The 1831 Robert D. Weeks House - 147 Bleecker Street

image by William Neumann Photography

Developer Thomas E. Davis was busy in 1831.  That year he completed fashionable homes on both sides of East 8th Street between Second and Third Avenues; and on both sides of Bleecker Street between Thompson and Laurens Street (the latter renamed West Broadway and then to LaGuardia Place).  Renaming a section of a street to enhance its sense of exclusivity was not uncommon, and in 1833, Davis convinced the city to rename his Bleecker Street block Carroll Place.  Two years later his 8th Street block became St. Mark's Place.

Architectural historians agree that Davis's high-end Carroll Street mansions were the design of Samuel Dunbar.  Hints of their original appearance can be glimpsed at 145 and 149 Bleecker Street today.  At 28.6 feet wide and three-and-a-half stories tall above high English basements, they rivaled the  elegant mansions in the Bond Street and St. John's Park districts.  Two dormers with arched hoods punctured their attic levels.

No. 8 Carroll Street was home to the Moses Henriques family until the spring of 1837.  On April 19, it was sold at auction, the announcement of which deemed it "a splendid house."  The offering went on to describe:

The house is 54 feet deep, finished in the most elegant style, with handsome mahogany doors, plated furniture [i.e., pier mirrors], grates, pantries, &c., complete in every aspect of conveniences and accommodation for a large family, with bathing room, water-closets...the entrance hall is painted in imitation of Candoglia marble, and the windows, or French doors, in the principal rooms of the best English plate glass in front of the house.

The house was purchased by Robert Doughty Weeks and his wife, the former Harriet Strong.  (Harriet was his second wife, his first, Julia Hall Brasher, died in 1828.)  Born on July 8, 1795, Weeks was a banker.  In 1817 he co-founded the New York Stock Exchange and was its president twice--from 1834 to 1835, and 1836 to 1837.

Robert Doughty Weeks, (original source unknown)

Weeks married Harriet on April 28, 1832.  When they moved into the Carroll Street house, they had five children.  His two children from his previous marriage, John Abeel and Julia Mary, were 17 and 10 years old respectively.  Sarah Strong, Benjamin Strong and James, were toddlers, four, three and one years old.  In 1844 a sixth child, Francis H., was born.

Harriet Strong Weeks (original source unknown)

On February 11, 1843, a curl merchant's messenger rang the bell of 8 Carroll Street.  (A "curl merchant" offered what today we would call extensions--natural hair enhancements for women's hairdos.)  He handed the maid a "small box of curls" that her mistress had ordered, according to the New-York Tribune.  While the servant took the box to Harriet, he disabled the night latch on the front door.  The maid returned, said there had been a mistake, and he left.  Later that night, he sneaked into the hallway and stole "a cap and hat worth $14." 

The supposed messenger was Eugene Barron.  Two nights later, he successfully used the ruse at the home of William Walker.  This time he stole two overcoats worth $35 (about $1,530 in 2025).  Surprisingly, his career was cut short by Walker's children.  They told the story at school.  The children of Augustine Averill recounted the scheme to their father.  Coincidentally, Barron rang the Averills' bell that evening.  The New-York Tribune reported that he "was admitted, offered his curls, demanded two shillings and was instantly seized by Mr. Averill and sent to the watch house."

The social status of the Weeks family was reflected in Harriet's charities.  In 1845, for instance, she sat on the executive committee of the Female Department of the New York Prison Association.  The goal was to establish a home for discharged female convicts "as may appear willing to reform."  Among Harriet's committee members were socially elite surnames like Ingraham, Mason, Boorman, Frelinghuysen and Roosevelt.

Robert Doughty Weeks died in the house on June 16, 1854.  His death was reported nationwide.  The New Orleans newspaper The Daily Delta commented that he "has been long and favorably known as a broker in Wall street, and for many years as the Treasurer of the New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb."

Harriet remained here through 1857, after which the house was occupied by the James S. Shapter family.  Shapter was a silk merchant.

