City agencies have continued to refuse to provide information about the basis for deciding that nine landmarked 1840s houses at 44-54 Ninth Avenue/351-55 West 14th Street in the Meatpacking District are “unsafe” and in imminent danger of collapse unless demolished (all but the party walls), even though there are no signs of stress, cracking, listing, or other […]
Playwright John Guare has been connected to the Greenwich Village theater scene for more than 60 years. From Caffe Cino to the Public Theatre, The House of Blue Leaves to Six Degrees of Separation and beyond, he’s left an indelible mark on American theater, especially the kind of innovative playwrighting and performance that has been rooted in our neighborhoods for generations. […]
We’re proud to share with the public new historic images and materials from a 1979 proposal by Greenwich Village architect Noah Greenberg to turn the abandoned West Side Elevated Rail Line that ran through his neighborhood into a “park in the sky” called “Manhattan Promenade.” While the proposal was well received at the time, it of course never came […]
Today Hew Evans (pronouns: they / them) joins Village Preservation as our Administrative and Programs Assistant. Hew has been interning for us since May of this year, during which time they’ve helped to plan and promote our immensely successful Village Voices benefit and public exhibition. Additionally, Hew has performed research for our South of Union […]
Our latest Annual Report is available, looking back at the organization’s work from the end of last summer to now. It’s been a momentous year, with battles fought, victories won, new realities faced, and tons of new programs and resources created and shared. None of it would be possible without the ongoing support we receive from our […]
We are proud to release nearly 1,000 images donated by the public to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks on the World Trade Center. Earlier this year we asked the public to share their images connected to the World Trade Center, the attacks, and the aftermath, and received hundreds of images […]
Some important updates on the SoHo/NoHo rezoning fight: Opponents Swamp Supporters at Public Hearing: Around 100 people testified at yesterday’s City Planning Commission public hearing, even though it was held just prior to the Labor Day weekend and as the city was still reeling from the devastation of Hurricane Ida, showing this administration’s contempt for […]
Virtual and In-Person Testimony Allowed Borough President Holds Five-Hour Public Hearing, Withholds Recommendation Opponents Including Incoming and Past Councilmembers Urge Rejection The City Planning Commission will hold its sole public hearing on the massive SoHo/NoHo Upzoning plan this Thursday beginning at 10 am. Virtual and in-person testimony at 120 Broadway’s basement concourse hearing room will […]
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will hold her virtual public hearing on the Mayor’s SoHo/NoHo Upzoning plan starting at 6 pm on Monday, August 23 — register here. Testimony is limited to 2 minutes but longer comments can be submitted to info@manhattanbp.nyc.gov. The hearing will begin with a panel of presenters consisting almost exclusively of […]
On Monday night, Community Board 2 voted nearly unanimously to roundly reject Mayor de Blasio’s proposed SoHo/NoHo Upzoning plan. The thoughtful and highly detailed 11-page resolution outlined how the plan would fail to achieve its purported goals of making the neighborhood more affordable, protect artists and arts groups, retain the historic character of the neighborhood, […]
Summer is the perfect time to explore, support wonderful independently owned local small businesses, and discover our neighborhoods’ rich and amazing history. You can do all that with our expanded and updated Small Business/Big History Map, your guide to some incredible local small businesses and the fascinating history connected to their buildings, blocks, and vicinities. […]
Today Anna Marcum joins Village Preservation as our Director of Research and Preservation. Anna is an architectural historian and preservationist based in Brooklyn who has worked on historic preservation projects in cities across the country, from Boston to New Orleans, Los Angeles to the Texas Gulf Coast. She comes to Village Preservation from the Center […]
This September will mark 20 years since the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center. Few New Yorkers were left untouched by this devastating assault, which shattered our city, our sense of safety, and our sense of selves. Residents of our neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan were particularly hard hit — from losing loved ones and […]
New York is at a pivot point. We’ll soon have a new Mayor, City Council, and leaders of city agencies. We’re emerging from a pandemic, and charting our future. Big real estate and government leaders are conspiring to strip away rules and regulations that protect our neighborhoods from unmitigated greed and avarice. Now more than […]
As we approach LGBTQ+ Pride Weekend, Village Preservation is proud to share with you a wonderful new collection in our historic image archive of donated images from Jillian Jonas chronicling the fiery and flamboyant downtown drag performance scene of the 1990s. Jonas, who was the house photographer at the legendary Boy Bar on St. Mark’s Place, also captured […]
With the City Council’s one and only public hearing for the city’s proposed SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown upzoning on Tuesday Nov. 9, here are talking points we strongly suggest you use for your testimony and comments you submit to the City Council (see link above to register to speak or submit testimony): It’s a giant giveaway to developers, […]
Today we welcome Sarah Eccles as our new Research and Preservation Associate. Sarah is a historic preservationist with a keen interest in the relationship between communities, people, and the built environment. She is a recent graduate of the Pratt Institute Historic Preservation program. Much of her research dealt with the representation of people in historic […]
Last week, the City ‘certified,‘ or issued its final proposal for the massive upzoning of SoHo, NoHo, and parts of Chinatown. The voluminous documents contained numerous inaccuracies, falsehoods, and mischaracterizations, designed to sell this obscene real estate giveaway to the Mayor’s real estate benefactors as a boon to social justice and equity. But if you […]
