Category:MacDougal Alley

MacDougal Alley runs west off MacDougal Street in the block between Washington Square North and West 8th Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is not an official NYC street, but a private way, owned jointly by the residents of Washington Square North to its south, and West 8th Street to its north, for whom it was created in 1833 for their stables. Unlike Washington Mews to the east, it is a cul-de-sac and does not run through to Fifth Avenue. The numbering of the buildings can be strange, since some of them retain the numbers of the houses they were once the stables for. In 1939, the Alley was the only street in the city still lit by gas lamps. The Alley is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District. (Sources: AIA Guide to NYC (4th ed.), NYCLPC Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report vol.1, and WPA Guide to NYC (1939))