Village Blueprints-Building the Neighborhood’s Future
Another Garage Bites the Dust
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP
The 160 W. 10th garage (outlined in red) is near where 7th Avenue South was cut through the Village. Note how out of place the tall apartment tower looks. Credit: Morris Adjmi Architects.
The Community Board was presented with another conversion of a private parking garage to new multifamily apartments at 160 W. 10th Street near the 7th Avenue South corner. Property owner Patrick Milner of Garage Management Company, introduced Morris Adjmi Architects, who were joined by Higgins Quasebarth & Partners preservation consultants and Chapman Group consultants.
This project follows several other parking facility changes around our neighborhood. These include the former West Village Housing garage at 738 Greenwich Street currently being converted to condos, the former garage at 771 Washington Street which started work on condos in 2017 with a two-story addition, the demolition of 11 Jane Street for an apartment building in 2017, and the recent start of changing a five-story garage into a seven-story single-family residence at 332 W. 11th Street. That makes six big buildings all changed to residential. But it doesn’t help the housing crunch much when so few units are created, and each residence will sell for millions.
On a positive note, several projects, including 160 W. 10th, have been very carefully researched and designed to meet or exceed historic district guidelines by preserving the character of the historic materials, restoring the structural integrity, and limiting the mass and appearance of new additions to fit in as well as possible to this historic context.
The cross-sections through the garage drawings show the existing floor levels at the top, from 10th Street on the left to Christopher Street on the right. Below that drawing is that same section with the modified proposed alterations to the garage. It shows the additional two floors set back from the 10th Street façade and the rear building wall cut back, producing a larger yard between the garage and 45 Christopher Street (which is too tall to show its top floors). Credit: Morris Adjmi Architects.
The history of 160 W. 10th starts in 1891 when Henry Hilton built the A. T. Stewart Stables, designed by E. D. Harris, to serve his Stewart Department Store on Broadway. The two stories on West 10th were joined to a five-story wing extending to Christopher Street. John Wannamaker bought them in 1896 when he took over and renamed the stores for himself. In the 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report, 160-168 W. 10th is described as a “very handsome garage..…where rock-faced stonework is skillfully contrasted with the brickwork.” Notably, after 7th Avenue South was cut through the Village and the stables were altered in 1914 for car use, “It housed the Wannamaker fleet of electric delivery cars which were once a conspicuous feature on our streets.” A 1922 ad promotes the Wannamaker electric cars as being 50% more efficient than gas-powered versions.
In 1930 more dramatic changes occurred in this block when the Cobham Realty Company bought the five-story south wing of the garage (which contained elevators serving the garage) along with several other lots and built the enormous 17-story apartment building in its place, along with several other lots at 45 Christopher Street.
Over the ensuing years, perhaps due to graffiti, the entire façade has gotten numerous coats of paint, at first white, then red, then brown. All masonry on the façade will be restored to its masonry finish during the planned modifications.
In lieu of a garden, terraces will be formed when the back wall of the garage is removed and new setback roofs are added (at a distance from the apartment tower as required by zoning law). This new rear yard will benefit all residents with more light and air circulation.
As the two floors added to the current second-story roof will be set back substantially from 10th Street at each level, large roof decks will be created along the front. Planters for landscaping will add a touch of nature to these outdoor spaces. The added stories will be clad in red terra cotta to resemble the original brick, and the arched window designs are meant to reinforce the Romanesque style of American architecture that influenced this and several other utilitarian buildings in the city.
This drawing of the proposed conversion to residences, viewed from 10th Street near 7th Avenue, highlights the height and visibility from the sidewalk. All the historic masonry will be returned to its original color and finishes, with new windows in the mostly original masonry openings. Historic guidelines require that additions or changes be “minimally visible” or historically compatible. Credit: Morris Adjmi Architects.
In place of the 200 cars, or horses and carriages before that, the owners plan for three large units (depicted as A, B, and C on the back views or 160, 162, and 164 on the street entries) with room for a few cars at the bottom of an existing ramp to the basement. Final decisions have not been made on the layouts, leaving options open for either one huge single-family mansion or up to 10 individual apartments. (At the same CB2 meeting, a large cast-iron loft building at 142 Greene Street was also presented for conversion as a single-family residence of over 25,000 square feet of floor area!) This head-spinning demand for ever larger residences harkens back to the 5th Avenue townhouse construction boom, all the way up to the Frick Mansion (now Museum) and beyond.
