Diane Arbus and the Westbeth

In 1971, photographer Diane Arbus — then 48 and long battling severe depression — took a heavy dose of barbiturates and slashed her wrists in her apartment at the Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village. She had lived throughout New York for most of her life but had been at Westbeth for less than a year.

Best known for her unflinching portraits of society’s margins — circus performers, twins, nudists, drag queens, people in parks — Arbus became far more famous after her death, as often happens. MoMA staged a retrospective of her work just a year later. Her own explanation for what drew her to such subjects was characteristically sharp: she described her subjects as occupying “the space between who someone is and who they think they are.”

Westbeth itself is a fascinating piece of New York history. One of the country’s first major adaptive reuse projects, the complex was formerly Bell Laboratories, where an early version of the television was invented. Architect Richard Meier oversaw renovations, and the building opened in 1970 as affordable live-work space for 384 artists. The resident wait list closed in 2007. Notable tenants over the years included choreographer Merce Cunningham — and, unexpectedly, Vin Diesel.

Location: Westbeth Artists Community, 55 Bethune Street, New York, NY 10014