I’ve always been curious about the 19th century three-story stable at 50 West 10th Street in Greenwich Village.
Today, it’s a well-tended and enviable private house—who wouldn’t be charmed to come home to this lovely building every day? (Especially with the ghost of former resident Edward Albee hanging around.)
The stenciled letters over the stable doors hint at its past: “Grosvenor Private Boarding Stable.”
Considering that the circa-1876 Hotel Grosvenor was just down the block at 35 Fifth Avenue, it seems plausible that the stable was used by the hotel.
Perhaps it was a convenient place for hotel brass to keep horses for delivery wagons or for a private hansom cab for guests (like the ones seen outside the brownstone-and-balconied hotel in this 1890 photo).
Carriage Houses are still a thing in New York—this low-rise stretch of East 73rd Street has an entire block of them, and of course, these two Chelsea stables contain incredible history.
[Second photo: MCNY 2010.11.4277]
Tags: 35 Fifth Avenue, 50 West 10th Street, carriage houses in New York, Grosvenor Private Boarding Stable, Hotel Grosvenor, Stables in New York City
Ephemeral New York 
November 13, 2017 at 7:42 am |
Wonderful! I cannot wait to see it when I come to New York again! Good grief! What a lovely thing you do!!!
November 13, 2017 at 3:21 pm |
Thank you!
November 13, 2017 at 12:53 pm |
I don’t know whose horses were stabled there but I can tell you that a black Civil War Soldier from Delaware named Bayard Sorden (1840-1920) worked there in 1878, according to City directory records. Mr. Sorden’s rare identified photographic portrait, along with photos of 16 other men from his USCT company are part of an album given to his captain, William Prickitt. The album and photos were donated by the captain’s great granddaughter to the African American Museum of History and Culture at the Smithsonian.
November 13, 2017 at 4:29 pm |
Is the photo archived for viewing on the museum website Shayne?
November 14, 2017 at 12:52 pm
See http://militaryimagesmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/25th-usct.jpg
November 14, 2017 at 1:43 pm
Wow. Thanks for the photo link Bob. Bayard Sorden is beautiful. I love Phem’s amazing blog & the people drawn to it ❤ Amazing to see his face here…
November 13, 2017 at 3:21 pm |
Wow, amazing information, thank you. I believe African-American men often worked as coachmen in Gilded Age NYC. Perhaps Mr. Sorden was a coachman for the hotel and lived in the second or third floor of the carriage house?
November 14, 2017 at 2:02 pm |
I do not think so. However, one of the tenants who operated the private stable in the late 1870s was described in testimony in a lawsuit by a prior owner of the private stable as “a man named Miller, a colored man.” Perhaps Sorden worked as a stableman for Miller.
November 13, 2017 at 4:27 pm |
I’ve already waxed on about my love of both carriages houses & W.10th – but I don’t recall this building. (Ephemeral is required for noticing everything).
Please somebody post the photo of this soldier Bayard Sorden written about in this thread by Shayne Davidson! (Otherwise I will look it up later…).
November 13, 2017 at 5:04 pm |
Here’s an article from NPR about the album. It has some of the photos but unfortunately not Bayard Sorden’s photo. Here’s an article from NPR about the album. https://www.npr.org/2016/09/21/494734329/family-heirloom-national-treasure-rare-photos-show-black-civil-war-soldiers
November 13, 2017 at 5:16 pm |
Bayard Sorden worked at the stable at 50 W. 10th, but he resided at 413 E. 83rd Street.
November 13, 2017 at 6:59 pm |
A friend lives at 136 West 24th St, and apparently this building was also used as a stable for horses. The ground floor has been substantially altered so the traces have been removed. In 1976, the original purchaser of the floor was informed of building’s original use. Horse sized freight elevator and wooden beamed ceiling give it away.
November 14, 2017 at 1:59 pm |
A transcription of a legal action, a New York State court appeal, lists some of the occupants of the stables in the 1860s – 1880s. It was apparently NOT a *livery* stable with horses and stalls for rental, and typically attached to a hotel. As the sign indicates, it was a *private* stable, first for residents nearby and then for business tenants, and some horses and carriages were boarded there ancillary to the main tenants’ horses.
1863 – Devoe sold to James Boorman Johnston, a businessman who erected a private stable for him and two friends, housing 13 horses, some carriages, and attended by 4 stablemen. Likely in 1875 it was rented out to operators of a private stable and was operated as rental property since.
1879 – Johnston sold to his brother, John Taylor Johnston.
1881 – 1883 – Henry S. Cate rented it for his milk wagon business, with 17 horses including boarders and 6-7 wagons.
1885 – 1888 – Dean Osgood of the Kendall Manufacturing Company rented it for his soap business, plus boarded a butcher’s wagon and one other wagon. He stated that the “private boarding stable” sign in gold letters was there when he rented the stable.
With respect to the legal action:
In 1887, a prior owner of the lot, Moses Devoe, once a butcher doing business at Jefferson Market, was sued by the owner of the neighboring lot, Sarah C. Clarke (whose family had been sold its lot by Devoe). Clarke claimed Devoe had erected a stable on the lot contrary to a deed restriction forbidding a “nuisance.” Devoe lost and appealed; he won on appeal, since a prior owner could not be held responsible for a deed restriction once he had sold. In 1891, Clarke was listed in Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide as the judgment debtor to Devoe, owing Devoe $667.
November 15, 2017 at 6:42 am |
James Boorman Johnston was a real estate speculator in the area who lived at No. 56 and who built artist studios at No. 51.
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-lost-1858-10th-street-studios-bldg.html
His brother John Taylor Johnston lived at 8 Fifth Avenue, was in the railroad business, and was the first president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-lost-john-taylor-johnston-mansion-8.html
November 19, 2017 at 4:46 pm |
Right in my old neighborhood…I remember this building and block. Thanks.
August 12, 2019 at 8:15 pm |
Sorry to be so late to the party, but a few years ago I was researching this (I live down the street and was very excited when the sign was revealed) and found this article in the NYT about the “nuisance” stable: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/03/18/113299841.pdf
I couldn’t believe the snarky tone of the article!
And here is the outcome of the lawsuit: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1887/03/23/100902672.pdf
April 3, 2020 at 5:47 pm |
[…] between 1863 and 1869 in the Romanesque Revival style, 50 West 10th Street began life as the Grosvenor Private Boarding Stable and was likely used to stable the carriages and horses for a wealthy family living nearby in […]
September 6, 2021 at 4:22 am |
[…] between 1863 and 1869 in the Romanesque Revival style, 50 West 10th Street began life as the Grosvenor Private Boarding Stable and was likely used to stable the carriages and horses for a wealthy family living nearby in […]