John R. Hedley House

96 West Houston Street | Greenwich Village | built 1831

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. 1831

    John R. Hedley likely builds a Federal row house at 96 West Houston Street

    This brick row house went up around 1831, most likely for John R. Hedley, and it began as a two-and-a-half-story home with a peaked roof and dormers. Its brickwork below the third story is laid in Flemish bond. In the 1920s the stoop was removed and the entrance lowered to street level, and the attic was raised to a full third story under a brick parapet.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1884

    January 14

    A kidnapped wife is held at 96 West Houston Street for six weeks

    Annie Eppler vanished from Washington Market on January 14, 1884, drugged by a former boarder, John Roggenbrod, who carried her to Philadelphia and forced her to live as his wife. The pair later took rooms at 96 West Houston Street, where she stayed six weeks before escaping. She returned to her husband in July 1885, and on August 25 Roggenbrod slashed her with a razor near Forsyth and Division Streets before being caught hiding in a cellar.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1898

    December 2

    Boarder "Sconchin" Maloney, a Western brawler, gets into a hotel fight

    Among the roomers of Andrew and Maria Jahn was "Sconchin" Maloney, a 60-year-old Irishman who had come from San Francisco in 1897, where he had worked for politicians and as a millionaires' bodyguard. Barred from many uptown hotels for quarreling, he was arrested for disturbing the peace on Broadway in November 1898. On December 2 he tried to buy a San Francisco newspaper at the Imperial Hotel and ended up in a fistfight with the house detective, who knew him from the West Coast.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1931

    November 10

    A car stolen from the front of the building ends in a shootout chase

    Just after midnight on November 10, 1931, owner Rocco Bochicchio reported his car stolen from outside 96 West Houston Street. Hours later patrolman Edward Rogers spotted its plate near Bayard and Mott Streets, and the driver sped off with his lights out. Rogers and a second officer commandeered a delivery truck and fired at the fleeing car through the streets; a third officer joined in a taxicab. The thief crashed at Third Avenue and 13th Street, and four of the six occupants were soon arrested.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1966

    Stage 9, a small theater, operates at 96 West Houston Street

    Around 1966 to 1969 the building housed Stage 9, one of several small theaters in the South Village. Its productions included an anti-war play, Botticelli, by Terrence McNally, and A Free Ride to Aunt Mercie's Soul by Jack Romano.

    “Other small theaters included Stage 9 at 96 West Houston Street, active around 1966-69, which presented, among other works, Terrence McNally’s anti-war play Botticelli…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

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