Nestled on an idyllic tree-lined block in Greenwich Village, just steps from tony Fifth Ave. (and right around the corner from the oft-filmed 43 Fifth building), stands a charming brownstone with not only a notable provenance but a vast filming history, as well. Known as the Emma Lazarus House, the Italianate masterpiece was home to the revered poet for a short time in the late 1800s and, in more recent years, has become a favorite amongst location managers and something of a regular on “Law & Order.” This writer was introduced to the place via its appearance on Netflix’s popular holiday-themed teen romance series “Dash & Lily” in 2020. One look at its striking double-height library and intricate bifurcated staircase and I was smitten!
Thanks to a historical placard visible on the dwelling’s exterior on the show, it was not hard to identify as the Emma Lazarus House, declared a New York City Landmark by the Preservation Commission in 1999. The poet intermittently called the residence home from 1883, when her father, well-to-do sugar merchant Moses Lazarus, purchased it until her untimely death at the age of 38 in 1887. While her name might not be familiar to all, a sonnet she penned in 1883 most likely is. It is Emma’s famous words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” from her poem “The New Colossus” that adorn the base of the Statue of Liberty about five miles south in New York Harbor.
The stately abode’s origins date back much farther, though. The dwelling was originally built in 1856 for prominent banker James Winslow and his wife, Margaret. According to The Forward website, renowned architect James Renwick, who was also behind the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C., many of the buildings on the Vassar College campus and, perhaps most famous of all, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, was responsible for the design.
