Bar Pisillino 100 7th Ave South Part 3 Bar Pisillino in the West Village is in one of the area’s newer buildings. 100 7th Avenue was built in 1933 for Raffaele Ruggiero with retail and office space. The triangle lot is a little bizarre for New York but not so much for the West Village. The building is on the site of a former six story factory, which was demolished when 7th Avenue was expanded in order to extend the 1/2/3 trains further south. It was landmarked as a part of the West Village Historic District on April 29th, 1969.
When I was growing up, the portable expansions we had for our school weren’t quite as nice as this. This is the former Public School 9 Annex, yes, annex. It was built in 1895 on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights to alleviate the crowding of PS 9, now PS 111, directly across the street. The architect was an Irish born Brooklynite named James Naughton. Naughton was trained in Milwaukee and drew his inspiration from the other civic buildings and monuments being built in Brooklyn at the time, including the Brooklyn Museum and Grand Army Plaza. It no longer serves as a school and was converted into co-op apartments in 1989. It was landmarked by The City of New York on January 10th, 1978.
The West Village has some of the most expensive properties in the city, if not the entire country. However their beginnings were substantially more humble. Take 311 West 11th Street. This was the guest house of Annie Leibowitz’s compound, which was sold to the niece of George W. Bush and her husband, Ralph Lauren’s son for $28.5 Million. In contrast, its original owner, Henry Pray, was a neighborhood butcher when he built this in 1837. Pray built both this building and 755 Greenwich Avenue around the corner. 311 West 11th was available for rent in 2018 for $12,600 per month, if you look up the floorpan on Street Easy, you’ll see that it’s only a 2 bedroom and isn’t exactly spacious but location I guess? It was landmarked as part of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29th, 1969. Swipe to see it without ivy.
It is my dream to own a brownstone in New York, so please buy my book link in my bio, but imagine being able to afford five, and then tear them down to build an even larger home. That’s exactly what happened here on 73rd Street with the construction of the Joseph Pulitzer Mansion. Born in Budapest in 1847, Joseph Pulitzer found his way to the United States during the Civil War, joining a calvary regiment full of Germans. After the war, he ended up in St. Louis and worked for a German language newspaper, the Westliche Post, which he would gain a controlling interest in. All the while he tirelessly studied English and by 1878 he was able to purchase the St. Louis Dispatch. He had a knack for investigating corruption which made him immensely popular and was eventually able to purchase the New York World. He hired Stanford White to design his home on the Upper East Side with heavy inspiration from Venetian palaces. Pulitzer would live here from 1903 until his death in 1911, and his family would continue to own it until the 1930s. There were two attempts to tear it down in the 30s and 50s, luckily both failed. In 1957 it was split into co-ops, from what StreetEasy tells me there are currently 16 different units. The Pulitzer mansion was landmarked as part of the Upper East Side Historic District on May 19th 1981.
Sometimes, historic districts yield interesting finds. Rosemary’s occupies a building that is landmarked but also relatively new. The original building on this site at the corner of west 10th and Greenwich Avenue was a three story brick building from 1890 that fit in with the surrounding neighborhood but was raised by sculptor William Zorach. The current building was completed in 1954, and was listed in the Department of Buildings as simply a “tax payer structure”. Nevertheless, there is a sense of continuity as the original building housed a bakery and the new one is now home to Rosemary’s Italian Restaurant. It was landmarked with the rest of the village on April 29th, 1969.
Have you ever tried to navigate in Queens and found yourself looking at 21st Street, 21st Road 21st Drive and 21st Avenue. On the surface, it makes absolutely no sense, until you spend a little time looking at the patterns. The reason why this system is so complicated comes from Queen’s rural origins. In 1898 when it became a borough of New York, Queens was made up of 80 towns, villages, and smaller communities with their own set of road names. The attempt to unify them into something semi logical took years but turned into what we know today. Hopefully by the end of this video, you’ll have a slightly better idea about how to find the right street, I mean road, I mean terrace, I mean avenue, you get the idea. #nychistory #queens
Located near Astor Place, the former Astor Library was built between 1849 and 1881 in various phases. It was the first free library in the city thanks to John Jacob Astor, one of the richest men in New York. It would go on to inspire other public buildings in the rest of the city. In 1895 the library closed and merged with the Tilden collection and Lenox Library to form the New York Public Library. As a result, the building was vacated in 1911. Nine years later in 1920, it was purchased for the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society but by 1965 it was in disuse again. Luckily the Public Theater opened in 1967 and restored the building. It would even become the launch pad for the Broadway hit “Hamilton”. The Library was landmarked by The City of New York on October 26th, 1965.
