Greenwich Village Historic District Virtual Map + Tours

Author: Anna Carl

The following post was written by Anna Carl, Village Preservation’s Summer 2025 graduate-level intern. Anna was instrumental in creating our new-and-improved Greenwich Village Historic District Virtual Map and Tours.

Introduction

Village Preservation has just launched its new-and-improved Greenwich Village Historic District Virtual Map and Tours. The first version of this map was released in 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Over the past year, we’ve refreshed and updated the map to be even better than before.

The Greenwich Village Historic District, designated in 1969, remains a center for New York history, architecture, arts and culture. The 23 map tours include pictures of and information about the 2,200 buildings in the past and present as a guide to the city through different thematic perspectives.

Course of History Changed

On this tour, you can learn about some of the many residents of Greenwich Village who changed the course of history on a local, national and global scale.

One such stop is at the corner of Bleecker Street and Christopher Street. Here, at 329 Bleecker Street, is where John Randal Jr., the surveyor and chief engineer for New York City’s street commissioners, had his office. Between 1807 and 1809, the Commissioners met with Randal at this spot and came up with what would become the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, said to be among the most important documents in New York development history, which made official the grids and lines of the concrete jungle we know today.

Over at 141-145 West 13th Street, you will find the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church that threw the presidential election of 1884. The election, between Republican candidate James Blaine and Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, was a tight race which Republicans worried would result in Cleveland’s victory as the first Democratic president since the Civil War. Reverend Samuel Burchard, leader of the church and Republican loyalist, attempted to rally against the Democratic ticket, which he notoriously categorized as being part of the party of “Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion.” This strategy backfired, as it painted the Republican party and ultimately Blaine as anti-Catholic, allowing Democrats to narrowly win New York (largely from overwhelming turnout in largely immigrant, predominantly Catholic areas) and the electoral college, securing victory for Grover Cleveland as the 22nd president of the United States.

Social Change Champions

As a hub for arts and culture, Greenwich Village has attracted a lot of activists and advocates to the neighborhood. This tour explores the notable champions of social change who called these streets their homes.

Writer and activist James Baldwin, while born in Harlem, lived in Greenwich Village during some of his most prolific writing years. A strong proponent of civil and LGBTQ+ rights, Baldwin was living in the Village when he famously met then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to advocate for better treatment of Black people in the United States. He is additionally found in the Writers’ Homes and Haunts tour, where you can learn more about his contributions as an author.

Lorraine Hansberry wrote the play “A Raisin in the Sun” while living in her Greenwich Village home on Bleecker Street. She spent most of her life in Greenwich Village, despite being most frequently associated with Chicago where her play takes place. She moved multiple times throughout the Village, using the money she received from publications to eventually eventually purchase her home at 112 Waverly Place. Hansberry’s works explore the African American experience and critiques systems of segregation in America in perpetuating inequality. It was revealed after her death that she was a closeted lesbian.

Isamu Noguchi is renowned as a talented sculptor but also took up the cause of Japanese-American rights during the Second World War era when anti-Japanese sentiment in America peaked. Noguchi (whose father was Japanese and mother was white) voluntarily subjected himself to internment (mandatory internment only applied to Japanese Americans in the western part of the country). In addition, Noguchi formed the “Nisei Writers and Artists Mobilization for Democracy.” A deeper dive into his legacy in arts and advocacy can be found in the tour “Artists’ Homes and Haunts” and our previously published blog post “Isamu Noguchi: Artist of the Century.”

Most Charming Spots

Not only do the tours guide you through the rich history and culture of Greenwich Village, there are also opportunities to explore the character of the neighborhood. The Most Charming Spots tour takes you through a handful of the Village’s most picturesque spots that may be hidden to the unfamiliar eye.

75 ½ Bedford Street, for example, is the narrowest house in the Greenwich Village Historic District. This house was originally built during a time when Greenwich Village was known as an immigrant neighborhood that attracted flocks of new New Yorkers to the city. The land was sold to Horatio Gomez, a Village physician, Jewish philanthropist and fan of architecture, who designed the building in the Dutch style with its archetypical gabled roofs.

A handful of the tour stops feature the Village’s “Squares that aren’t squares,” celebrating the patches of public spaces and greenery that are speckled throughout the neighborhood. One such stop is Abingdon “Square,” which could be seen as more of a triangle or trapezoid. Abingdon Square is known for its Abingdon Square Memorial, which you may know it as the “Abingdon Doughboy.”

Perhaps the quirkiest of these charming gems is the place where Greenwich Village becomes especially confused when Waverly Place intersects with itself. This self-intersection creates a four-sided block bounded by Grove Street, Christopher Street, Waverly Place, and Waverly Place! The plot of land was originally donated to the city on the condition that whatever was built there would be used to treat the indigent poor, and thus the Northern Dispensary emerged. One notable dispensary patient was none other than Edgar Allen Poe, who went in complaining of a head cold during the winter of 1837.

Conclusion

These are only a handful of the treasures that await you in the Greenwich Village Historic District Virtual Map and Tours. Take the opportunity to delve deeper into our neighborhood through the updated interactive map website here. And cheers to many more years of history, arts, oddities and culture!