The 1848 Charles Tousley House and Store - 280 Bleecker Street

 

In 1828, Herring Street was renamed Bleecker Street in honor of Abraham Lispenard Bleecker.  Rhoda Bennett, the widow of Hezekiah Bennett, lived above "copperplate printer" Robert Miller's shop at the time.  The street name gave their building the new address of 266 Bleecker Street.  (The house-and-store would be renumbered again in 1859 to 280 Bleecker Street.)  

The property was purchased in 1834 by John and Elizabeth Passenbronder, who lived above John's drygoods store.  After his death around 1842, Elizabeth leased the store to Alexander Lockwood, a shoemaker, and took in a boarder, John Cromwell, a mason, who lived here in 1843.

Hardware merchant Charles Tousley purchased the property around 1848, demolishing the old building and constructing a modern, four-story house-and-store on the site.  The residential entrance, to the side of the storefront, mimicked those of the high-stooped, Greek Revival-style homes currently being erected.  Sidelights and pilasters flanked the paneled door, and above a molded entablature was an ample transom.  The fourth-floor windows extended into the fascia board below the wooden cornice.

Tousley operated his hardware store from the shop and his family lived upstairs.  Charles and Eliza A. Tousley had at least one daughter, Emma A.  They remained here through 1851, when they moved to Clinton, New Jersey.

In 1852, the Bleecker Street store became home to W. E. Lawrence & Co. drygoods store.  William E. Lawrence lived 72 Hammond Street (later West 11th Street).  He was nearly the victim of what The Sun called "an old confidence game," on September 3, 1861.  Ann Grafton looked over his fabrics and selected $16 worth of items (around $575 by 2025 conversion).  The article said she, "asked to have them sent to her board-house, which was done."  The goods were to be paid for upon delivery.

Later, when the delivery boy arrived, "She hurriedly took the parcel from the messenger, and upon pretense of showing the property to her sisters, disappeared from the house by another mode of exit," as reported by The Sun.  The messenger, however, was too savvy for Ann.  "The trick was quickly found out and her arrest followed."

William E. Lawrence's drygoods store remained at least through 1868.  By 1871, Ernest William Albrecht, whose family moved into the upper floors, opened his shoe store in the space.  The Albrechts took in boarders, never more than two at a time.  Living with the family in 1871 were policeman John Beeching, and Nathaniel Conklin, who ran a stable at 22 Amity Street (later West 3rd Street).

In 1887, Ernest Albrecht's health began to fail.  He died here at the age of 58 "after a long, lingering sickness," according to The Sun, on January 16, 1888.  A procession accompanied his casket from the Bleecker Street house on January 19 to his funeral at St. John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street.

Among the residents in 1893 was the Henry Carque family.  Henry ran a confectionary store and factory next door at 282 Bleecker Street.  His $3,000 insurance policy on the stock and fixtures was due to expire on January 18, 1894.  Two days before that happened, an explosion and fire gutted the business.

On January 23, 1894, The World reported that Carque was arrested "last night, on a charge of arson."  At 3:30 a.m. on January 16, he had been seen by a watchman and a policeman go into his store.  A few moments later there was an explosion and Carque was seen rushing out of the back door and over a fence.  The residents of the upper floors "had narrow escapes," reported The Evening World.  A four-year-old boy, Joseph Burke, was sick in bed.  Firefighters found him still in bed and carried him out, but the January air was too much and he died the following day.  

Carque's trial began on June 18 and lasted five days.  Astoundingly, he was acquitted on June 22. 

In the meantime, the shoe store continued to be operated by a man named Tice through 1896.  When a wallet was lost on November 15, 1895 "containing money and some valuable papers," the owner advertised, "Liberal reward paid if returned to Tice's shoe store, 280 Bleecker st."  A few months later, on March 18, 1896, an advertisement in The New York World read, "Boy Wanted--French or German boy in shoe store.  280 Bleecker st."

Living upstairs at the time was the McQuire family (James was a waiter and Patrick was a laborer), and John J. King, who was a driver.

In August 1897, a grocery store opened at 280 Bleecker Street.  It was a remarkably short-lived venture.  A month later, an announcement in The New York World advertised the auction of the stock and fixtures of the "elegant butter store" to be held on September 9.  It may have been the high-end, costly fittings of the store that sank the business.  In addition to the stock (which included "tubs of butter, boxes, crackers, 50 hams, cheese, &c."), were an "upright Butter ice box in ash," a mirror-fronted marble counter, a 16-foot marble counter,  a "meat block and stand, oyster counter," the lighting fixtures and such.  The announcement mentioned, "Above store open 4 weeks."

The space returned to a drygoods store.  In November 1899, it advertised for a "boy, 15; Italian preferred.  Dry Goods store. 280 Bleecker st."

Annie E. Pell owned the property at the turn of the century.  She made renovations for a new tenant, a baker, in May 1908.  Designed by architects B. & J. P. Walther, they included new windows and interior walls and "bake ovens."  The changes cost Pell the equivalent of about $24,000 today.

The Greek Revival doorway, including the original paneled door, survived intact in 1941.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

In 1929, A. Saliani opened his confectionary store here.  Its name was changed to the Village Ice Cream Parlor before 1941 and remained through 1959, when the space became Al & Anne's Luncheonette.

The store space saw a series of eateries in the last quarter of the 20th century.  Cafe Trilussa Restaurant advertised, "for a dinner as a memorable as you have eaten in Rome," in The Villager on April 9, 1981.  It was supplanted by John's Cafe by 1986, and in December 1998 Fish opened.  On December 9, The Villager said the "new restaurant at 280 Bleecker St. not only serves fish, but also sells it uncooked, has a raw bar, and is called, what else, Fish."  

Fish remained until February 2025.  Today the space is home to the Slutty Vegan restaurant.  There are three apartments in the upper portion.

photographs by the author