Christopher Street in the far West Village really hasn’t changed very much since Beulah R. Bettensworth depicted it in 1934. Well, at least this corner of it.
This Depression-era painter lived a block away at 95 Christopher, and her stretch of the street looks like the downtown of a small village: there’s the Ninth Avenue El Station that once ran up Greenwich Street. Victorian Gothic St. Veronica’s Church peeks over the station.
The PATH station entrance has a similar awning. And there still is a yellow three-story building on that northwestern corner. Too bad the cigar store is gone!
Tags: Buelah R. Bettensworth painter, Christopher Street PATH Station, Christopher Street West Village, New York in 1934, Ninth Avenue El station paintings, St. Veronica's Church Christopher Street
Ephemeral New York 
October 4, 2014 at 4:02 pm |
” Too bad the cigar store is gone!”
Yeah, and the El station. When they ripped out the Els, they should have kept some of the stations, they really were pretty neat.
I’ve done a lot of reading of newspapers ca 1900, and they usually refer to it as the “L”. Any idea when it changed?
Thanks for all the work! I haven’t posted much, but I always stop by to read.
October 4, 2014 at 5:30 pm |
Thank you! I don’t know about the el/L thing, I’ve seen it too. I guess it was just easier for newspaper headline writers and typesetters?
October 4, 2014 at 5:52 pm |
Love this beautiful painting, and have never heard of Beulah Bettensworth before! Even though I live on Greenwich Street and life would be a lot noisier if it were still there, I’m a little sorry never to have seen the el. We were all very happy when that three-story yellow building (northeast corner, right?) was disinfected after years of use as a porn shop and turned into a restaurant….if only a restaurant could last there. I see a new one has opened, Classic’s; time will tell.
October 4, 2014 at 6:02 pm |
I don’t remember the porn shop, but I do recall that restaurants and cafes in this area tend not to stick around very long, for some reason. It’s such a lovely intersection, with Christopher street widening into the river.
October 4, 2014 at 7:16 pm |
My friend’s family owned the newsstand that’s visible under the “Hudson Tunnels” sign. He first saw this painting at a museum in, I believe, New England. One note, though: I believe that the yellow three-story building is on the northeast corner, not the northwest. The view has to be toward the west since St. Veronica’s is on the north side of Christopher and the el ran north and south.
September 20, 2021 at 2:34 am |
[…] St. Veronica’s Church on Christopher Street has a school. The Sixth Precinct is still at the end of Charles Street, not in the circa-1970s new precinct house between Perry and Charles Streets. There’s a fair number of gas stations and lots of antique shops. NYU isn’t everywhere. […]
September 20, 2021 at 6:01 pm |
[…] boxes in Jefferson Market Courthouse, which hasn’t been repurposed as an NYPL library branch yet. St. Veronica’s Church on Christopher Street has a school. The Sixth Precinct is still at the end of Charles Street, not […]