Taking A Walk Through Time Along Little West 12th Street

Stretching just two short blocks between 9th and 10th Avenues (with Washington Street in between), Little West 12th Street is a unique street situated within the Meatpacking District, on the northern edge of Greenwich Village. Diminutive in name and extent, Little West 12th Street represents a big story about the development of this part of the neighborhood.

Village Preservation was instrumental in achieving landmark status for the Gansevoort Market Historic District in 2003, of which a portion of Little West 12th Street is a part. As the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation report for the district states, “the layout of streets within the historic district was shaped by the transition between the irregular pattern of northwestern Greenwich Village, extending as far north as Gansevoort Street, and the regularized grid of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan.”

That West 12th Street and Little West 12th Street are spaced four blocks apart is a quirk of this confluence of street grids. For the most part, the path of [not-so-little] West 12th Street follows the standard east-west layout of the majority of Manhattan’s streets. But at Greenwich Avenue, West 12th hits an angle, merging into the older, less rigid layout of the original Greenwich Village street pattern. Several blocks north, a new street was laid out where West 12th Street would have continued had it not been interrupted: Little West 12th Street.

The majority of Little West 12th Street’s historic buildings were purpose-built as markets and warehouses. The street technically extends slightly east of 9th Avenue to Gansevoort Street, but that piece of Little West 12th Street is indiscernible on the ground today, as it is now part of Gansevoort Plaza.

On the north side of the plaza sits No. 1 Little West 12th Street, a three-story, neo-Grec style store-and-loft building constructed in 1887 when Gansevoort Street was widened. Its cast iron storefront framing, red brick upper floors, and ghost signage at the second floor are all typical architectural materials of the district. Adjacent larger warehouse buildings, Nos. 3 and 5, comprise the rest of this block.

Across 9th Avenue, the next stretch of Little West 12th Street features three relatively large buildings. No. 7-11 Little West 12th Street is a two-story garage, formerly a series of stables and wagon storage buildings that were later combined. Taking up half the block, the P.F. Collier & Son Building (17-37 Little West 12th Street) was built in 1901-02 by architecture firm Trowbridge & Livingston as a publishing house. The through-block building features neo-Classical facades on both the Little West 12th Street and West 13th Street sides. The adjacent corner lot is home to a two-story Art Deco market building, a relatively rare architectural style for this neighborhood.

The south side of the street contains mostly red-brick market and stable buildings varying from one to six stories in height. Many feature the metal canopies that were once installed throughout this neighborhood, used to hang drying meat when this was a meat market.

Three mid-block row houses, Nos. 8, 10, and 12, stand out on this predominantly non-residential block, and are among the oldest extant buildings within this historic district. These vernacular houses, built c. 1849 and 1852 (No. 12) and altered in 1895, “contribute to the historically-mixed architectural character and varied uses – including residences and market-related functions – of the Gansevoort Market Historic District.”

While the westernmost portion of Little West 12th Street, between Washington Street and 10th Avenue, is located outside of the bounds of the Gansevoort Market Historic District, it is part of the Gansevoort Market State Register of Historic Places District.

This bit of Little West 12th Street is crossed by the High Line; beneath the elevated railway, the north side of the block features several historic one-story buildings that interact with the High Line structure. Next to those is a currently vacant lot, which used to house a simple three-story building that was demolished c. 2010. One can currently see the exposed steel reinforcements for the wall of the adjacent row house, now home to the Brass Monkey bar, but these details are soon to be covered: there is a new proposal to construct a 131-foot-tall development on this lot, reported to contain 12 residential units.

The pending condo structure is a minor change relative to the vast proposal across the street. The south side of the street currently contains the old Gansevoort Meat Market, but that is very soon to change. In an alarming move by the City, a Request for Proposals was rapidly issued to develop the site, with little acknowledgement of community concerns or input. Read more here to learn about Village Preservation’s efforts to compel the city to focus on affordable, contextual housing on this site, and what you can do to help.