The many lives of 64 E. 7th St.

The Greek Revival brownstone — now a single-family residence — at 64 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue has long captured the attention of David Hajdu, a cultural historian, critic and educator (and the staff music critic for The Nation). 

He wrote about the circa-1840 building in a widely-shared piece in the Times. There's now a separate article about No. 64 at Places, the journal of public scholarship on the built environment. 

Hajdu writes: 

From the first wave of immigration from Europe to lower Manhattan, through the rise of the Beats and avant-garde performance art in the mid-20th century, to the gentrification of recent years, the same building on East 7th Street has encapsulated one era after another after another. 

Past occupants of 64 E. Seventh St. include: 

• The parsonage for St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church

• The newspaper Russky Golos ("Russian Voice") 

• The Les Deux Megots coffeehouse, whose readings featured Allen Ginsberg, Paul Blackburn and Carol Berge 

• The Paradox, taking claim to be the world's first macrobiotic restaurant where both Yoko Ono and folksinger Loudon Wainwright III worked 

• Books 'N Things 

• Tokio 7 (moved across the street)

Both articles are related to the world premiere of The Parsonage, a recorded album about the history of 64 E. Seventh St. Hadju and a group of musicians will perform live on April 27 at the Museum of the City of New York. 

Per the MCNY site: 

The Parsonage, which takes from the worlds of jazz, classical, and "post-classical" music, makes its debut on April 7 from Sunnyside Records. The song cycle features libretto by cultural historian David Hajdu and music by eight composers: Darcy James Argue, Theo Bleckmann, Regina Carter, Ted Hearne, Kirk Nurock, Renee Rosnes, Sarah Kirkland Snider and Dan Tepfer.

7th Street townhouse with rooftop pizza oven and basketball hoop sells for $15.75 million

[Image via Streeteasy]

The single-family townhouse at 64 E. Seventh St. has sold after nearly a year on the market.

The Real Deal noted the sale last week for the home between First Avenue and Second Avenue. Per TRD, an entity tied to William N. Joy — principal of a Florida-based investment firm Water Street Capital Inc. — paid $15.75 million for the property, which had an original ask of $18 million.

According to Streeteasy, No. 64 has five fireplaces, terraces off of the dining room and master bedroom, and rooftop garden with — why not? — a pizza oven and basketball hoop.

The sellers were two trusts and Lisa J. Fox.

The building received a gut renovation in 2010 that saw the removal of its longtime storefront.

Jeremiah Moss explored the building's history in this post from 2010.

Past occupants of 64 E. Seventh St. include:
• The parsonage for St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church
• The newspaper Russky Golos ("Russian Voice")
• The Les Deux Megots coffeehouse, whose readings featured Allen Ginsberg, Paul Blackburn and Carol Berge
• The Paradox, "said to be the world's first macrobiotic restaurant" where both Yoko Ono and folksinger Loudon Wainwright III worked
• Books 'N Things
• Tokio 7 (moved across the street)

New Seventh Street mansion re-emerges with additional floor

The Economakis Manor isn't the only recently unveiled, newly minted single-family home in the East Village... Here we are over at 64 Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue. (Or, for coffee fans, between Van Leeuwen and Abraco.)

Before!

Jeremiah wrote extensively about the history at this address in March 2010. (Read his post at Vanishing New York here.) It has been the Les Deux Megots coffeehouse that attracted everyone from Allen Ginsberg to William F. Buckley Jr. ... as well as the Paradox, the macrobiotic restaurant where Yoko Ono and Loudon Wainwright III both worked...

According to Streeteasy, this 1837 Federal Townhouse was originally part of Peter Stuyvesant's parcel of land.

Today!

It's now a single-family home again just like in 1837 ... though now with an elevator. Per the Streeteasy listing, the new owner bought the place in April 2008 for $5.7 $5.3 million.

The house is configured with 13 windowed rooms: three interior rooms, a kitchen on the main floor, three bathrooms and four fireplaces.

Meanwhile, we're not sure what kind of welcome wagon the new tenants will receive from neighbors. According to the DOB, there have been 22 complaints filed against 64 Seventh St. in the past 12 months, ranging from "illegal work on Saturdays" to some steel beams used for the additional floor causing some walls to crack at 62 Seventh St.