Did you know that New York used to be the piano making capital of the United States? Thanks to an influx of German immigrants in the second half of the 19th Century, at its peak New York had over 200 piano companies. This factory on the Astoria Waterfront was built for the Sohmer’s Piano Company which stayed here until 1982. Overshadowed by its more famous rival Steinway, also in Queens, Sohmer’s still had a robust business. Factories used to be billboards for their products which is why this looks a heck of a lot nicer than anything you’d find today, it helps that the architects also built a lot of cast iron buildings in SoHo. But as with all things loft looking in New York, they are now luxury condos. The Sohmer Piano Factory was landmarked on February 27th, 2007.
If you’re lucky, and you find yourself in Park Slope on a warm summer’s night, you might just get to hear some delightful melodies from the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. If you’re really lucky, you’ll be wandering around when they have their annual appeal, and have musical performances all over the neighborhood. The Conservatory was founded in 1897 by German Immigrants as a classical music conservatory in the European tradition, and was initially located at Franklin and Lefferts Place but moved to this townhouse on the corner of Lincoln Place and 7th Avenue in 1944. The home itself was constructed in 1881 for a Mr. M. Brasher, and served as his home for few years. After he moved out, the building was occupied by the Park Slope Masonic club until the conservatory moved in. It was landmarked as part of the Park Slope Historic District on July 17th, 1973.
York Avenue is a bit of an oddity, it only runs for a few miles on the Upper East Side before running into the east river. Another oddity is that even though it runs through the Yorkville neighborhood, the names have nothing to do with each other with the avenue being named for a Medal of Honor recipient from Tennessee.
Hicks Street is one of the longest in Brooklyn Heights with some of its oldest buildings. Laid out by brother’s John & Jacob Middagh Hicks, Number 57 here was built around 1826 for merchant James Howland. At the time of its construction, the home was two stories tall with the vaguely Parisian mansard roof added later. Up until around the 1970s, there was actually a store on the ground level, a laundry shop based on the 1940s tax photos. By 1980 it had been converted back into residential space. Today the home is two duplex apartment units. It was landmarked as a part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District on November 23rd, 1965.
With today being Veterans Day, I wanted to share a few different war memorials located around NYC, this is far from a comprehensive list by the way. These span from the Revolutionary War to the First World War which is where the date for Veterans Day was chosen, the 11 hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to call a cease fire. Here is a full list of monuments and their completion dates. Prison Ship Martyrs Monument Fort Greene Park 1908 Statue of Minerva Altar to Liberty Green-Wood Cemetery 1920 Statue of Sherman Grand Army Plaza Manhattan 1903 Soldier and Sailors Memorial Arch Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn 1892 Civil War Monument Green-Wood Cemetery 1869 Soldiers and Sailors Monument Riverside Park 1902 107th Infantry Memorial WWI 1927
With the holiday season coming up, I thought now is as good a time as any to give a 2025 NYC history book recommendation list. These are some that I’ve currently been working on, and since I had to keep this video to under 3 minutes I left a ton out. I have another older video with some additional books that I like so if you’re adventurous you can try to find that one. The best part about these videos though are the recommendations that you leave in the comments so please feel free to add your own, I would just preface it with what kind of book it is, fiction, non fiction, NYC based but not historical etc, all are welcome. Below is the are the titles from this video: Black Gotham by Carla Peterson Names of New York by Joshua Jelly-Shapiro Seeking New York by Tom Miller Walking New York by Keith Tallion Hidden Landmarks of New York by yours truly (Tommy Silk) The Great Bridge by David McCullough Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto Napoleon of New York by H. Paul Jeffers I wanted most of these to be easy readable histories, rather than reference books like Gotham or super large ones like The Power Broker, if you don’t have the appetite for that I would also recommend the 99% Invisible podcast covering it chapter by chapter. Let me know what you think.
The entrance to the Holland Tunnel is a bleak place. Commuters stuck in traffic slower than walking may have noticed this group of buildings before descending to the depths of the Hudson. They are a rare cluster of early 19th-century shops and houses left in the neighborhood. Built between 1818-1841, it’s honestly a miracle they weren’t torn down and shows you how much the area has changed. In the designation report by the Landmarks Preservation Commission from 1998, the buildings look incredibly worn down. It’s hard to believe that was just under 30 years ago, with Tribeca real estate being what it is. What’s even more crazy to think about is the guy who built the first two, John Smith, was able to build and live in them by making starch and hair powder. This is a pretty common theme with these older buildings, showing you really need to get in before the neighborhood even exists to afford it. They sit on the corner of Greenwich and Canal Street and were landmarked on June 30th, 1998.
