Carmine Street, looking north to Our Lady of Pompeii Church

Carmine Street forms the heart of this part of the South Village, and like intersecting Bleecker Street, it formed the spine of the Italian-American community here.  That presence can still be felt in Carmine Street's shops, as can that of the artists, musicians, and counter-culture purveyors who followed them, in the second-hand book and record stores which dot the street.   Our Lady of Pompeii's tower punctuates the streetscape.  The north side of this block, visible in this picture to the left, largely consists of older tenements built between the 1850s and early 1880s (see also below).  Two houses from the 1820s survived until the 1960s when they were replaced by the annex to Our Lady of Pompeii Church, just to its west (left of the church in the picture).

 

41 Carmine Street Tenements

 

 

31-33 Carmine Street -- tenements built circa 1859

 It is often assumed that Carmine Street's naming reflects the Italian-American heritage of the area; in fact, the street is named for Nicholas Carman, an early vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church, New York's first established English Church and the owner of much of the land in this area for centuries (and still the owner of much of the land south of here). Originally Carman Street, it eventually became Carmine Street.

NEXT >

Click here to return to main tour page

If you want to support GVSHP and its efforts to preserve the South Village, CLICK HERE.

 

If you want to be kept informed of the South Village preservation campaign, email:

SouthVillage@gvshp.org.  Be sure to include your name, address and phone number.

 

Did you or your family live, work, or have a business in the South Village?  If you have stories, pictures, or information about the history of the South Village, please share it with us.  CLICK HERE for email, or you can write to us at GVSHP, 232 E. 11th Street, New York, NY  10003, or call 212-475-9585.