Location: The West Village is everything west of Sixth Avenue, from Houston to 14th street. Essentially, the West Village is the original Greenwich Village.
The need for the modifier ("West") is a relatively new thing
resulting from the emergence of the Eastern counterpart, the
East Village.
There is a certain degree of ambiguity as to whether the West Village
includes the area around NYU - i.e. Fifth avenue and University Place (a.k.a. the Central Village).
Our panel of experts maintains that it doesn't.
Demographics: The population stands at about 72,000.
Although the West Village used to be visibly gay, in the last few
years young families (often with children)
started to take over as the neighborhood's most "visible" constituency.
As far as the social makeup is concerned, the majority could easily qualify as affluent.
Real estate prices here are among the highest in Manhattan,
not to mention other boroughs.
In the past, the area was considered a natural place to live
for intellectuals of all kinds (the literary kind in particular), but
nowadays it would be difficult to find any full-time writers who could afford
living there. Stockbrokers and media/adverising executives probably have a
much better shot.
Apartments & Real Estate
Architecturally, the West Village has been preserved pretty well, which is a plus if you
like the character of old buildings, but a minus if you're looking for an affordable yet modern
apartment. There are very few modern buildings and practically none of them qualifies as a
"high-rise".
To be fair, some reasons for that do not have much to do with with preservation - they are
much simpler. Because of a geological quirk, the "rock" foundation, easily reachable in
Midtown and Downtown, is actually very deep here. As a result, building too high would
either be prohibitively expensive or outright dangerous.
The result is a neighborhood dominated by 19th and early 20th-century brownstone and
low-rise apartment buildings.
Selected Rental Buildings
100 Jane Street
(West Village) {2 available apts} A modern mid-rise doorman elevator building offering a gym. While the building itself is modern, it is located in the neighborhood full of quaint brownstone houses, with eas....
The Archive
(666 Greenwich Street, West Village) {10 available apts} A landmark turn-of-the-century mid-rise doorman elevator building offering laundry facilities. Built in the late 19th century in the Romanesque Revival style and originally i....
Morton Square
(600 Washington Street, West Village) {7 available apts} A new 7-story building offering luxury studios, alcove studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments. Part of the Morton Square complex.
West Coast 95
(95 Horatio Street, West Village) {2 available apts} A pre-war mid-rise doorman building offering a gym, a garage and laundry facilities.
Greenwich Village used to be a village (back in the days when Wall Street actually had a wall).
The "west" modifier was added later to distinguish the neighborhood from its eastern neighbors.
{2 available apts}