Today, we welcome David Herman to our staff as Communications Manager. David is a graphic designer, editor, and photographer, as well as a longtime activist focusing on livable streets, better biking, and a more equitable built environment in New York City. He is a previous co-chair of Transportation Alternatives’ Brooklyn Activist Committee, where he continues […]
Today Juan Rivero joins Village Preservation as our new East Village and Special Projects Director. Juan is an urban planner, researcher, and community advocate with experience in government, academia, and not-for-profits. He has most recently been serving on the coordinating committee and board of the City Club of New York, and teaching courses on urban […]
Along with the houses on Washington Square North, Chelsea’s ‘Cushman Row’ at 408-418 West 20th Street is frequently noted as the finest row of Greek Revival residences in New York City.
March is Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating, honoring, and advocating, and you can too!
This February is African American History Month, a time to highlight and celebrate the rich history of African American struggle, success, and life in our neighborhoods over the last four hundred years (the first non-Native American settlers of Greenwich Village and the East Village were, in fact, African Americans). It’s also the 200th anniversary of the birth […]
Just in time for the upcoming Black History Month, Village Preservation has developed a new, four-part course on African American history for middle school students as part of our Children’s Education Program. This remote Zoom course focuses on local, citywide, national, and global themes and movements. It looks at the Dutch origins of slavery in New […]
Village Preservation and ten other local community organizations representing thousands of residents have released a community alternative rezoning plan for SoHo and NoHo. The Mayor’s plan would allow new development up to 2.4 times the size current rules allow and a deluge of oversized luxury condos, while opening the floodgates to giant big box chain […]
Details Are Scarce, But Indications Raise Big Concerns and Conflicts of Interest; Local Elected Officials, Citywide Candidates, and Real Estate Interests Back Move In a surprise move this Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio announced that he intends to propose a rezoning of SoHo and NoHo that would include upzoning certain areas to substantially increase the size of allowable […]
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer has recently weighed into the debate about upzoning SoHo and NoHo, expressing his unequivocal support for a change which would allow larger development in these neighborhoods, where current rules allow new structures 300 feet tall or greater. Various groups, in some cases backed by developers with vested interests and potential development sites in SoHo and […]
Today we welcome aboard Lena Rubin as our Programs and Administrative Assistant. Lena has been interning with Village Preservation since June of 2020. In this role she has helped to plan public programs, assisted with the creation of the organization’s new website, and contributed to our East Village Building Blocks website and our upcoming South […]
Today, global economic crises are all too familiar and common. A bad day on Wall Street, or a troubling decision by China or the European Union, can send markets tumbling around the world, with the effects felt swiftly and pervasively. That’s because, in the 21st century, news can reach virtually anywhere almost instantaneously, and our […]
Today we welcome aboard Joey Rodriguez in the role of Director of Communications. Joey comes to us from the Flushing YMCA where he served as the Fund Development and Communications Director for the last two years, and helped guide both their internal and external communications plans as well as their major fundraising planning. Before the […]
On May 19, 1970, a project like no other ever imagined or realized before opened its doors on the corner of West and Bethune Streets. Westbeth (a portmanteau of those street names) was the first large scale adaptive reuse of an industrial building for residential purposes, and the first subsidized housing for artists in the […]
An Instagram follower recently asked us for clarification about an image we posted from our historic image archive of the long-demolished former home Our Lady of Pompeii Church. She wanted to know exactly where the church was located, and which streets could be seen in the image. Sounds like a simple enough request, right? But […]
For most of us right now, traveling the world to explore places or cultures different from our own is not an option. But fortunately through the works of some great Greenwich Village authors, we can safely explore places (and times) very different than our own, and enjoy a bit of the escape we may not […]
We’re continuing to spend a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to ‘normal.’ We’ve also been spending a lot of time going through our historic image archive at www.archive.gvshp.org, remembering some of those once-common activities, and just exploring the […]
We’re continuing to spend a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to ‘normal.’ We’ve also been spending a lot of time going through our historic image archive at www.archive.gvshp.org, remembering some of those once-common activities, and […]
We’re continuing to spend a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to ‘normal.’ We’ve also been spending a lot of time going through our historic image archive at www.archive.gvshp.org, remembering some of those once-common activities, and […]
We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to ‘normal.’ We’ve also been spending a lot of time going through our historic image archive, remembering some of those once-common activities, and just exploring the history of […]
We’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about things we used to do before the coronavirus outbreak, that we’re looking forward to hopefully doing again once things return to ‘normal.’ We’ve also been spending a lot of time going through our historic image archive at www.archive.gvshp.org, remembering some of those once-common activities, and just […]
Looking for a great read about Greenwich Village or the East Village? Check out this list of always essential classics, and scroll to the bottom for a list of websites of local independent bookstores where you may be able to order these or other fine reading material. THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES […]
We don’t know much about Nicosia Graziano’s story. But the few details we do have are emblematic of what many immigrants to this country one hundred to two hundred years ago went through, especially Italian immigrants.
