Former Residence of William S. Burroughs (the "Bunker")

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Controversial writer William S. Burroughs lived (and often wandered) between New York, Kansas, Mexico, South America, and Morocco. But throughout his peripatetic life, he nearly always returned to Manhattan. He lived at 222 Bowery, a former YMCA building which he christened "the Bunker," from 1974 to 1997. After his death, writer John Giorno took over the building, keeping Burroughs's room largely as it was it was when he died. Artist Mark Rothko also had a large studio in the building. The building was named a New York City Landmark in 1998.

Images

William S. Burroughs

Burroughs's room inside the Bunker

The "Bunker"

Window, Neighbourhood, Building, Apartment

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The building that came to be known as the "Bunker" was built by the YMCA in 1885 as the organization's first branch in New York City. At the time, the Bowery was a seedy, disreputable part of the city, replete with saloons and brothels, and the organization hoped to provide a wholesome environment for young men. In the 1930s, the building began to be used for light manufacturing and loft spaces.

By the time the YMCA left in the 1930s, the Bowery's reputation was even worse than when the building was constructed. The neighborhood was rife with drunkenness and several nearby buildings were flophouses that catered to the area's destitute. But by the 1950s, with rising rents in other parts of the city, the building's open spaces began to attract artists who could not afford studio space elsewhere. In 1957, Mark Rothko, who had just been commissioned to do work for the Four Seasons restaurant, converted the former YMCA gymnasium into his studio. Rothko's paint spatters are reportedly still visible on the floor.

Within a few years, the space became a gathering place for a number of the city's writers and artists, with people coming for drug-fueled parties that went on for days. Poet John Giorno took a loft in the building in 1966. Andy Warhol threw parties in the building and Allen Ginsberg and Roy Lichtenstein were regulars as well.

In 1974, newly returned from London, William S. Burroughs moved into the building. Burroughs had attended parties at the building and given at least one reading there some years earlier. Though there was an available loft, Burroughs chose a storage space in the building, which he affectionately named "the Bunker." Burroughs continued to live a relatively nomadic life, but maintained a residence in the building and returned there often to write. By the time Burroughs moved in, the Bowery--like much of the city--was in an advanced state of decline, with the Bowery's sidewalks and doorways lined occupied by the homeless. At night, the street was lit up with fires glowing from trash cans. Despite--or perhaps because of--the unsavory atmosphere of the Bowery, the Bunker's residents and their guests maintained a deep affection for the building.

Burroughs officially had a residence in the building until his death in 1997, although he lived much of the last years of his life in Kansas. After his death, Giorno kept his old friend's work space largely as he left it, a shrine of sorts. In the 1980s, the building began to be used as a co-op, and in 1998, largely because of the efforts of Giorno, it was named a New York City Landmark.

Sources

Gray, Christopher . Streetscapes/222 Bowery, Between Spring and Prince Streets; the 1885 Young Men's Institute, Now a Loft Co-Op, New York Times . December 17th 2000. Accessed December 18th 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/17/realestate/streetscapes-222-bowery-between-spring-prince-streets-185-young-men-s-institute.html.

The Past Lives of the "Bunker" on the Bowery , Ephemeral New York. May 5th 2017. Accessed December 18th 2020. https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/first-ymca/.

Earle-Levine, Julie . John Giorno's Half Century on the Bowery , New York Times Style Magazine. June 15th 2015. Accessed December 18th 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/t-magazine/john-giornos-half-century-on-the-bowery.html.