(center) 86 University Place. This began as a four-story private house built in 1840 with a fifth floor added in 1880 and the two-story commercial addition in front added in 1919. It housed one of New York’s most prominent philanthropists of the 19th century who helped establish some of the city’s great institutions, later serving as the home to a family of German immigrant entrepreneurs. The commercial space housed one of the city’s most popular speakeasies, and later a lesbian bar frequented by well-known authors including Audre Lorde and Ann Bannon.

For more information on the history of these and other buildings South of Union Square, click here.

See all Architecture of South of Union Square photos here.

Photo by Dylan Chandler
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