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The story is set entirely in a three-story Greenwich Village apartment building in the early 1900s. As the narrator notes, Greenwich is west of Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The narrator describes the village as a place of narrow, twisting streets. At that time, Greenwich Village was a thriving artists’ community. The narrator calls it a “colony” because many people have settled there from elsewhere, including Sue, who comes from Maine, and Johnsy, who comes from California. The neighborhood is a prime spot for artists who want a good place to create art in studios with low rents. The narrow streets also help poor artists escape their bill collectors. Sue and Johnsy occupy the top floor of the apartment building, where they have their living space and studio. Mr. Behrman occupies the ground floor.
The time setting of the story is November. In New York, November is the last month of autumn, a transition time between summer and winter. The weather is getting colder, windier, and wetter, all of which encourage the pneumonia outbreak which sweeps through the village.
