45 Christopher Street
{{Short description|Condominium in Manhattan, New York}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox building
| name = 45 Christopher Street
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| image = 45 Christopher St NYC.jpg
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| caption = On Christopher Park
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| building_type = Condominium
| architectural_style = Art Deco
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| current_tenants = 113 apartments
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| location = Christopher Park
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| location_town = 45 Christopher Street, New York, New York 10014
| location_country = United States
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|40|44|02|N|74|00|06.5|W |display=inline,title}}
| start_date = 1929
| completion_date = 1931
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| renovation_date = Converted to condominiums in 1987
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| floor_count = 18 including two penthouse floors
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| developer = Bing & Bing
| architect = Boak & Paris
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45 Christopher Street is a residential building on the north side of Christopher Street, near Christopher Park, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.
It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with the architectural firm of Boak & Paris.{{cite web|website=Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection|url=http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/17120|title=45 Christopher St.}} Russell M. Boak and Hyman F. Paris left the architectural firm of Emery Roth to start their own practice in 1927.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/15/realestate/streetscapes-manhattan-2-little-known-architects-of-distinctive-buildings.html?scp=1&sq=Boak%20and%20Paris&st=cse|title=Streetscapes/Manhattan; 2 Little-Known Architects of Distinctive Buildings|work=New York Times|date=July 15, 2001|url-access=subscription}}
The building was granted an occupancy license on July 17, 1931.{{Cite web |url=http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/000/017000/M000017697.PDF |title=New York City Certificate of Occupancy 1931. |access-date=April 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721032637/http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/000/017000/M000017697.PDF |archive-date=July 21, 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Development
The construction of 45 Christopher Street was part of a simultaneous development of five buildings in the area. Bing & Bing also worked with Boak and Paris on 302 West 12th Street.{{cite web|website=Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection|title=302 W. 12 St.|url=http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/16851}} They chose architect Emery Roth for both 299 West 12th Street{{cite web|website=Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection|title=299 W. 12 St.|url=http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/17812}} and 59 West 12th Street.{{cite web|website=Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection|title=59–69 W. 12 St.|url=http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/16847}} In addition, they chose to work with architect Robert T. Lyons on 2 Horatio Street.{{cite web|website=Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection|title=2 Horatio St.|url=http://nyre.cul.columbia.edu/projects/view/17299#images}}
Rivalry with Central Park West
Leo Bing announced on April 1, 1929, that his firm had quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and Jackson Square Park. And the lots would be combined to allow for a set of larger-scale, 17-story apartment buildings.
He said his goal was to "recreate the entire district as a modern counterpart of the high-class residential section it once was" saying it would "rival Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years." He cited the goal of neighborhood reinvention as the reason for the simultaneous building, saying his hope was that "complete transformation of the section may be achieved as quickly as possible."{{cite news|title=Bing & Bing Plan $40,000,000 Apartment Development on Lower West Side|newspaper=New York Times|date=April 2, 1929|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/02/archives/buy-75-village-lots-for-residence-area-bing-bing-plan-40000000.html}}
Despite the start of the Great Depression just months after Leo Bing's announcement, by September 1931, Bing & Bing reported that the "five new buildings on Christopher, Horatio and West Twelfth Streets are proving among the most popular of all the Bing & Bing apartment properties. Callers have been numerous…and a high percentage of the space has been leased."{{cite news|title=Tall apartments in Village centre. Presents rental problem.|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 27, 1931|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1931/09/27/archives/tall-apartments-in-village-centre-nine-new-buildings-in-greenwich.html}}
Notable residents and events
- Theodor Adorno, philosopher and cultural theoristAdorno: a biography, Stefan Müller-Doohm and Rodney Livingstone, Polity, 2005, p. 242 and Gastona Marie Rossilli, fashion-behavioral consultant,{{cite news |title=Gastona M. Rossilli, Fashion Consultant |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/02/07/archives/gastona-m-rossilli-fashion-consultant.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 7, 1970 |page=29 |access-date=August 1, 2010}} were residents.
- One of the ground floor shops was Lawrence R. Maxwell Books, where Anaïs Nin worked when she was young.Recollections of Anaïs Nin, Ohio University Press, 1996, p. 6.
- The building is adjacent to the Stonewall Inn; the windows of a ground floor shop were smashed during the Stonewall riots.{{cite news |title=Protest March by Homosexuals Sparks Disturbance in 'Village' |first=Frank J. |last=Prial |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/30/archives/protest-march-by-homosexuals-sparks-disturbance-in-village.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 30, 1970 |page=49 |access-date=August 1, 2010}}
- In 1934, an explosion in the 17th floor penthouse killed the occupant and injured many people on lower floors; police suspected suicide caused by a recent divorce.{{cite news |title=Penthouse Blast Kills A Woman, Rocks the Village |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/08/09/archives/penthouse-blast-kills-a-woman-rocks-the-village-nine-hurt-as-gas.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 9, 1934 |page=1 |access-date=August 1, 2010}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130215222610/http://www.emporis.com/building/45christopherstreetcondominiums-newyorkcity-ny-usa Emporis listing]}}
{{Greenwich Village}}
Category:1931 establishments in New York City
Category:1930s architecture in the United States
Category:Apartment buildings in New York City
Category:Art Deco architecture in Manhattan
Category:Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan