Tenth street studio building

Located originally in 1857 at 15 West 10th Street in Greenwich Village, New York City and designed by William Morris Hunt, it has been described as "the catalyst most responsible for transforming Greenwich Village into a hub for the visual arts." (greyart). It was the first purpose-build artist-studio facility in the U.S. The Studio Building was demolished in 1955. The original address was 15 West 10th Street, but the number changed to 51 West 10th Street in 1867. With 25 studios, which leading original occupant artists paid two-hundred dollars a year rent for luxurious space for that era, the studios had coal stoves, privacy, and plenty of light. The 'Building' was at the center of the New York Art Scene in the nineteenth century. Some of the most prominent late 19th century occupants were Albert Bierstadt, William Merritt Chase, Frederic Church, Martin Johnson Heade, John La Farge, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Eastman Johnson, John Kensett, Willard Metcalf, Worthington Whittredge and Winslow Homer. As a group, the occupants worked on marketing strategies, including quality framing, to sell their artwork, and they also hosted regular visitors hoping they were going to purchase paintings. From August 21 to November 16, 1997, the National Academy in New York held an exhibition devoted to artists of the Tenth Street Studio Building. The exhibit, appropriate for the Academy because most Studio occupants were members of the National Academy of Design, featured 50 Paintings, and 1000 photographs, prints, manuscripts, and memorabilia. The exhibition also had a reconstruction of the elaborate studio of William Merritt Chase, the buildings most famous occupant. His studio originally was that of Albert Bierstadt. Sources: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/4aa/4aa62.htm; "Albert Bierstadt, Painter of the American West" by Gordon Hendricks; /www.nyu.edu/greyart/information/Greenwich_Village/body_greenwich_village.html (LPD)