Around Town - Top 10 New York - page 103

A Village Stroll
Morning

Begin at Washington
Square (p108) and the
elegant townhouse row
where Edith Wharton and
Henry James once lived.
Find the charming houses
of Washington Mews and
MacDougal Alley (p105) ,
then follow 6th Avenue,
past the Jefferson Market
Courthouse , to West
10th Street.

Stroll down the passageway
at the front of the Alexander
Onassis Center for Hellenic
Studies. This walkway once
led up to the Tile Club, a
gathering place for the
artists of the Tenth Street
Studio, where Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, John La
Farge, and Winslow Homer
lived and worked. Continue
along Waverly Place, Grove
Steet, and Bedford Street,
each with its share of prize
townhouse architecture.
Have lunch at a typical
Village bistro like Café Loup
(see p109) .

Judson Memorial Church
An elegant work in Roman-
esque style by Stanford White,
with stained glass by John La
Farge, the church was built in
1888-93 as a memorial to
Adoniram Judson, the first
American Baptist missionary in
Asia. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (see
p48) contributed to the construc-
tion. White's use of mottled yellow
brick and white terra-cotta trim
introduced light coloration into
American church architecture.
d 55 Washington Square South • Map N3
• Open for services 11am Sun • Free

Afternoon

After lunch, why not while
away a few hours browsing
in the local shops? Vintage
clothing can be admired at
specialty shops such as
Cheap Jack's, 841 Broad-
way between 13th and
14th streets, while just
across the street at No. 840
you'll find Forbidden
Planet, a nirvana for comic
book fanatics.

75 1 / 2 Bedford Street
Ever quirky, New York's
narrowest home, just 9.5 ft (3 m)
wide, was built in 1893 in a
passageway in the Village. Poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay lived here,
as did actors John Barrymore and,
later, Cary Grant. No. 77 Bedford
Street is the oldest house in the
Village, dating from around 1799,
and at No. 103 is the house
known as “Twin Peaks,” an 1830
structure remodeled in 1925 by
Clifford Reed Daily to house
artists and writers, who would
presumably be inspired by the
whimsical architecture. d Between
Morton & Barrow sts • Map N3

West 8th Street and West
4th Street are also cram-
med with shops, and
several coffeehouses are
great for people-watching.
Try Caffe Reggio, 119
MacDougal Street, where
the literary lights of the
beat generation used to
read their poetry.

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