61 Grove Street

also 104 7th Avenue South, 76 Christopher Street | West Village | built 1890

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. 1890

    The Goerlitz brothers hire Franklin Baylies to design a five-story flat house through the block

    In 1890 John and Philip Goerlitz, a contractor and his brother, commissioned architect Franklin Baylies to design a five-story apartment building with entrances at both 61 Grove Street and 76 Christopher Street. It was clad in red brick on Grove Street, with terra cotta and carved portrait keystones on the top floor. That April the brothers borrowed $100,000 from the German Savings Bank on a mortgage.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1905

    March 1

    A piano-and-fiddle rivalry between two tenant families lands two neighbors in court

    The Dugan family bought a piano around 1903, and their neighbors the McCormicks bought one too, then added a fiddle. By 1905 the Sun reported that the families were in open war, with the McCormicks allegedly pounding their piano day and night and cooking cabbage with the dumbwaiter shaft open. After Edward Dugan, a special policeman, received offensive anonymous letters, his wife had her neighbor arrested and both women aired their complaints before a judge.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1914

    May

    Seventh Avenue's extension slices off the corner and architects Wortmann & Braun rebuild it from salvaged carvings

    When Seventh Avenue was pushed south in 1913, along with the new subway, the work destroyed No. 63 Grove Street and cut a triangular piece off the corner of No. 61. Owner Jennie Messing hired Wortmann & Braun, who filed plans in May 1914 to rebuild the corner using the original carved elements saved during demolition. The repair was so seamless that the Landmarks Preservation Commission later described the building as designed for an oddly shaped lot.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1947

    January 8

    Dock boss Anthony Hintz is shot six times in his hallway and names "Johnny" as the gunman

    Anthony Hintz, a boss stevedore on the waterfront, answered his door at No. 61 on January 8, 1947 and was hit by six bullets. He told his wife the shooter was "Johnny," and during 25 days in the hospital he identified John "Cockeye" Dunn, with Andrew Sheridan and Daniel Gentile as accomplices. All three were found guilty of first-degree murder and condemned to the electric chair.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1953

    March 17

    The slain stevedore's eight-year-old son disappears from the street, prompting a 13-state alarm

    Six years after Anthony Hintz was murdered in the building, his son Edward vanished from the street in front of No. 61 on March 17, 1953, after his mother had told investigators she received threatening phone calls. Police issued a 13-state alarm for the boy, and his mother was near collapse when she reported him missing late that night. He was found the next morning asleep in a truck cab around the corner, saying he had been afraid of punishment for staying out.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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