West Village

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/advertising 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)
  A modern mid-rise concierge elevator building offering a gym. While the building itself is modern, it is located in the neighborhood full of quaint brownstone houses, with e....
• 110-114 Horatio Street (110, 114 Horatio Street, West Village) [3 available no-fee apts]
  2 attached buildings.
• 19-21 Grove Street (West Village) [3 available no-fee apts]
  A low-rise elevator building offering laundry facilities.
• 95 Christopher Street (West Village) [7 available no-fee apts]
  A pre-war mid-rise landmark doorman building.
• The Archive (666 Greenwich Street, West Village) [5 available no-fee apts]
  A turn-of-the-century mid-rise landmark doorman building offering laundry facilities. Built in the late 19th century in the Romanesque Revival style and originally intended a....

See all West Village Rental Apartment Buildings (178 buildings)

Selected No-Fee Rental Listings

See all West Village No-Fee Rental Apartments (61 total)

Condo & Co-op Buildings

• 165 Charles Street (West Village)
  The building has been designed to accommodate a range of apartment configurations. With the exception of the lower two floors and the penthouse, the building is divided by a c....
• One Jackson Square (122 Greenwich Avenue, West Village)
  A modern mid-rise doorman condo building offering a gym. The apartments have very high ceilings.
• The Printing House (421 Hudson Street, West Village)
  A pre-war mid-rise doorman elevator condo building offering a gym, a pool and laundry facilities. The Printing House was one of the first buildings in New York to install sol....

See all West Village Condo Apartment Buildings (24 buildings)

• 10 Christopher Street (West Village)
  A pre-war elevator building. The apartments have high ceilings.
• 88 Charles Street (West Village)
  A low-rise landmark walk-up building. The apartments have high ceilings.

See our list of West Village Co-op Apartment Buildings (22 buildings)

NAME ORIGINS

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.

Additional Links

Please note that the site(s) mentioned below are not affiliated with NYBits

• 24/Mar/2010: The Up-and-Comer (The NY Observer)