In 1860, the name of Carroll Place was returned to Bleecker Street (although both addresses would be used, confusingly, for several years).  The Shapters' new address was 147 Bleecker Street.

The Shapter family left in the spring of 1868.  Their luxurious lifestyle was reflected in the two-day auction of their furnishings on April 7th and 8th.  Among the items listed in the announcement were "furniture [made of] rosewood, mahogany and most substantial of the best workmanship," "excellent Oil Paintings in every room," and "superior rosewood Piano; large Mirrors and fine Carpets, all of which have been selected by the owner, with taste, judgment and without regard to cost."

The whole lot could be purchased outright for $9,000 (about $205,000 today).  The Shapters retained ownership of the property, offering the house for rent at $2,500 (about $4,700 per month by today's conversion).

In March 1872, the house was sold at auction to Patrick McDonald.  He hired builder James Hanlon to raise the attic to a full fourth floor.  By then, the Bleecker Street neighborhood, once one of aristocratic homes and refined families, was among the most notorious in the city.  

In his 1873 book The Dark Side of New York Life, Frederick Gerhard recounted a stranger to the city, a Mr. Green from Providence, who was in town to liquidate bonds.  He was approached by two men in a saloon.  "The two went now arm in arm to a side table and after a friendly glass together the man of many names laid down a dollar bill, took up the change, and led off his visitor to an office in 147 Bleecker Street."

The "office," writes Gerhard, consisted "of a tottering old desk covered with dust; a washstand with dirty water in the basin; a glass cup with the handle broken off; two chairs and a little mirror."  The visitor had fallen into the trap of counterfeiters.

No. 147 Bleecker Street was three blocks east of Minetta Lane, known as "Little Africa."  Populated by emancipated slaves who fled the South, it was the center of Manhattan's black population.  The demographics went further than Minetta Lane, of course, as reflected in the job-wanted ads of two residents of 147 Bleecker Street in 1873.  The first, on September 5, read:

A respectable young colored man wishes a situation as waiter in a private family or boarding house.  Call on or address Wm. Bartindale, 147 Bleecker st., top floor, front room.

Three months later, James F. Newton advertised: "Wanted--A situation by a colored man, as waiter in a private family or head waiter in hotel or boarding house."

In 1874, Major R. Poole established a saloon in the basement.  "Major" was actually his first name.  Poole was described by The Sun as "the colored leader of the colored Republicans."  On December 3, 1875, The Sun titled an article, "Tragedy in a Bleecker Street Barroom," and reported that "William F. Jones, colored...was fatally injured by a blow on the head with a bottle in a fight with Cyrus Marsh, colored in Pools' [sic] saloon, at 147 Bleecker street, yesterday."

The New York Herald corrected that report, explaining that "an excited mulatto, named William Norris," had rushed into the coroner's office on Houston Street exclaiming that Cyrus Marsh, one of Poole's bartenders, had dealt a "murderous blow with a bottle" to William J. Jones.  Norris said that Jones's head was "mashed to a jelly" and that he "could not live three hours."  A policeman went to Jones's residence on Seventh Avenue and "found that the injured man had been struck by Marsh's fist, and had only a slight cut over his eye."

Poole's saloon was a fixture in the neighborhood.  On January 19, 1884, The New York Globe reported, "A grand billiard tournament for third class players will be inaugured, on the 4th of February next, at Major Poole's billiard rooms, 147 Bleecker St."

In January 1889, Poole moved his saloon to 822 Sixth Avenue.   Calling Poole, "the oldest colored saloon keeper in the city," on February 2, The New York Age recalled that he operated for "fifteen years at 147 Bleecker street."  The article mentioned that his new saloon "compares favorably with the better class of such resorts."

