This late, legendary community activist and urban theorist fought a megalomaniac developer, helped save Washington Square Park and wrote her seminal work, \u201cThe Death and Life of Great American Cities,\u201d during the two decades that she lived in this landmarked West Village rowhouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, Gimme Shelter has learned, Jane Jacobs\u2019 historic home at 555 Hudson St. is on the market for $5.49 million \u2014 half a million dollars\u00a0less\u00a0than its asking price last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jacobs, who died in 2006, believed that grassroots activism matters, and that cities become great only when people unite and work together, with small business flourishing. Although Jacobs once foiled Robert Moses\u2019 plan to destroy Washington Square Park, she was once dismissed by her critics as a \u201chousewife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jane Jacobs. Toronto Star via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The plaque outside the rowhouse is dedicated to Jacobs. Getty Images<\/p>\n
The woodburning fireplace. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
A view of the open dining\/living area. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
The red brick rowhouse was built in 1842. It\u2019s on the same block where the White Horse Tavern, built in 1880, still stands, frequented over the years by dockworkers, immigrants and literary figures \u2014 including Dylan Thomas to Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Jack Kerouac \u2014 and musicians like Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan. In fact, the cover of the 1961 first edition of \u201cThe Death and Life\u201d is a photo of Jacobs at the White Horse Tavern\u2019s bar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The residence is about 16.5 feet wide. Outside, there\u2019s a plaque that honors Jacobs. Inside, the 2,265-square-foot home features two bedrooms, a full bath, two powder rooms and three fireplaces.<\/p>\n
The living room is also where Jacobs came up with the \u201cSave the Square\u201d protest to stop Moses from creating the Lower Manhattan Expressway.<\/p>\n
The home\u2019s garden level is a commercial space, with an additional fireplace, that opens to\u00a0a private garden. When Jacobs lived there, a candy store flourished in it, according to reports.<\/p>\n
Jacobs and her husband, architect Robert Hyde Jacobs Jr., bought the home for $7,000 in 1947 \u2014 about $106,000 today \u2014 three years after they wed. It\u2019s where they raised their three kids. They moved out in 1968, when they left the US for Toronto, in part to protest the Vietnam War; their two sons were draft age.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upstairs, there\u2019s a private duplex \u2014 with a separate entry and stairs \u2014 and lots of light. The main floor boasts a great room, a dining area, a kitchen and a powder room. Above that is another floor with two bedrooms, a full bath and a private terrace overlooking the garden. In addition, there\u2019s a basement level for storage, laundry and another\u00a0powder room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The windowed, eat-in kitchen. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
There\u2019s sufficient room for a kids\u2019 playroom. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
Stairs lead up to the bedrooms. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
One of two bedrooms. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
The second bedroom features charming exposed brick. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
The seller is Susan Spehar, a former social worker who grew up in St. Louis. She bought the home for $3.32 million in 2009, after the passing of her financier husband. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I bought it, I didn\u2019t know anything about Jane Jacobs,\u201d Spehar told Gimme. \u201cThe house just had a really great feeling. I felt like I was carrying a torch for someone else. She must have had a powerful vibes. It felt like a home that a woman should have bought. It was a house that had meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after she bought it, Spehar walked outside one morning and about 50 people, on a walking tour, started to clap.\u00a0\u201cThey thought I was Jane Jacobs!\u201d she said. She gave the group a tour, and they left flowers on her doorstep the next day. For a time before she bought the spread, Spehar said she heard that Jacobs\u2019 fans would lay flowers by the door once a year.<\/p>\n
The outdoor space is divine. Travis Mark<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople really, really respected her,\u201d Spehar said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great little house. I hope that somebody buys it who respects the person who lived there. She was really an amazing person. There\u2019s a vibe there. If you pay attention, you can still feel her power.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Listing broker Leslie Modell, of Sotheby\u2019s International Realty, who shares the listing with her daughter, Missy Modell, also of Sotheby\u2019s, agrees. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhoever is lucky enough to call this historical landmark a home will be living where the blueprint for modern city life was written,\u201d Leslie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those rare West Village homes where the character is perfectly preserved, yet there\u2019s so much opportunity to make it your own,\u201d Missy added.<\/p>\n
A new buyer will also have the option to build up 1,652 square feet, thanks to unused air rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This late, legendary community activist and urban theorist fought a megalomaniac developer, helped save Washington Square Park and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":359832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,14471,5418,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4329,10204,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,169205,19146],"class_list":{"0":"post-359831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-gimme-shelter","10":"tag-luxury-real-estate","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-real-estate","18":"tag-residential-real-estate","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-washington-square-park","26":"tag-west-village"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115502914530219337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}