The Peterson House, home of CMPS (Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies) is located at 16 West 10th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It is right in the middle of a landmark street that some have called “the most beautiful block in New York City.” Its location also places it within the Greenwich Village Historic District.
According to the New York City Landmarks Commission, the building was constructed in 1854-55, along with 14 West 10th. Both buildings have “exceptional architectural distinction.” Number 16 is one of three “super-houses” on this block, the others being numbers 12 and 14. While 12 and 14 are considered to be quite ample, with 25-foot widths, 16 is the largest of the three, measuring 36 feet, six inches wide.
The building originally housed the family of Henry L. Peterson, an iron merchant. The building was then bought by James F.D. Lanier, a Wall Street banker of the firm Windslow, Lanier & Company. Other well known residents of the building include artists Jon Corbino and Frances Kent Lamont, who lived here at the beginning of World War II.
The building today houses the Center for Modern Psychoanalytic Studies and the New York Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. The townhouse, which was recently renovated, has enormously high ceilings in its double parlor with sliding pocket doors as well as a small terrace overlooking the garden area. The room, which has retained its charm and most of its original architecture, comfortably holds 110 guests for cocktails and up to 60 for seated dinners.
