MILLIGAN PLACE
453 Sixth Avenue
MARCH 20, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 82

Abbott photographed Milligan Place on the same day she photographed nearby Patchin Place. Named for Gilbert Milligan, whose home originally stood on the site, the Place's four houses were built in 1852 by Aaron Patchin, Milligan's son-in-law, who also owned Patchin Place. The two properties remain jointly owned today. Like Patchin Place, Milligan Place attracted bohemian tenants, such as George Cram Cook, cofounder of the Provincetown Players, and his wife, playwright Susan Glaspell. After 1917, the four houses were modernized and subdivided into apartments. In 1963, a new owner threatened to tear down both properties, but community protesters prevailed, and in 1969, they were granted landmark status.

The constricted plot of Milligan Place posed a daunting challenge to the photographer. Abbott allowed the bright sunlight to impose a graphic pattern on the awkward space, with the deep shadow of the El filling the foreground and the light-struck craggy branches of a barren tree filling the middle ground. The gentleman standing at the apex of the triangular walkway cooperated with the photographer; a variant image shows that he walked into the space twice.

Return to Greenwich Village