Dilapidated Federal style frame house, once home to Thomas Paine, 1932.

Paine, the English-born Revolutionary era author, moved to the wooden house on Herring Street (as Bleecker was then known, west of Sixth Avenue) after his release from French prison in 1802. He would live there nearly until his death in 1809.

Nearby Barrow Street was briefly renamed Reason Street in Paine’s honor, referencing “In Praise of Reason,” a tract he wrote while imprisoned in France. Locals, however, had difficulty embracing the new name: it was often bastardized as “Raisin Street.” In 1827, the Barrow Street name was restored.