647 Broadway
NoHo | built 1859
Open on the map5 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.
- 1855
Pfaff's beer cellar, listed at 647 Broadway before 1862, becomes a haunt for Whitman and New York's bohemians
Charles Pfaff opened his vaulted beer cellar on Broadway near Bleecker Street in 1855. Sources give its address as 647 Broadway before 1862 and 653 Broadway after 1865, and because the present building here dates only from 1858-59, a cellar listed at 647 in the 1850s would have been in an earlier structure on the lot. Regulars included Walt Whitman, the journalist Henry Clapp, the actress Ada Clare and the actor Edwin Booth. Pfaff moved uptown in 1870, and Whitman later recalled the suppers there with his friends.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1858
Italianate loft buildings go up at 645 and 647 Broadway as the street turns commercial
Two similar five-story brick buildings with marble fronts went up here in 1858-59, and the original owner was either C. Roosevelt or Joseph Agate. They rose as this part of Broadway shifted from a prime residential address to a commercial district. Department of Buildings records have been lost, but fire escapes were added before 1910 and around 1938, and the upper floors are still lofts.
“…constructed in 1858-59 for either C. Roosevelt or Joseph Agate at a time when this section of Broadway was changing from a prime residential address to a commercial area…”
- 1942
Composer Luke Theodore Upshure gives 647 Broadway as his last known address
Luke Theodore Upshure, a Greenwich Village composer and music teacher who earned his living at menial jobs such as janitor, listed 647 Broadway on his World War II draft registration card in 1942. His Wikipedia biography notes that the building was entirely commercial, so he was probably either using it as an address of convenience or living there illicitly. In the 1930s he was known for hosting parties for artists, musicians and writers.
“It shows him to be living at 647 Broadway. Because that building was entirely devoted to commerce, where there were no residential quarters…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
David Mancuso holds the first Loft party, "Love Saves the Day," at his home at 647 Broadway
On Valentine's Day 1970 David Mancuso hosted about 100 guests in his loft at 645-647 Broadway, the first "Love Saves the Day" party. Weekly parties followed, running from midnight to 6 a.m. with a $2 admission, and nothing was sold on the premises. Mancuso and engineer Alex Rosner tuned a high-end sound system for the 1,850-square-foot space, and the Loft is regarded as the site of the first underground dance party.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1972
Police raid Mancuso's Loft party and arrest him for running an unlicensed cabaret
In 1972 the Loft had its first police raid, and David Mancuso was arrested at first for running an unlicensed cabaret. He fought the charge successfully because no alcohol was sold and the parties were closed to the public. Afterward he set up a warning system with lights: when they turned red, the music was lowered, the lights came up and everyone sat on the floor.
“The Loft experienced its first police raid in 1972 and Mancuso was initially arrested for operating an unlicensed cabaret.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- A 10th Street studio brings artists to the VillageEphemeral New York
Nearby
- 645 Broadway1 entry
- 643 Broadway1 entry
- 649 Broadway5 entries
- 89 Bleecker Street2 entries
- 659 Broadway2 entries
- Bleecker Court77 Bleecker Street | 1 entry