531 Hudson Street

West Village | built 1827

Open on the map5 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. 1827

    Cart man Isaac C. Blauvelt builds 531 Hudson as a rental investment, and its original stoop ironwork survives

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    Isaac C. Blauvelt and Tunis Banta, both cart men looking to invest in real estate, bought land from Richard Amos in 1826 and put up late Federal houses at Nos. 531 and 529 the next year. They rented both right away. Each was later raised from two and a half to three stories, which shows in the change from Flemish to running bond. No. 531 kept its original stoop and Federal ironwork with openwork newel posts.

    “Both were cart men, anxious to invest in real estate, and the houses were rented immediately…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1864

    April 6

    A double funeral at 531 Hudson mourns two Allaire children who died within two days

    Edward and Sarah Allaire boarded with the Blauvelt family in 1864. Their five-month-old daughter Margaret died of scarlet fever on April 2, and three-year-old Edward Parkes died on April 4, so the planned funeral was pushed back a day and held for both children in the house on April 6. The house had already hosted children's funerals in 1856 and 1862.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1882

    Architect John H. Whitensch modernizes 531 Hudson for new owner Jeremiah Dimmick

    Jeremiah W. Dimmick bought the house in June 1881 for $20,943, three years after Isaac Blauvelt's death, and hired architect John H. Whitensch to update it. Finished in 1882, the work raised the attic to a full third floor and made the basement and parlor levels suitable for business use. The Federal ironwork and second-story lintels were kept, Italianate entrance doors were added, and the new cornice was plain, with simple brackets and dentils.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1889

    January 5

    Police find Sadie Burd, who fled her husband's beating, hungry and injured in a room at 531 Hudson

    After her husband, an excursion-barge captain from Hoboken, beat her badly in December 1888, Sadie Burd took her young daughter to a woman who ran the upper part of 531 Hudson. A newspaper reported that Charles Street station police found her in a room there in January 1889, suffering from cold and hunger and with a broken rib. The child had been looked after by neighbors and was placed in the care of an agent of Mr. Gerry's society.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1994

    November 30

    Rubyfruit Bar & Grill, a restaurant and bar with a focus on women, operates in the 531 Hudson storefront

    After the Wine Cellar (1970) and Village Green (1977), Mesa Verde took over the street level in December 1992 and quickly gave way to Rubyfruit Bar & Grill. Newsday described it on November 30, 1994 as a bar and restaurant that focused on women: women ran it, many gathered at the bar, and it poured wine from a winery run by gay women. Later tenants were RF Lounge, Swine and Katana Kitten.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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