July at Village Preservation: The Revolutionary Village and More
As celebrations of the Semiquincentennial begin across the nation, we at Village Preservation are using this moment to highlight the revolutionary contributions of our neighborhood and city.
Rather than focusing solely on the Revolutionary War era, our “Revolutionary Village” theme highlights 250 years of ongoing revolution in politics, culture, the arts, and society that have unfolded in our communities.
From abolitionism and women’s suffrage to labor organizing, LGBTQ+ rights, free speech, and artistic experimentation, these neighborhoods have consistently served as laboratories for American democracy. Revolutionary Village recognizes the spirit that animated the struggle for independence also fueled later movements that expanded and challenged the meaning of freedom and equality in the United States.
Many of our July programs explore themes of the Revolutionary Village, from Federal-era innovations to LGBTQ+ activism. Also this month, we continue conversations on housing with our “Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus” series, as well as our Broker’s continuing education program. Today, we will look at these exciting events in more detail.
Staging over 80 programs annually, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, Village Preservation programming brings the architectural and cultural history of our neighborhoods to life through tours, lectures, conversations, webinars, and much more. You can revisit many of these programs on Village Preservation’s YouTube channel.
“Revolutionary Village” Series
July 1 – American Independence in Brick and Stone: Federal Style Architecture in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo
Join Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman as he takes us on a virtual tour of Federal Style architecture in our neighborhoods and Lower Manhattan, and offers insights into what it shows about life in late 18th and early 19th century New York, and efforts over three decades to help document and preserve them.
Our neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo are rich in Federal Style architecture, the earliest architectural expression of an independent America. Since the 1990s, Village Preservation has worked tirelessly to document and help preserve Federal Style architecture in our neighborhoods and throughout Lower Manhattan.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to register
July 16 – Craig Rodwell: Space, Culture, and Conscience in the Gay Liberation Movement
Join us for this special webinar that will examine Craig Rodwell’s long presence in Greenwich Village, his influence in the events that shaped an emerging culture, and the values he helped to cultivate in the movement.
Craig Rodwell is an unheralded yet pivotal figure in the militant gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Founder of the first bookstore of its kind dedicated to gay and lesbian literature – the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop – Rodwell played a crucial role in the early protests for gay rights, the Stonewall Riots, and the inaugural pride march of 1970.
In this event, award-winning journalist John Van Hoesen explores cities grappling with social change, while highlighting Craig Rodwell’s transformative impact in his new book Insist That They Love You.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to register
July 23 – Exhibition Tour at Seaport Museum: ”The Promise of Liberty”
Join us for an exclusive tour of the Seaport Museum’s special exhibition marking America’s 250th birthday, “The Promise of Liberty.” This exhibition tour is a journey through the nation’s founding ideas—tracing how they have evolved through rare defining documents and pivotal moments in history.
Throughout the gallery, you encounter some of the nation’s most iconic 18th-century documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Alongside these are exceptional handwritten pages from an undelivered inaugural address by George Washington, as well as remarkable 19th and 20th-century treasures such as the Emancipation Proclamation and an advance copy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington speech. We’ll also see documents with direct links to our neighborhoods, such as Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” and “The American Crisis.”
We’ll also have a chance to explore parts of the Museum’s ongoing exhibition, “Maritime City,” which highlights how New York City, as we know it today, arose from the sea.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to join the waitlist
July 30 – The History of Jazz in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, Part 2
Join us for part two of our conversation about the history of jazz in our neighborhoods, using our new, first-of-its-kind map resource, the Village Preservation Jazz Map of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.
For this conversation, we will use the map to help us illustrate the evolution of jazz from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Come hear how the music changed and see how the local jazz scene changed along with it, from dive-bar post bop to artist-loft avant-garde. This event will deepen your appreciation for the extraordinary legacy of jazz in our community.
We will be joined by Keller Coker, Dean of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Hank O’Neal, music producer, photographer, and founder of Chiaroscuro Records/Downtown Sounds, and Juan Rivero, Special Projects Director at Village Preservation.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to register
Conversations on Housing
July 22 – Free 3-Hour Course: Intro to the History and Architecture of Greenwich Village, The East Village, & NoHo
Our new, three-hour course will teach you how to stay ahead of proposed neighborhood zoning changes and development trends, how to conduct research via maps and other tools, and how to use architectural and cultural history for marketing purposes.
Course speakers include Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman and NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Deputy Director of Research Dena Tasse-Winter.
This course is completely free and open to the public.
CLICK HERE to learn more and to register
July 22 – Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus Part 3 – Reframing the Affordability Debate: Housing as the Foundation of Community
This event is part three in the ongoing program series: Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus.
This series is co-sponsored by the City Club of New York.
In Part 3 of Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus, we turn to this fundamental question with longtime planner and activist Ron Shiffman, who argues that housing policy should primarily be judged by whether it builds strong, stable, and democratically governed communities, and not by whether it meets production targets. The guiding policy questions should be: Does it protect long-term affordability and prevent displacement? Does it make neighborhoods and the city more livable? And is someone accountable if it fails to achieve those goals or undermines them?