The Ava

9 East 10th Street | Greenwich Village | built 1888

Open on the map3 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. 1888

    October 4

    A night watchman tries to burn down the newly finished Ava

    Watchman David B. Thomas set three separate fires in the just-completed apartment building. A neighboring watchman, Edward Willoughby, spotted and extinguished each blaze, leading to Thomas's arrest.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1888

    Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell build the Ava on a lot bought from a neighbor

    Developer William Hamilton Russell, a partner in the architecture firm, purchased the lot from decorator Lockwood de Forest next door and raised a five-story Renaissance Revival building faced in beige brick. A carved teakwood plaque flanked by elephants announced its name, the Ava, echoing De Forest's carving next door.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1931

    Novelist Dawn Powell moves into the Ava

    Powell settled into the building with her husband, Joe, and their young son, writing in her diary that the quiet apartment let her soul "breathe deep breaths." She lived there until 1942, when rising costs pushed the family to a cheaper apartment nearby.

    Source: Ephemeral New York

Further reading

Nearby

All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village