Today the Rockefeller Christmas Tree was delivered from East Greenbush NY. It will be lit Dec 3rd and be on display until mid January 2026.
There are few things as quaint in this fine city as a wooden home in Brooklyn Heights. This particular house at 25 Cranberry Street was built some time before 1829, based on other homes in the neighborhood, it’s safe to say it was sometime between 1820-1829 or so. This would have been an early home on the former estate of the Hick’s brothers, who had subdivided their family estate for residential development and gave the streets their names. When the home was built, Brooklyn Heights had a different numbering system, so this was actually 45 Cranberry Street. That changed in 1871 when it became No. 25. At that time, the owner of the home was a James Heckler, who was an early medical device salesman, or surgical device dealer, as he was called back then. When looking up the address in the archive of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Heckler was reported to have been called for jury duty in a murder trial but was not empaneled. Looking through that article is a bit of a head scratcher, as it literally listed the names, and addresses, of all of the jurors who were called, and empaneled for the trial. Could you imagine that today? A newspaper just casually identifying the names and location of all the jurors in a murder trial? Anyway, what might be more shocking than that is that the house sold in 2020 for $1.5 Million dollars which is a STEAL. I’m wondering if it was a sale to a close friend or if the house was in rough shape, either way kudos to whoever lives there now. 25 Cranberry Street was landmarked as part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District on November 23rd, 1965. This was taken on Kodak Ektar 100. #filmphotography #nyc #brooklyn #nychistory
Community Help in Park Slop (CHiPS) has been serving the neighborhood for over 50 years. Today its mission is absolutely vital to helping hungry New Yorkers and those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness. The organization started off as a humble soup kitchen in the basement of St. Francis Xavier Church with one hot plate and fruits and vegetables donated by neighbors, to today cooking over 600 meals per day. In this day and age, helping organizations like this one are so incredibly important to make sure our neighbors don’t go hungry. I’ll be donating all of the money made from this video to CHiPS and hope you consider a donation too. CHiPS goes to show that just a small act of kindness can turn into a powerful force for good.
Pete’s Tavern, has been serving New Yorkers since 1864 and is one of the oldest continually operated restaurants in the entire city. While the building dates back to 1829, it would take until the waning years of the Civil War for a bar to open in 1864. The forty foot bar, as well as tin ceilings are all original to that 1864 conversion. It would take until the 20th century for the bar to get its current name, when it was purchased by Peter D’Belles. Having sold alcoholic beverages since its inception, Pete’s had to get creative during prohibition, disguising itself as a flower shop, with patrons entering a speakeasy via the side door. The bar was very popular with Tammany Hall politicians whose headquarters was around the corner. Apart from crooked politicians, the bar was a favorite for different writers like O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) and Ludwig Bemelmens who allegedly wrote Madeline there. This Gramercy icon is located on the corner of Irving Place and East 18th Street. It was landmarked as a part of the Gramercy Park Historic District on September 20th, 1966.
Some people have names that seem to match their profession, just look at most weathermen or athletes, Charles Scribner is a perfect fit for publishing. Charles Scribner was trained as a lawyer at Princeton but decided he wasn’t cut out for that line of work instead he formed a publishing company in 1846 focusing mostly on religious books. However that scope would expand to include the first US publishing of the Encyclopedia Brittanica and eventually magazines. After Scribner’s death, his son Charles Scribner II took over and moved their headquarters to this building on 5th Avenue between 20th and 21st Streets. He hired his brother in law Ernest Flagg to design it and the Scribner Building opened its doors in 1893. If you’ve seen my recent video on the Jennings mansion, that was another work by Flagg. Scribner and Sons would remain here until 1913 when the publishing world began shifting to midtown. The company moved to another Flagg designed building on 48th and 5th which you can see in the second photo. The original building was later purchased by the United Synagogue of America and is currently boutique office space. It was landmarked by The City of New York on September 14th, 1976.
If you were the richest person in the world, what kind of house would you build? That was a “conundrum” facing Andrew Carnegie as he and his family moved from Pittsburgh to New York at the turn of the 20th Century to settle into a life of retirement and philanthropy. What he settled on was this 64 room mansion located as far north as he could be from his fellow Robber Barrons while having space for a Garden. The Carnegie Mansion is currently home to the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design, which has occupied the building since the 1970s. I was lucky enough to receive a tour right before the government shutdown while they were in-between exhibitions which gave me, and by proxy you, a chance to see the mansion without any art displayed, an absolute rarity. When the museum reopens, they will be putting on two new exhibits, the Art of Noise and Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne, which will be well worth the visit even just to see the amazing building these pieces will be displayed in. So tell me, if you had the money, what would you have done differently. Honestly I can’t get enough of the wood paneling.