In 1843, construction of a row of Greek Revival-style homes along Jones Street near Bleecker Street was commenced. Although essentially identical, each of the brick-faced homes, completed in 1844, was erected by different owners. Among them was 28 Jones Street. Dorothy Peterson spent $3,700 for the project, including the land, or about $156,000 in 2025.
Like its neighbors, it was three stories tall above a brownstone English basement. The upper floors were faced in red brick and trimmed in brownstone. The single-doored entrance featured paneled pilasters, sidelights, and an ample transom above a denticulated cornice.
Peterson leased the residence to Cornelius Gerrrit Vanriper (sometimes spelled Van Riper). His wife, the former Caterina B. Demerest, was active in charity work and was a manager of the newly formed Ladies Benevolent Society, which was organized in the winter of 1843, just before the family moved into 28 Jones Street. Cornelius and Caterina had four children. As late as 1850, at least one of them, Anthony, still lived with his parents. He made his living as a carpenter.
The following year, the Vanripers moved nearby to 12 Jones Street and 28 Jones became home to John A. Berdan, a "casemaker," or furniture builder. As was common, in the rear yard was a small house. Along with the Berdans, three tenants were listed here. Benjamin C. Knapp ran a fancygoods store on Bleecker Street, Joseph B. Harriot was in the flour business on Charles Street, and the Mills family likely occupied the rear house.
Little George Mills attended the Ninth Ward School on Greenwich Street. On the morning of November 22, 1851, the primary department teacher, Miss Harrison, "was suddenly seized with a paralysis of the tongue," reported The Evening Post. (Today we would recognize the symptoms as that of a stroke.) Thinking that she needed a glass of water, one of the students ran into the hallway calling, "Water!" Pupils in other classrooms assumed a fire had broken out, and panic ensued. Screaming "Fire! Fire!" the students stampeded into the halls and onto the stairway.
The staircase, unable to handle the weight of the throng of children, collapsed. The New York Times reported that scores of children plummeted to the stone floor. "In this way, the area was instantly filled, and there they lay, one upon another, to the depth of ten or twelve feet." The Evening Post reported that 49 children were killed and many more severely injured. Among the dead was George Mills.
In 1855, Dorothy Peterson sold 28 Jones Street to Richard J. Yereance, a builder-carpenter. He married Charity E. Mabie on July 20, 1834 and the couple had one daughter, Catharine Louisa Edsall, born in 1838. By 1860, Catharine was teaching at the Ninth Street Church School on West 4th Street.
Catharine's days of teaching ended in 1863, when she married Everardus Warner on November 4. The newlyweds remained in the Jones Street house. Warner was a partner with Abraham Warner, presumably a brother, in a stationery business.
On September 5, 1865, Charity E. Yereance died at the age of 59. Her funeral was held in the parlor on the 7th. Richard moved to Charlton Street, where he died two years later.
Catherine's parents had transferred the title of the Jones Street property to her in 1862. At the time of Richard's death, the Warners had a one-year-old baby girl, Ida Louisa. In 1867, Abraham Warner moved in with the family (possibly into the rear house). The following year, another baby, Everadrus B., was born, and in 1871 Edgar E. arrived.
By the time of Edgar's birth, his father had changed course, now listing his profession as "gas." On December 21, 1875, Everardus added to his resume by enlisting in the 71st Regiment of Infantry. (He would change his job again in the 1880s, becoming an undertaker.)
A disturbing incident occurred on November 12, 1877. Mrs. Alfred Van Buren, described by the New York Herald as "a very attractive looking lady," visited the Warners. She and her husband lived on East 126th Street in Harlem. She left that evening and, said the newspaper two days later, "since then has not been heard from. She was of sane mind and lived happily with her husband, who is anxious for her safety."
Three weeks later, on December 6, The Morning Democrat reported, "Mrs. Alfred Van Buren...started on Jones street on the 12th of November, to take a Third avenue car for her home. She was suffering from neuralgia and the Lord only knows what [has] become of her." The story was circulated as far away as Iowa, but the missing woman was never found.
