91 7th Avenue South

also 14 Barrow Street | West Village | built 1900

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1841

   A Greek Revival town house goes up at 14 Barrow Street for James Roberts

   James Roberts had a three-story Greek Revival town house built at 14 Barrow Street in 1841. It was first altered in 1907, when a store with paneled cast-iron columns and a metal beam was fitted in at street level. The Greek Revival cornice with dentils survives as the crown of the small building.

   “…built originally for James Roberts in 1841 and was first altered in 1907…”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1930

   Vincent Bonavia opens Bonnie's Stone Wall, a speakeasy and forerunner of the Stonewall Inn

   Vincent Bonavia opened a speakeasy called Bonnie's Stone Wall at 91 Seventh Avenue South in 1930. It sold liquor illegally during Prohibition and was raided in December 1930. The name may have come from The Stone Wall, a lesbian autobiography by Mary Casal. After Prohibition was repealed, Bonavia relocated in 1934 to 51-53 Christopher Street.

   “Vincent Bonavia had opened Bonnie's Stone Wall (or Bonnie's Stonewall) at 91 Seventh Avenue South, near the Christopher Street buildings, in 1930.”

   Source: Wikipedia

3. 1933

   A leftover of a Grove Street apartment house at 91 Seventh Avenue South is cut down to one story

   The cutting through of Seventh Avenue left the triangular lot at 91 Seventh Avenue South as the remnant of an apartment house, six stories tall, whose front was on Grove Street. The remnant was reduced from four stories to one in 1933. Village Preservation describes the result as an unassuming red brick building.

   Source: Village Preservation

4. 1954

   May

   Helen Gee opens the Limelight, a coffeehouse and photography gallery, in a derelict nightclub

   Helen Gee opened the Limelight in May 1954 at 91 Seventh Avenue South, at Sheridan Square, fixing up an abandoned nightclub. It combined a coffeehouse with a gallery devoted to photography, and over seven years she hung about sixty shows, giving many photographers a first exhibition. She sold prints by Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott and Robert Frank, among others.

   Source: aperture.org

5. 1991

   The Jekyll & Hyde Club opens as a themed restaurant billed as haunted, with skeletons on the roof

   In 1991 the Jekyll & Hyde Club opened here, a themed restaurant and bar styled after British explorers' clubs of the 1930s and billed as New York's only haunted restaurant. A row of five skeletons was still peering over the roofline in 2023. Its branding and a sidewalk engraving claimed a 1931 founding, which Village Preservation calls false. The restaurant closed for good in 2022.

   Source: Village Preservation

Further reading

• Then & Now photos: 14 Barrow StreetVillage Preservation: Greenwich Village Then & Now

Nearby

• Jekyll and Hyde Club16 Barrow Street | 2 entries
• Sheridan Square Playhouse97 7th Avenue South | 5 entries
• 87 7th Avenue South2 entries
• 101 7th Avenue South4 entries
• One If By Land, Two If By Sea17 Barrow Street | 2 entries
• Jack Delaney's Restaurant72 Grove Street | 3 entries

All 1,156 buildings with stories in West Village