CHRISTOPHER AND BLEEKER STREETS
329 Bleeker Street
JUNE 18, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 136

One of Greenwich Village's oldest buildings, this corner store was built as a grocery in 1802. Its top floor was reputedly the office of the commission that laid out the 1811 grid plan for the development of Manhattan Island. The structure was itself a victim of urban planning; in 1828, when a bend in Bleecker Street was eliminated to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic across Christopher Street, the store lost 20 feet of its width. Abbott's photograph clearly shows the brick wall, extending beyond and above the old clapboard structure, which marks the building's 1828 truncation.

Although clapboard has given way to stucco, the Bleecker Street Grocery remains remarkably unchanged. The current owner, who has a copy of Abbott's photograph behind the counter, acquired the store 25 years ago. A 1970s lamppost has replaced the Victorian model depicted by Abbott, and traffic still flows one-way, albeit in the opposite direction.

Abbott's composition benefits from the strong light of June 18, 1936, the same day she photographed St. Luke's Chapel and several other sites in her neighborhood.

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