The Warners sold 28 Jones Street in 1887 to Edward and Annie Bachmann. Edward was a piano manufacturer. The couple rented the second floor to George Gross and his wife. Living with them were their two unmarried daughters. The New-York Tribune described Gross as "a German truckman," and The Evening World said he did, "a good business as a carman, owning half a dozen horses and as many trucks."
Unfortunately, the 54-year-old suffered a stroke in 1888. The New-York Tribune said it, "ruined his health, and his business did not pay." One-by-one, Gross liquidated his assets, selling his last horse in January 1889. The following month, on February 3, Gross suffered another stroke. One of the daughters, Lizzie, who was visiting friends in Irvington, New Jersey, was sent for. She arrived home on the evening of February 6. The Evening World said, "the father appeared very glad to see her. He talked a great deal about his ruined business, but was finally persuaded to retire."
The following morning, Gross arose at 6:00 and had breakfast, "but acted as if he was out of his mind," reported The Evening World. He rested on the sofa for an hour, then went to his room. Shortly after 8:00, while the women were in the kitchen, Lizzie heard a gunshot. They women ran to the bedroom to find Gross dead. The Evening World remarked frankly, "Mr. Gross was undoubtedly insane."
The Bachmanns continued to rent space in their home. An advertisement in The Sun on January 29, 1893, read, "Third floor, 3 rooms, with improvements; private house. 28 Jones st."
In 1905, the couple sold 28 Jones Street to the Cooperative Social Settlement Society of the City of New York. The group was founded in the house next door at 26 Jones Street by Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch and opened on Thanksgiving Day 1902 as Greenwich House.
The rear yard of 28 Jones Street was called "The Farm." The Commons, March 1905 (copyright expired)
Dr. William H. Tolman, in his 1903 The Better New York, explained that the Greenwich House works, "on a different basis from that ordinarily adopted by social settlements. It believes that the neighborhood about a settlement should be represented on the board of managers, and also believes in the co-responsibility of residents, workers and non-residents."
In October 1906, the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund authorized the city to lease the parlor floor of 28 Jones Street for school purposes. The rent was $450 per year. Run by Greenwich House staff, Greenwich Handicraft School had 80 pupils by 1908. The American Art Directory explained that year, "Its object is to train women and girls in lace-making, weaving, and allied crafts, and to foster in its neighborhood an appreciation of the beautiful."
In 1917, Greenwich House moved into its new building at 27 Barrow Street. The Cooperative Settlement Society leased apartments in the house, among the earliest tenants being Charles Bates Sticker, an electrical engineer with Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp. on Long Island. In 1919, Anna Cook lived here. That year the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Quarterly reported that she "has a position at Hickson's in New York, finishing garments, as a stepping-stone to designing."
Essentially nothing has changed to 28 Jones Street since this photograph was taken in 1941. via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
In 1921, 26 and 28 Jones Street were incorporated as Greenwich House Co-operative Apartments, Inc. Living at 28 Jones Street in 1922 were Katharine Fowler Pettit, an alumna of Bryn Mawr College, and her husband, Walter William Pettit. Around that time, Arthur Piper and his wife, the former Augusta Louise Coleman moved in. He was the managing editor of The Survey, a semi-monthly periodical, and treasurer of Survey Graphic, a monthly.
At mid-century, attorney James H. Black and his wife lived here. And as early as 1982, playwright and author Tony Buttitta was a resident. Born in 1907 in Louisiana, Buttitta first published plays in the 1920s. He co-founded the literary magazine Contempo in 1931. Through that position, he became acquainted with writers like George Bernard Shaw, William Faulkner, Ezra Pound and Sherwood Anderson. Among the works he published while living here, are the 1982 Uncle Sam Presents: A Memoir of the Federal Theatre, 1935-39; and The Lost Summer: A Memoir of F. Scott Fitzgerald, in 1987.
Little has changed externally to the house after more than 180 years. Today there are four units in the building.
photographs by the author
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