131 Charles Street WSTM Three Blind Mice 0014

Charles Street is a street in the

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The West Village is bounded by the Hudson River to the west and 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It runs east to west from

Greenwich Avenue Greenwich Avenue, formerly Greenwich Lane, is a southeast-northwest avenue located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It extends from the intersection of 6th Avenue and 8th Street at its southeast end to ...

West Street The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern ...

. The street was named after Charles Christopher Amos, who owned the parcel the street passed through. Amos is also the namesake of

Christopher Street Christopher Street is a street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is the continuation of 9th Street west of Sixth Avenue. It is most notable for the Stonewall Inn, which is located on Christopher St ...

, two blocks to the south, and the former Amos Street, which is now West 10th Street. Charles Lane is a one-block alley located between Charles and Perry Streets and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and West Streets. From 1866 to 1936, the section of Charles Street between

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightlife, nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood popular today for music venues and comedy as well as a ...

and West 4th Street was called Van Ness (sometimes Van Nest) Place after a farm, owned by the Van Ness family, which had occupied the square bounded by Bleecker, West 4th, Charles and Perry Streets until 1865. Most of Charles Street – from Greenwich Avenue to Washington Street – is part of the Greenwich Village Historic District and Extensions, including the 1834

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...

house at 131 Charles Street, which is both a

New York City landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

(1966) and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(1972). p.58 Outside the historic district, but a designated city landmark (2007), is 159 Charles Street, the sole survivor of nine

Greek revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

houses built c.1838 at the former location of Newgate Prison. Other buildings of note on Charles Street include the

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

Memphis Downtown apartments at No. 140, designed by Rothzeid, Kaiserman, Thomson & Bee and completed in 1986; an eight-floor 2007 "glass box" apartment building at No. 163, designed by Daniel Goldner;

Richard Meier Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...

's sixteen-story 165 Charles Street (2006), the third of a trio which includes 173 and 176 Perry Street, all of them glass boxes strung side-by-side along West Street; the 1930 ten-story Greenwich Towers at 726 Greenwich Street, which takes up the block of Greenwich Street between Charles and Perry Streets; and the 1840 brick row houses at 40, 50, and 52-54 Charles, which have been converted to studios. No. 31 Charles Street, the Carolus Apartments, marks the former location of the Charles Street Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1844 as the Third Associate Presbyterian Church. The Jewish Congregation Darech Amuno settled at 53 Charles Street in 1917, after having had multiple previous locations since its founding in 1838. The synagogue was altered by Somerfield and Steckler from an existing building. 135 Charles Street, also known as "The Gendarme" or "Le Gendarme," was built in 1896 and served as the 6th Police Precinct until it was converted to apartments in 1977. In March 1970, a year after the nearby

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

, 167 people were arrested following a raid on a gay bar called the Snake Pit. They were brought back to 135 Charles Street where one of the prisoners, an Argentinian immigrant named Diego Vinales, jumped from the third story and was critically injured. This caused a crowd of 500 to march to the building in protest.

Notable residents

* Rock musician

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and Lead vocalist, frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was fo ...

Notable residents

Notes

References

External links