Nick Carr of Scouting NY has some detailed backstory on 121 Charles Street, the two-century-old clapboard farmhouse that is beloved by West Villagers and was cluelessly marketed a couple weeks ago as a "blank canvas for a developer." The house, sometimes referred to as Cobble Court or the Margaret Wise Brown House (for the author who wrote the classic children's book "Goodnight Moon" there), was moved to its current location from the Upper East Side in 1967 after the Archdiocese of New York purchased it and the surrounding properties as a site for a nursing home. The couple that was renting the house at the time loved it so much that they loaded it onto a flatbed truck and had it brought down to the 121 Charles Street site, which they had purchased for $30,000. They even went so far as to transport the original cobblestones that surrounded the house, and they installed an extra wide gate so that passersby would be able to gawk.
That ability to be gawked at may play a role in saving the house for a second time as, over the years, it has become a cherished West Village landmark. The backlash against ERG Property Advisors' listing was so intense that the listing was first edited to soften the language and later removed. Although it is almost certainly still for sale, it remains to be seen what developer would want to raise that much ire.
· Will This 200-Year-Old Farmhouse Be Torn Down For Condos? [Scouting NY]
· Historic West Village House Marketed as 'Development Site' [Curbed]
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