Levi Onderdonk House

90 Charles Street | West Village | built 1847

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. 1847

    Builder Levi Onderdonk constructs the house for his own family

    Levi Onderdonk, listed in directories as a carpenter though he was really an established builder, erected this 25-foot-wide Greek Revival house in 1847, when it was No. 78 Charles Street. He managed the New-York City Tract Society and was repeatedly re-elected assessor of the Ninth Ward. In March 1853 he advertised the house for sale, and the family appears to have moved to their Rockland County summer home.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1928

    March 12

    A tenant mistakes a detective in a new derby for her intruder and is arrested for screaming

    Peggy Darling, who called herself a mind reader and model, rented a room here in 1928. On March 10 she told police a man had forced his way in and taken $8, and Detective Joseph Sheldrick took her report. Two days later she spotted him on the corner, wearing a derby he had bought that afternoon, and screamed that he was the thief. She was arrested for disorderly conduct, apologized in court, and the charges were dropped.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1954

    The old rooming house is converted to one apartment per floor

    After decades of taking in roomers, the house was converted in 1954 to one apartment on each floor, including the basement. In 1970 the lower two floors were merged into a duplex. The block had been renumbered in 1936, which changed the address from 78 to 90, and a brick veneer, probably added around 1970, now covers the original front.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

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