West Village model Karen Rempel gazes across Sixth Avenue, waiting for the Jefferson Market Library to open. Photo by Philip Maier.

I stayed at the iconic Washington Square Hotel on my first trip to New York, in 2014, because of its literary history and proximity to the Blue Note. I soon encountered the marvelous Jefferson Market Library nearby, towering grandly over Sixth Avenue. Naturally, I assumed ancient castles were scattered throughout the city. I didn’t realize how unique the Fred Withers and Calvert Vaux 1877 design was, but I fell in love with this gothic brick pile as soon as I climbed the worn marble steps spiraling up the clock tower and was bathed in gem-colored light flashing through the stained glass windows.

I schemed to get a library card there on my next trip to NYC, in 2015. I had New York City Ballet tickets delivered to the Airbnb I stayed at on West 9th Street. I brought the ticket envelope over to the branch. Together with my BC Driver’s License, I received my library card with no questions asked about the permanence of my residence. I was a New Yorker!

Getting a library card was a touchstone for my New York love affair, and it was confirmed in a one-two punch by Jerri’s Cleaners across Sixth Avenue at West 10th Street. In Vancouver, most apartment buildings have laundry facilities. I had never heard of “wash and fold” until I came to New York. It was such a thrill to get my first Jerri’s Cleaners laundry bag. I’d only seen this in the movies. I felt like a true New Yorker! When I went back to Vancouver after that trip, I missed the great guys at Jerri’s like crazy. I still have the laundry bag! And I still have my NYPL library card.

I’ve since learned that the Jefferson Market Library (JML) is one of the city’s most remarkable buildings, clearly visible for many blocks above the lower buildings on the wide avenue, steeped in fascinating history. Whenever I step onto Sixth Avenue, I always check the time on the clock tower. When I’m in my apartment, I hear “Ol’ Jeff,” the fire bell, ring the hour throughout the day, from 9 am to 10 pm.

With its High Victorian Gothic design, the JML is a striking Greenwich Village landmark, and rightfully designated a National Historic Landmark. Originally a courthouse, and protected by preservationists several times throughout its history, it was rebranded as a library in 1967. This branch of the NYPL houses a special collection on New York and Greenwich Village history. As with any friend or enemy, it takes time to notice all its details and follies.

For this month’s photo shoot, the fountain seemed to beckon. I’ve previously seen it alternatively choked with garbage and planted with flowers. On the day of the shoot, the white granite fountain had a few inches of brackish water in the basin.

What really struck me were the reliefs carved into yellow Ohio sandstone above the fountain. The one visible in the photo is of a heron in the reeds, a frog captured in its beak. Further up in a triangular peak is a charming relief of an old man sitting on a rock beside a tree, surrounded by ferns and foliage. He looks like he’s taking a rest after a long journey, perhaps ready to relax with a book. His hat hangs on a branch and his walking cane is by his side.

I was devastated when the branch closed for renovations in 2019. The pandemic slowed things down even more, but joy is on the horizon. The JML is expected to reopen this summer, according to the NYPL website and confirmed by the library manager on location, Frank Collerius. Stay tuned to The Village Sun for the exact date.

This article first appeared in The Village Sun.

A Little More History

The first building on this site was a tall octagonal wooden fire lookout tower, built around 1833 in the center of the sheds of Jefferson Market.

Four decades later, the city tore down the tower to build a new courthouse. Construction took from 1875-1877. The architects chose materials in the pan-global colors of indigenous peoples: red brick, black stone and slates, white granite, and yellow standstone. Although it might resemble a church with the tower and stained glass, the carved reliefs feature secular art such as a scene from the Merchant of Venice. (Fitting given the market origins of the site.)

It was voted one of the ten most beautiful buildings in America by a poll of architects in the 1880s.

The Courthouse

The courthouse had the country’s first Night Court. The building was used for a Police Court on the first floor and a Civil Court on the second floor. The beautiful brick-arched basement was used as a holding area for prisoners on their way to jail or trial.

This being New York, after all, the cast of characters who passed through the courts ranged from the famous to the infamous.

• In 1896, Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, testified in the courthouse on behalf of a woman he felt was unjustly arrested for prostitution. Crane had been “doing research” when the alleged solicitation occurred, and he was lauded for his chivalry and courage for speaking out on behalf of the wrongly accused woman.
• In 1906, architect Stanford White’s murderer, Harry Thaw, was tried in the courthouse and judged insane for his crime of passion and sent to an asylum for 9 years. White had an affair with Thaw’s betrothed, chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit.
• In 1927, Mae West was arrested on obscenity charges when her Broadway play Sex became a target of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. West received a $500 fine, a night in prison at the Women’s House of Detention next to the courthouse (probably the world’s only Art Deco prison), and nine days at the workhouse on Welfare Island (now Roosevelt Island).

The Library

When the building ceased being used as a courthouse in 1945, it served as offices for various agencies, but by 1958 it stood empty. A group of community preservations led by Margot Gayle and Ruth Wittenberg saved it from being torn down. They campaigned to have the building converted into a library, though it took until 1961 before the NYPL agreed to the plan and brought in architect Giorgio Cavaglieri to restore the exterior and redesign the building’s interior for its new use.

The library opened in 1967 and has served the Greenwich Village community ever since. Faced with budget cutbacks in 1975, the NYPL board of trustees voted to close this branch and two others. The immense public outcry led the board to rescind their decision a month later.

The library underwent another extensive restoration during 2007-2012 (though in typical New York fashion, the scaffolding was erected in 2003). I suppose we’re lucky the current renovation only took 3 years!

My favorite Halloween activity is going over to the library to see the gigantic black spider that dangles off the clock tower during the Halloween parade up Sixth Avenue.

Style Notes

• Armand Ventilo Collection plum silk chiffon maxi skirt with exquisite multi-hued blue and green beaded floral spray embellishment and lavender petticoat. Private artist warehouse sale, originally sourced in Italy.
• Emerald green silk satin camisole with spaghetti straps. Post-production clothing sale, Vancouver.
• Lime green glitter 5-1/2″ platform strappy dress sandals by I.N.C. Macy’s Herald Square.
• Nanni black leather belt with brass ring closure, brass studs and multi-colored gems. Private artist warehouse sale, originally sourced in Italy.
• Garnet necklace with silver rondelles and pomegranate beads. Penny Whillans Designs, Victoria, BC.
• Vintage 1940s pomegranate red moonglow lucite earrings encircled with rhinestones, with screw backings. Pippin Vintage Jewelry. 104 West 17th Street.
• Amethyst and turquoise bracelet. Mademoiselle Mirabelle. 330 Bleecker Street (now closed, but Mirabelle Boutique is still open uptown, 1310 Madison Avenue).