Nathaniel Clark House
767 Washington Street | also 366 West 12th Street | West Village | built 1842
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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.
- 1842
Nathaniel Clark builds a corner house that still looks like an older Federal one
In 1842 Nathaniel Clark put up a three-story brick house at the southeast corner of Washington and Troy Streets (later West 12th Street). The Landmarks Preservation Commission calls it the only early-19th-century building left on its block, noting that its gabled end and proportions echo much earlier Federal houses. A store occupied the street level, as was common for corner houses, with a dentiled cornice above.
- 1845
Clark seeks relief from his debts, and his widow keeps the house going
On October 7, 1845, Nathaniel Clark applied to be discharged as an insolvent debtor, only three years after building the house. He died in 1848. His widow, Ellen, held on to the property by renting out the ground-floor store and taking in a boarder, Susan Wright, a teacher at a Grand Street girls' school. Daughter Mary Elizabeth went on to teach as well and left home when she married in 1857.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1867
Grocer's son is arraigned for selling liquor without a license
Frederick Muller ran a grocery in the ground-floor store by 1855 and bought the building around 1861, moving his family upstairs. Like most groceries, it stocked wine, but he had no license to sell it. On February 11, 1867, the New York Herald reported that his son John, who helped in the store, was arraigned on the charge and held in bail. The Mullers stayed until about 1890.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1947
Restaurant partner John D. Buck dies in a crash near his Washington Street restaurant
By World War II the grocery store had become a restaurant, and in 1947 it was Buck & Grover. Partner John D. Buck, a German-born man who had long wanted to work in restaurants, commuted from Forest Hills, Queens. Early on Saturday, April 26, 1947, near the corner of Hudson and Jane Streets, his vehicle crashed and he was killed instantly. His son John Jr. planned to carry on the business.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1982
Tortilla Flats moves into the ground floor and becomes a neighborhood fixture
Tortilla Flats, a Mexican restaurant, took over the ground floor in 1982. Its showy decoration and frozen margaritas made it a neighborhood staple, and an episode of the television series Sex and the City placed a double date for Carrie, Miranda, Steve and Aidan here. In 2006 critic Mimi Sheraton wrote in the Times that the Tex-Mex food was beside the point and the nightly New Year's Eve-style party was the draw.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
Further reading
- The 1842 Nathaniel Clark House - 767 Washington Street Daytonian in Manhattan
- Then & Now photos: 366 West 12th Street (aka 767 Washington Street)Village Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now
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