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Handwritten Records Cracked the Case at 50 West 13th Street

Handwriting may be a bit of a lost art these days. But handwritten records remain hugely important when conducting historical research. The vast majority of extant original houses in New York City were built in the 1800s, and all of the initial information about these buildings was documented by hand. Even after the typewriter became a common tool throughout the United States, in the late nineteenth century surveyors, census data collectors, and Department of Buildings inspectors (the NYC DOB was founded in 1892) would continue to hand write their findings. All of these records, saved within the city’s holdings and other archives, preserve compelling data about the history of our city’s built environment.

1940s tax photograph for 50 West 13th Street

Architectural historians spend significant time navigating primary sources, and often these handwritten artifacts lead to breakthroughs in the research. Such was the case for 50 West 13th Street, which Village Preservation succeeded in getting landmarked in 2024, following a four year campaign. Handwritten records proved to be key in convincing the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate the building an individual landmark.

Village Preservation’s initial research showed that the building was constructed circa 1846-47 in the Greek Revival style, and that it held cultural significance with its deep connections to the Off-Off Broadway theater movement, and was a relic of early nineteenth-century architecture in an area of Greenwich Village where relatively few original houses remain. We then sought to dig deeper into the history of the residents of the building, to determine what other important layers of cultural history the house might hold.

Jacob Day’s 1872 record with the Freedman’s Bank

The first breakthrough came to us by way of a handwritten 1872 bank record. It corroborated a number of pieces of information that we had been gathering about Jacob Day, one of New York’s most successful and prominent African American businessmen, who purportedly both lived in and ran his catering company out of 50 West 13th Street. The discovered record, above, included his age (52), occupation (caterer), and residential address (50 West 13th Street).

We had already unearthed an advertisement for Day’s catering company in the 1894 City Directory, listing 50 West 13th Street as its address. But the bank record helped to confirm a few important things: that the building was also Day’s residence, not solely his business address; and data about his family, age, and occupation also helped us to verify that this was the same Jacob Day.

Advertisement for Jacob Day’s Sons Caterers from the 1894 New York City Directory

Upon researching Day’s life and his impact as a prominent Black businessman, abolitionist, and dedicated member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church, we further learned that he hosted a number of boarders in his home at 50 West 13th Street. We thus knew that the 1860, 1870, and 1880 census records could be used to track down some of these residents (Day lived in the building from c. 1858 to 1884).

Census record dated December 21, 1870, showing residents of
Jacob Day’s property, 50 West 13th Street, including Sarah Tompkins, her sister Emma Smith, and her daughter Selina.

We found that many of the boarders were widows and/or young teachers, likely connected to Day through his church community. The vast majority identified as Black (at the time, one of the census categories was “color,” with the following choices: White, Black, Mulatto, Chinese, Indian). One such teacher was identified as Charlotte Smith, who taught at Ward Primary School Nos. 25 & 26 at 98 West 17th Street. Another was Sarah Smith Tompkins… which became our next breakthrough!

50 West 13th Street (l.) and Sarah Smith Tompkins Garnet

The historian Eric K. Washington first directed us to the significance of Sarah’s name in the 1870 census. She was listed as “Sarah Tompkins” and with the occupation of “keeping house,” while her sister, Emma Smith, was listed just above her as a “teacher.” But Eric identified this as the listing of the Sarah Tompkins who was herself a teacher, and who would be remembered as Sarah Tompkins Garnet, one of the first Black women to become principal of a New York City Public School, and a vocal abolitionist and pioneering suffragist. Once we were aware of this connection, we were able to hone in on other documentation that further proved it. We soon found Board of Education records that listed Sarah Tompkins’ home address as 50 West 13th Street, verifying that she lived there for close to a decade.

Click here to see our final letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission detailing this discovery, dated April 22, 2024; just two months later, on June 18th, the LPC voted to calendar 50 West 13th Street, the first step in the landmarking process. On October 22, 2024, the building became an individual landmark.

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