For many, celebrating Irish American heritage in March brings one to Fifth Avenue for the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, or perhaps a visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. But for those willing to venture beyond Midtown, there’s a rich Irish American history to be found in Greenwich Village and the East Village. While both neighborhoods […]
When we think of great African American historic sites in New York, we typically think of Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Lower Manhattan’s African Burial Ground, or Brooklyn’s Weeksville Houses. But one building that should perhaps join the list is 70 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, which housed the headquarters of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights […]
Founded on May 23, 1895, the New York Public Library (NYPL) is the largest municipal library in the world, with 53 million items and 92 locations across Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. It’s also the steward of some of New York’s greatest landmarks, reflecting a century and a quarter of Gotham’s history, and in […]
An abridged version of this piece appeared as an op-ed in the January 23, 2020 edition of AM-Metro NY. A recent report issued on behalf of the NYC Department of City Planning, the Manhattan Borough President, and City Councilmember Margaret Chin called for seeking opportunities to create affordable housing in SoHo and NoHo, and to […]
Madison Realty Capital filed plans last month to demolish 14-16 Fifth Avenue, a five-story apartment building constructed in 1848, and replace it with a 244-foot-tall tower. Because it is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District, it can only be demolished if the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission rules that the building itself is of no historic or architectural merit, and […]
Today we welcome aboard Louisa Winchell as our Research and Preservation Associate. Louisa has been working with Village Preservation as a Research and Preservation Intern since August 2018, and in her new position will continue to undertake research, writing, and mapping projects to support Village Preservation’s advocacy initiatives related to expanding landmark and zoning protections, […]
In the years before the abolition of slavery in New York State in 1827 and the Civil War, New York was a hotbed of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery sentiment. The latter group consisted of both prominent African-American institutions and individuals (mostly associated with churches) who organized economically, politically, and socially against slavery, and whites who […]
Greenwich Village, specifically the historic district at its core, has been described as many things, but “literary” may be among the most common. That’s not only because the neighborhood has an air of sophistication and drama, but because it has attracted some of the nation’s greatest writers over the last 200 plus years. Ahead, learn about just […]
The area south of Union Square, on the border between Greenwich Village and the East Village, is changing. The approval of the new 14th Street Tech Hub south of Union Square combined with an explosion of tech-related development in the area has resulted in the demolition of mid-19th-century hotels and Beaux-Arts style tenements, with new office towers like 809 Broadway taking […]
October, the month when we mark Columbus Day, is also Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month. That combined with the recent celebrations around the 125th anniversary of Veniero’s inspires a closer look at the East Village’s own historic Little Italy, centered around First Avenue near the beloved pastry shop and cafe. While not nearly as famous […]
October is Italian-American Heritage and Culture Month! That’s a perfect time to take a closer look at the East Village’s own historic Little Italy, centered around First Avenue near the beloved pastry shop and cafe. While not nearly as famous or intact as similar districts around Mulberry Street or Bleecker and Carmine Street in the South Village, if […]
On September 22, 1994, the TV show ‘Friends’ premiered on NBC. Airing ten seasons, with its finale airing on May 6, 2004, ‘Friends’ was consistently one of the most popular shows on television, and after decades of syndication, one of the most popular in history. And for a generation of young twenty- (and eventually thirty-) […]
Many artists have been inspired by the scenes of life in New York City, particularly Lower Manhattan. But perhaps no artist captures the feeling of New York during the hot, heavy days of August like the painter John Sloan. Sloan was one of the leading figures of the “Ashcan School” of artists of the early 20th […]
On August 8, 2008, Village Preservation and the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC) submitted a request to the LPC to landmark a little-known but remarkable survivor– Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 515 East 6th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A. The building was the last operating “tenement synagogue” in the East Village. A young, little-known developer named Jared Kushner was […]