August Ricardo Gatti took over the former Poole saloon space for his wine store, Ricardo Gatti & Brothers, and moved his family into rooms upstairs.  A reporter from The Evening World visited Gatti on November 6, 1889.  His article reveals that when James Hanlon raised the attic for Patrick McDonald in 1872, he did little to the lower floors.  The journalist wrote in part:

The house is one of those stately old Greenwich residences, with wide portals, high and massive stoop, broad rooms, heavy carved mantels, antique frescoes and arches...In the halls where were wont to gather the fashionable ones of the social whirl of old New York are now only cases and casks and pipes of wine, and Ricardo Gatti has reserved only a small portion of the second floor of the great house for a home for himself and family.

The Gatti family's presence reflected the increasing Italian population within the neighborhood.  Living here by 1889 were Louis V. Fugazy and his family.  He was president of the Italian Benevolent Society on West Houston Street.  

In 1897, Riciotta Garibaldi, son of Giuseppe Garibaldi, led a contingent of Italian Redshirt volunteers to fight with Greece in the Greco-Turkish War.  In response, Louis Fugazy mobilized his neighbors.  On April 24, the New York Journal and Advertiser reported, "Louis V. Figassi [sic], this city, has raised a regiment of 150 of his fellow-countrymen, who will shortly sail for Greece to fight under the banner of the son of Garibaldi."  The article said the recruits had been meeting for two weeks and "the constantly growing company of Italians has been schooled in the arts of war by Figassi [sic]."

The Ricardo Gatti & Brothers store was gone by the turn of the century, but Bleecker Street's 19th century reputation was not.  On August 11, 1904, The Sun reported, "Capt. Tighe and the pick of the Mercer street sleuth corps raided the 'Fortune Pleasure Club' at 147 Bleecker street early yesterday morning."  William Rosetti, the proprietor and 22 patrons, who were caught shooting craps, were arrested.  The gamblers were fined $3 each and Rosetti was jailed awaiting his trial "on a charge of keeping a gambling house."

When William Bogen and Aaron Safro purchased 147 Bleecker Street in February 1906, the New-York Tribune reported they "will alter the premises" to "a six story brick tenement house and stores."  The stoop was removed and a projecting brick storefront installed.  Interestingly, the gently arched Federal style lintels of the former second and third floors were copied in the new upper section.

A religious book store occupied the ground floor in 1941.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

This area of Greenwich Village was still heavily Italian during the Depression years.  On January 4, 1930, The New York Age reported that resident Joseph Gailella was one of 17 men arrested in a raid in a Harlem nightclub.  The article said they were "said to be members of three nation-wide dope rings having headquarters in this city."

The second half of the 20th century saw a major change to this stretch of Bleecker Street.  It was now lined with bistros and clubs.  In 1961, the rock and roll club, The Bitter End, opened in 147 Bleecker Street.  Over the subsequent decades--until today--nearly every legendary artist played its room.  

Among the earliest artists to appear were Bob Dylan, who opened in January 1961; and the then unknown trio Peter, Paul and Mary.  According to Stephen Petrus and Ronald D. Cohen in their Folk City: New York and the American Folk Music Revival, Peter, Paul and Mary "did not receive instant praise."  Then, "The club took out an ad in The New York Times and urged readers, 'You better see this trio before you have to pay fancy uptown prices at the Blue Angel.'"  It led to Peter, Paul and Mary landing a contract with Warner Bros. Records.

photograph by team_klzwick.

The Bitter End's website capsulizes:

For over 50 years, our audiences have been blown away by legendary artists like Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, Jackson Browne, Neil Diamond, Gavin DeGraw, Woody Allen, Jon Stewart, Randy Newman, Billy Crystal, Tommy James, Norah Jones, Donny Hathaway, Curtis Mayfield, and thousands more.

image via apartments.com

The Bitter End continues to occupy the ground floor of 147 Bleecker Street.  Upstairs, the beleaguered building has two apartments per floor.  Home to an influential financier nearly 200 years ago, the building became part of American musical history starting in 1961.

many thanks to reader Jim Lesses for suggesting this post