See Newly Digitized, "Super Detailed" Photos Of Old Greenwich Village

The turn of 20th century found Greenwich Village in the midst of a transformation -- as affluent residents largely decamped uptown closer to Central Park and 5th Avenue, a bohemian enclave took shape in their wake. Residences were subdivided, housing became affordable, immigration was still on the rise, and "radicalism and nonconformity" were embraced, according to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Inexpensive hotel rooms could be found at places like the storied Hotel Albert. Artists and workers lived in the area, close to the action, and to their jobs — the Asch Building, home to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, had just been constructed near Washington Square Park, which just got a new arch.

"A growing awareness of its idiosyncrasies helped to make Greenwich Village an attraction for tourists," the GVSHP notes. "Entrepreneurs provided amusements ranging from evenings in artists’ studios to bacchanalian costume balls." By the 1920s the area saw plenty of speakeasies and, eventually, "luxury apartment towers appeared at the northern edge of Washington Square," signaling towards the start of another new era for the area. But let's get back to that sweet spot around 1900...

John Zarrillo, Senior Archivist of University Archives at NYU, told Gothamist this week that they just digitized a large set of glass plate negatives that document the Village and Washington Square Park area from around 1895 through 1905.

"Since these were large format plates, they are super detailed and capture a lot of interesting street activity, advertisements, and architectural details," he explained. Along with the images, they included when the buildings were constructed, who designed them, what businesses were housed in them, and when they were demolished. Click through the gallery above for a preview, and you can find the rest right here.

The story of the glass plates, Zarrillo told us, "is that there was an organization known as Sailor's Snug Harbor, which owned a large number of properties north of Washington Square Park. NYU was involved with the organization starting in the 1940s when they began leasing the buildings along Washington Square Park North. In the 1970s they sold off all their properties and these plates were found in their old headquarters on Greene Street." NYU purchased them at an auction in 2005.

The image quality is impeccable, with striking, crystal clear details. Zoom in on a photo you took on your iPhone and you'll see blurred pixels, but with these, you'll see all the fine detail. And as for the composition, "In some of the images you can find people who are looking out of windows and seem to me to be staring directly at the camera," Zarrillo noted, adding that "it's possible they knew they were being photographed and then positioned themselves in the windows to be captured in the shot." You can also see newsies and other groups of New Yorkers on the streets.

It's worth noting that NYU — the provider of these images — has historically been at war with Greenwich Village preservationists who have tried to save the bohemian character of the Village as the school has expanded and taken over buildings; notably, they tore down the former historic home of Edgar Allan Poe in 2003.