Today we welcome aboard Dawson Knick, who will be taking over our Program and Administrative Associate position, replacing Laura Fleischmann. We are sad to see Laura go, but we wish her the best of luck with her new adventures. Dawson’s excited to continue his work with the Village Preservation team, assisting with member services, public […]
Village Preservation has a collection of over 2,000 images in our Historic Image Archive, ranging from the 18th to the early 21st century, most of Lower Manhattan, but with some images across the five boroughs. The majority were donated, and some come with absolutely no information about date or location. We’ve managed to figure out […]
The tumult and unrest in the streets of Puerto Rico right now harken back to a time when many Puerto Rican New Yorkers were also agitating in the streets for long-overdue reform and change. One milestone in that history took place 50 years ago when several Puerto Rican activists gathered in the East Village to found […]
On July 11, 1804, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton crossed paths for the last time. That was the date of their infamous duel on the cliffs of Weehawken, New Jersey when Burr exacted his long-desired revenge upon Hamilton with a gunshot to the abdomen. But this was not the first time the two men’s lives and careers came in […]
Millions converge in New York City each year in late June to celebrate events which took place in and outside of a Greenwich Village bar in 1969. The Stonewall Riots are not only be memorialized here in New York City, but those events have come to take on international significance. There are celebrations and marches in countries across the globe, […]
Their neighbor to the west, Greenwich Village, may be more well known as a nexus for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, but the East Village and Noho are chock full of LGBT culture as well, from the site of one the very first LGBT demonstrations to the homes of some of the greatest openly-LGBT artists and […]
In late June, New York is in the throes of celebrating the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, three nights of disturbances from June 28th to June 30th 1969, which are recognized globally as the start of the modern LGBT rights movement. But Stonewall is only one of the scores of important LGBT landmarks in Greenwich Village – the homes […]
This Sunday, Village Preservation will hold its 21st annual Spring Benefit House Tour. As this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District, all the homes and the reception site are landmarked structures located within the district. The tour is the main annual fundraiser for Village Preservation, allowing us to conduct hundreds […]
Each year, immigrant history week is celebrated in late April, commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants came through Ellis Island than any other day in history. More than a few of those immigrants came through Greenwich Village, which has a long and storied history of welcoming newcomers from across the city, country, and […]
Few places on Earth have attracted more or a broader array of activists and agitators for social change than Greenwich Village. And much of that activity took place right in the heart of the neighborhood in the Greenwich Village Historic District, where that rich history has been preserved through landmark designation for the past half-century. […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. One of the city’s oldest and largest landmark districts, […]
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29, 1969. One of the city’s oldest and still largest historic districts, it’s a unique treasure trove of rich history, pioneering culture, and charming architecture. GVSHP will be spending 2019 marking this anniversary with events, lectures, and new interactive […]
Trying to limit oneself to just 10 of the most charming spots in the Greenwich Village Historic District is truly a fool’s errand. And not one without controversy — since the last column, more than a few disgruntled New Yorkers whose favorites didn’t make the list have reached out (in almost all cases these were places which […]
The Greenwich Village Historic District literally oozes with charm; so much so, it’s virtually impossible to come up with a top-10 list. But with no insult to sites not included, here is one run at the 10 most charming sites you’ll find in this extraordinarily quaint historic quarter–from good-old classics like the famous stretch of brick […]
The East Village is probably not the first neighborhood that comes to mind when most New Yorkers think about African American history. But this incredibly rich, multi-layered neighborhood was home to some remarkably consequential events, places, and figures in African-American history. To help explore just some of them, we have created a new African American […]
Today we welcome aboard Laura Fleischmann, who will be taking over our Program and Administrative Associate position. She’s excited to continue her work with the GVSHP team, assisting with member services, public programs, special projects, and many things in between.
