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Meredith Monk passed through it. So did John Cage, Hilary Hahn, Edgard Varèse and Henry Cowell. For generations of Village kids, it was simply the building where you learned to play.
That building is 46 Barrow Street, and the Greenwich House Music School is preparing to leave it after 113 years.
The school has been at the address since 1913, having been founded eight years earlier around the corner at 26 Jones Street. Its parent settlement house, Greenwich House, announced in October 2025 that it would sell the building and find the school a new home — a decision it said followed months of due diligence and was not its first choice.
The reasons are unglamorous and structural. The building lacks ADA accessibility. It needs extensive repairs and updated heating and cooling. Greenwich House put the combined cost at millions of dollars in capital investment, arriving at a moment when enrollment has declined.
“For many, 46 Barrow has been more than a building; it has been the place where they first made music and found a community,” said Rachel Black, the Music School’s director.
CEO and Executive Director Darren Bloch framed the sale as an opening rather than a loss. “The profound emotional connection to Barrow Street doesn’t go away, but the commitment to that legacy and vision of what we can create in its place is what’s driving us now,” he said.
The school is not going far, and that appears to have been the point. Rather than lease and build out expensive swing space — which Greenwich House warned could eat a large share of the sale proceeds — the school is moving into buildings the organization already owns.
Piano instruction heads to a 5,000-square-foot space on the fifth floor of 27 Barrow Street, a short walk down the same block, which may also host strings, voice, ensembles and ballet, plus offices for the registrar and director. A redesigned space in the lower level of 623 Broadway will handle drums, amplified instruments and a second ensemble room. Recital space will be rented in the neighborhood as needed.
Greenwich House expects the transition to last five years or more while it searches for a permanent home in or near the neighborhood. It has been emphatic that the school is not closing and that no layoffs are planned.
Instruction continues at 46 Barrow through Thanksgiving. The move happens in the new year, and the organization’s stated timeline has the property turning over to its buyer on December 31, 2026.
What the buyer gets is unusual for the Village: width. The listing, carried by Ryan Serhant and Nicole Palermo of SERHANT., covers two pre-combined side-by-side townhouses spanning more than 44 feet across — horizontal living where most Village townhouses force you upward.
The envelope runs about 13,000 square feet, roughly 10,500 above grade plus a 2,200-square-foot cellar, configured with eight bedrooms and six full bathrooms. Taxes on the current assessment run $115,836 a year. Behind it sits a walled garden of about 1,500 square feet, hemmed by low landmarked townhouses that let sun reach it all day.
The marketing materials describe period detail, a skylit staircase, 18 oversized windows with white muntins, Juliet balconies, two separate entrances, and the concert hall that carried a century of performances.
The last asking price was $24,995,000. The Real Deal reported the deal at $24 million, naming Hondo LLC as the buyer, in its roundup of transactions recorded through Monday afternoon. Because Greenwich House is a nonprofit, the sale requires review by the State of New York before it can close. It follows the $10 million sale of Amber Valletta’s West Village townhouse last week.
Proceeds are earmarked for the school’s next home — Greenwich House has floated a fully accessible arts space with modern classrooms and a performance hall, expanded programming, and more financial aid for students from underserved communities.
