Greenwich House is a West Village settlement house in New York City.

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Greenwich House was founded on Thanksgiving Day 1902 by city planner and social worker Mary K. Simkhovitch in a building at 26 Jones Street in Manhattan's West Village.^[1][2] Its original purpose was to help New York's growing immigrant population adapt to life in their new country. Early supporters who joined her on opening day included social reformers Jacob Riis, Felix Adler, and Carl Shurz.^[1] Greenwich Village was a mixed area at the time. Italian immigrants began crowding out the existing Irish population. Many homes lacked running water. There was a high infant death rate and poor education. Early programs sought to relieve congestion and improve living conditions, which included founding the Greenwich Village Improvement Society, forerunner to the Greenwich Village Association and first neighborhood association of its kind in the United States; and publishing the Tenant's Rights Manual, the first ever of its kind in the nation.^[3]

Recognizing a need for recreation and skills training among Village residents, Greenwich House established Greenwich House Music School at 46 Barrow Street in 1905, followed by the Handicraft School, the precursor to Greenwich House Pottery, in 1909. By 1917 the organization's Jones Street buildings were becoming overcrowded for its programs.^[4] Thanks to a gift from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Greenwich House was able to hire architects Delano and Aldrich to design its current Federalist building at 27 Barrow Street. The new building, complete with gym, running track, theater, and rooftop playground, provided Greenwich House the space to establish new programs such as a nursery school and children's theater program.^[5]

Greenwich House soon needed more space. The old Handicraft School building was rebuilt as Greenwich House Pottery in 1928, enabling it to become a renowned center for ceramics. The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased two pieces from the Pottery in 1939.^{[citation needed]} In 1942 Greenwich House continued to add more services, and the New York City's first after-school program was followed by a senior center. By the 1980s Greenwich House offered a mix of social service and arts education programs.^[1]

In the late 1980s Greenwich House played a central role in the AIDS crisis in the West Village neighborhood, one of the city's largest gay communities. In 1987 Greenwich House opened the AIDS Mental Health Project followed by the HIV Primary Medical Care Project. Today, the organization continues to host a long term HIV survivors support group.^[6] Also in 1987, Greenwich House founded the Children's Safety Project, the only program in the city dedicated to treating young victims of abuse. The Children's Safety Project was founded after a group of concerned neighbors came together after the killing of local Village child, nine year old Lisa Steinberg.^[7]

Today Greenwich House provides art education, senior service and behavioral health programs including an after-school, summer arts camp, nursery school, senior centers and senior health clinic, substance abuse clinics and a program for children who have suffered from abuse.

Greenwich House's main facilities are located in Greenwich Village, including its main building at 27 Barrow Street, Pottery at 16 Jones Street and Music School at 46 Barrow Street. Greenwich House also rents space for programs, primarily senior and behavioral health programs, including at a nearby church, Our Lady of Pompeii; and at a former convent located on Washington Square Park North.^[8]

Greenwich House's main building was built between 1916 and 1917, funded by board members including Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Anna Woershoffer. The Flemish-bond building was designed in the neo-federal style by architects Delano and Aldrich.^[9] The building was considered an example of refined American design, complete with mural by Arthur Crisp, intended to inspire immigrants new to the country.^[10] The seven-story building contains a professional theater, currently the home of Ars Nova and previously home to Soho Rep and the Barrow Street Theatre, a gym with running track, commercial kitchen, medical offices and a rooftop playground among other facilities. The building was built with a shaft for an elevator, but no actual elevator, as the new technology was too expensive at the time.

Greenwich House Pottery is located at 16 Jones Street. The current building was built in 1928, also designed by Delano and Aldrich. The building is notable for containing the only remaining gas pottery kilns in Manhattan. It is also the home of the Jane Hartsook Gallery.^[11]

Greenwich House Music School, located at 46 Barrow Street composes two out of a row of six brick row homes. The homes were originally designed in the Italianate style by Smith Woodruff in 1851. The two Music School homes were combined on the interior and now comprise the 100 seat Renee Weiler Concert Hall as well as sound proof practice rooms.^[12]

Greenwich House's rented space in the basement of Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church also received notoriety. In 2015, after more than thirty years in the space, the pastor of the church attempted to evict the senior center. After months of negotiations, including elected officials and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, weighing in, the church agreed to a new revised lease allowing the center to remain.^[13]

• Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch, founder,
• Jacob Riis, early supporter,
• Eleanor Roosevelt, supporter,
• Carola Woerishoffer, resident (1907-1909) and supporter
• Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, supporter, helped fund 27 Barrow building,
• Guy Pene du Bois, painter,
• Jackson Pollock, received free studio time by sweeping floors at Greenwich House Pottery,
• Leonard Warren, singer,
• Julius Rudel, conductor,
• Ossip Gabrilowitsch, pianist,
• Henry Cowell, composer,
• Edgar Varese, potter,
• Peter Voulkos, potter,
• Marshall Field, board president, 1938–1944,
• Amelia Earhart, resident, 1927–1929,
• Manton B. Metcalf, board president, 1947–1954.

• Settlement House