Greenwich Village tenement to be converted to single-family home

A section of Greenwich Village rich in history is getting a first: a single-family mansion converted from an old tenement, according to Department of Building documents spotted by a neighborhood preservation group.

The building, at 9 Minetta Lane in the South Village area, was home to 20 families when it opened in 1883, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation writes on its website.

A building permit filed last week with the city calls for “gut renovation and conversion of existing multiple dwelling into one family townhouse”; the residence would have more than 5,000 square feet.

The site, though, is located within the proposed South Village Historic District, which if OK’d by the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission could prevent the conversion.
Inside, the old tenement has been altered — its cornice has been removed and its ground floor has been remodeled — but its facade remains largely untouched, the society said.

The permit doesn’t detail any exterior changes, but lays out plans for an enclosed parking garage in the basement and raising the height of the building from 60 feet to 72 feet, both renovations that the preservation group hinted it might oppose. [GVSHP] —Christopher Cameron