A wood-frame West Village home, then and now

In 1822, New York City was gripped by a deadly yellow fever epidemic. 

To escape the outbreak, many residents relocated a few miles north to pastoral Greenwich Village. 

William Hyde, the man who built this lovely Federal-style house, may have been among them.

Hyde was a window-sash maker who put up the then–two story home as well as a small back workspace before wooden structures were outlawed in 1866.

The photo above, by Berenice Abbott, captures Hyde’s house in 1936. Another floor and a fire escape have been added.

The single family home was carved into apartments around 1920; the back workspace also became a separate residence.

Today, it looks like a single-family home again. The fire escape is gone, and part of the wood siding has disappeared as well.

It’s still one of the sweetest homes in the Village, a reminder of its country past.

Tags: 17 Grove Street, New York in the 19th Century, old Greenwich Village, old homes in Greenwich Village, unusual homes in New York City, wood-frame houses in New York City, yellow fever epidemic, yellow fever in New York City