Street
Before the current hotel, this lot held an earlier building: a Federal-style backhouse of two stories, reportedly dating to the 1790s. Passersby could not see it from the street, because it sat behind a low-rise structure that held two restaurants, at numbers 52 and 54. Ephemeral New York called it a hidden gem.
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 2009
Demolition of the restaurants in front briefly exposes the old backhouse before a hotel hides it
A hotel developer bought the low-rise building at 52-54 West 13th Street, and it was torn down. For a short time in 2009 the backhouse could be glimpsed through a construction fence. A 16-story hotel then rose in front of it, closing it off from view, and the writer could not say whether the backhouse survived.
Source: Ephemeral New York
Further reading
- A 1790s Village backhouse you’ll never see againEphemeral New York
Nearby
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