1 Leroy Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 1 Leroy Street by Carter Horsley

1 Leroy Street is an attractive, small, red-brick residential condominium building that was erected in 1999 and designed by Stephen B. Jacobs, one of the city s leading conversion architects and the architect of the high-tech and very impressive and chic Ganesvoort Hotel that opened in 2004 in the meatpacking district not too far away to the north and west.

This building has a mansard-style roofline and also fronts on Bleecker Street where there are many famous food emporiums such as Rocco's Pastries, Zito's bakery and John's pizzeria.

Leroy Street begins at Bleecker Street and two blocks to the west it becomes St. Luke's Place for one block, a street containing many fine mid-19th Century townhouses including one that was the residence for a while Mayor Jimmy Walker.

In their fine book, "The A. I. A. Guide to New York City, Fourth Edition," (Three River Press, 2000), Elliot Willensky and Norval White describe this building as "A 6-story infill providing duplexes and triplexes for the super-rich to live among the exoticism of Greenwich Village," adding "How could one resist, with Zito's for bread and Rocco's for pastry just across the street."

This location is about four blocks from Washington Square Park and two blocks from the famous basketball courts on the Avenue of the Americas and West 4th Street.

One block to the south is the Our Lady of Pompeii Roman Catholic Church, one of the landmarks of this southern part of Greenwich Village. Although this location is just outside the city's official Greenwich Village Historic District, there are many very attractive 19th Century townhouses in the area including one next door on Leroy Street.

According to some, Leroy Street was named for the "Lost Dauphin," a son of Louis XVI, who allegedly lived in the city under the name Leroy, an anglicized version of the French "Le Roi," which means "The King", but other observers have noted that this street had the offices of Jacob Le Roy & Sons, a shipping company that was active during the War of 1812.