Henry Kloppenburg House

78 Perry Street | West Village | built 1869

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. 1869

    Builder William Mulry adds 78 Perry Street to a row of Italianate houses

    William Mulry, a builder and contractor, put up the house in 1869 and sold it to Henry Kloppenburg as his home. Architect John O'Neil followed the pattern Robert Mook had set for the neighboring houses at Nos. 72 through 76. Later alterations gave it a new brick front and a basement entrance, and its lintels were stuccoed over.

    “It was erected in 1869 by William Mulry, a builder and contractor, who sold it to Henry Kloppenburg for his residence.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1892

    November 11

    Coal dealer Henry Kloppenburg dies in the house he bought from its builder

    Henry Kloppenburg ran a coal business, Henry Kloppenburg & Son, with a yard at 400 West 14th Street, and lived in the house with his wife Meta and their four children. He died there on November 11, 1892, at 77. Meta died in August 1902 and their daughter Matilda two months later, after which son Frederick moved to Brooklyn and sold the house in March 1903.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1908

    January 21

    A boarder has a neighbor arrested for pelting her with salt bags meant as an evil charm

    By 1908 the house was a boarding house. Marget Page, one of its residents, told a magistrate on January 21 that Mary Kleinder of 15 Bank Street had lain in wait outside and thrown small salt-filled bags, meant as an evil charm, with insulting letters attached. Kleinder suspected Page of meddling in her household. The magistrate thought Kleinder insane and sent her to Bellevue Hospital for examination.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1925

    November 12

    Radio publicist Thurston Macauley and his actress bride settle in a rented apartment

    Thurston Macauley, publicity man for radio station WGBS, was among the tenants renting space in the house in the 1920s. He married the actress Marion Berry in 1925 and the couple honeymooned on Nantucket. The Sun reported on November 12 that the pair was back from the trip and settled at 78 Perry Street.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1992

    June

    A restoration rebuilds the missing stoop and wins a Landmarks Commission award

    The house had lost its stoop in a 1935 conversion to apartments and was later given a brick veneer. After Arnold Saltzman bought it in 1989, his architects copied the stoop and Italianate railings from the intact houses at 74 and 76 Perry Street, replaced the window frames and installed new double doors. The work was finished in 1992 and won a Landmarks Preservation Commission award that June.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

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