{"nrhp_refnum":"83001730","name":"House at 17 West 16th Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"17 W. 16th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.737754547000065,"lon":-73.99350846099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-05-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival brick townhouse with a bow front and stone trim at 17 West 16th Street in Manhattan, built about 1846 as one of a row of nine houses planned by Edward S. Mesier.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a rare surviving bow-front Greek Revival townhouse in New York City and a reminder of the once-fashionable Union Square neighborhood. It also claims national significance because it housed Margaret Sanger's Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau from 1930 to 1973.","narrative":"Built about 1846, this brick townhouse at 17 West 16th Street in Manhattan is a Greek Revival house with a bow front and stone trim. It was one of nine houses planned by Edward S. Mesier, who intended West 16th Street near Union Square to be a first-class residential street. Only four of the nine survive. Bow fronts were far more common in Boston than in New York, and few examples remain here. Notable features include the Greek Revival entranceway, a cast-iron balcony with Italianate motifs, a black-and-white marble foyer floor, and a curved staircase beneath a stained-glass skylight. The house served as a private residence for decades. In 1930 Margaret Sanger moved her Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau into it, and the clinic stayed until 1973. Her work in family planning gives the building national significance beyond its architecture. It has since been converted back to a single-family home and remains in excellent, largely original condition.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Unknown (houses planned and probably built by Edward S. Mesier)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition, largely unaltered and occupied as a one-family private residence again after earlier conversions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:43.49997-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/83001730.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001730/eccb73701f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001730/eccb73701f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:17-23_West_16th_St.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:17-23_West_16th_St.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319606","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger_Clinic","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6759870"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/house-at-17-west-16th-street-83001730/"}