45 Christopher Street

45 Christopher Street is a residential building facing south onto Christopher Park in the Greenwich Village Historic District on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City.

45 Christopher Street
On Christopher Park
General information
TypeCondominium
Architectural styleArt Deco
LocationChristopher Park
Town or city45 Christopher Street, New York, New York 10014
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°44′02″N 74°00′06.5″W
Current tenants113 apartments
Construction started1929
Completed1931
RenovatedConverted to condominiums in 1987
Technical details
Floor count18 including two penthouse floors
Design and construction
ArchitectBoak & Paris
DeveloperBing & Bing

It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with the architectural firm of Boak & Paris.[1] Russell M. Boak and Hyman F. Paris left the architectural firm of Emery Roth to start their own practice in 1927.[2]

The building was granted an occupancy license on July 17, 1931.[3]

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.[4] They chose architect Emery Roth for both 299 West 12th Street [5] and 59 West 12th Street.[6] In addition, they chose to work with architect Robert T. Lyons on 2 Horatio Street.[7]

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.[8]

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.”[8]

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.”[9]

Notable residents and events
  • Theodor Adorno, philosopher and cultural theorist[10] and Gastona Marie Rossilli, fashion-behavioral consultant,[11] were residents.
  • One of the ground floor shops was Lawrence R. Maxwell Books, where Anaïs Nin worked when she was young.[12]
  • The building is adjacent to the Stonewall Inn; the windows of a ground floor shop were smashed during the Stonewall riots.[13]
  • 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.[14]

References
Notes
  1. Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection "45 Christopher St."
  2. New York Times, July 15, 2001.
  3. "New York City Certificate of Occupancy 1931" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-04-13.
  4. Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection "302 W. 12 St."
  5. Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection "299 W. 12 St." "
  6. Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection "59-69 W. 12 St."
  7. Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection "2 Horatio St."
  8. "Bing & Bing Plan $40,000,000 Apartment Development on Lower West Side," New York Times, April 2, 1929
  9. "Tall apartments in Village centre. Presents rental problem."New York Times, Sept. 27, 1931
  10. Adorno: a biography, Stefan Müller-Doohm and Rodney Livingstone, Polity, 2005, p. 242
  11. "Gastona M. Rossilli, Fashion Consultant". The New York Times. February 7, 1970. p. 29. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  12. Recollections of Anaïs Nin, Ohio University Press, 1996, p. 6.
  13. Prial, Frank J. (August 30, 1970). "Protest March by Homosexuals Sparks Disturbance in 'Village'". The New York Times. p. 49. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  14. "Penthouse Blast Kills A Woman, Rocks the Village". The New York Times. August 9, 1934. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
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