Earlier this month, GVSHP launched its East Village Preservation effort, releasing its new website “East Village Building Blocks,” which contains historic information and images for every one of the neighborhood’s 2,200 buildings. Of course, any neighborhood spanning five centuries of history and nearly 100 blocks will reveal some surprises when you scratch the surface. But the East Village’s story has […]
Today we begin a new blog series, Strange Bedfellows, where we take a look at unlikely pairs or assortments of noteworthy people who lived or spent time in surprisingly close proximity to one another in our neighborhoods. The St. Mark’s Historic District is known for all sorts of unique surprises — it contains Manhattan’s only […]
One of New York City’s most charming and distinctive corners, the St. Mark’s Historic District was landmarked by the City of New York on January 14, 1969. Containing fewer than 40 buildings on parts of just three blocks, this extraordinary East Village enclave contains several notable superlatives, including Manhattan’s oldest house still in use as a residence, […]
Straddling Greenwich Village and the East Village, the neighborhood south of Union Square between Fifth and Third Avenues was once a center of groundbreaking commercial innovations, radical leftist politics, and the artistic avant-garde. With the city’s recent decision to allow an upzoning for a “Tech Hub” on the neighborhood’s doorstep on 14th Street, there are […]
New York City is full of hidden surprises that even the most dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker may not know about. One such example is the elusive “backhouse” or rear house. There are literally scores of these hidden structures throughout the older neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan like Greenwich Village and the East Village. But because they are […]
Among the many delights included in this weekend’s Open House New York will be three iconic Greenwich Village buildings–a Gothic Revival church with many architectural firsts, a library that was originally a courthouse which heard the “Trial of the Century,” and a groundbreaking artists’ housing complex that was formerly home to Bell Telephone Labs and the site […]
Gay Street is one of the most charming and picturesque streets in Greenwich Village, an icon of the historic neighborhood’s anachronistic character. But the origins of its name are hotly debated, with the LGBT rights movement and abolitionism often cited as the source of its unusual nomenclature. And while the street certainly has strong connections to […]
The award-winning guitarist, composer, and producer Nile Rodgers was born on September 19, 1952. Rodgers co-founded the influential disco group Chic; produced music for artists as diverse as David Bowie, Sister Sledge, Daft Punk, Madonna, Diana Ross, and Disclosure; and played a pivotal role in the flowering and success of rap and hip hop. Less […]
The Village is known as one of the oldest parts of New York City, where historic architecture can be found everywhere, and charming houses from a bygone era still stand. Here at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, a perennial question we’re asked is “which is the oldest house in the Village?” It’s a […]
It’s an often-overlooked enclave with the largest concentration of Federal and Greek Revival style houses in New York City. Its origins can be traced back to historical figures as esteemed as George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jacob Astor, but it’s just as deeply connected to Italian immigrants and radical 20th-century innovators. The […]
In the mid-1970s, New York City was falling apart. Its finances, infrastructure, and social cohesion were, figuratively speaking, crumbling. But in one very tragic case, they were literally crumbling, too. And it all came tumbling down on August 3, 1973, when what was once one of the world’s grandest hotels (which had more recently become known for […]
The great American artist and illustrator Maxfield Parrish was born on July 25, 1870 in Philadelphia. Born Frederick Parrish, he died more than ninety-five years later on March 30, 1966 in Plainfield, New Hampshire. In between, he created some of the most stunning, iconic, and memorable paintings and illustrations of the late 19th and early […]
Twenty years ago, on July 20, 1998, Mayor Rudy Giuliani sold former Public School 64 on the Lower East Side, then home to the Charas-El Bohio Community and Cultural Center, to a developer, despite opposition from the building’s occupants and the surrounding community. The decision and the building remain mired in controversy to this day. Community groups […]
On June 15, 1904, a disaster of unprecedented proportions took place in New York City, resulting in the loss of over 1,000 lives, mostly women and children. This largely forgotten event was the greatest peacetime loss of life in New York City history prior to the September 11th attacks, forever changing our city and the […]
One of the most radical and influential women of the 19th century changed the course of public health history while living and working in Greenwich Village and the East Village. Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female doctor, established cutting-edge care facilities and practices throughout these neighborhoods, the imprint of which can still be felt to this […]
Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city — its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is […]
There’s no lack of artists deeply associated with New York. But among the many painters who’ve been inspired by our city, perhaps none has had a more enduring and deeper relationship than Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882–May 15, 1967), particularly with Greenwich Village. Hopper lived and worked in Greenwich Village during nearly his entire adult life, […]
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an […]
Change in New York is an expected norm, sometimes so constant it almost goes unnoticed. It’s such an ingrained part of the New Yorker’s experience, we often forget just how much our city has transformed, and what we have left behind. To help us remember, we have Carole Teller. A Brooklyn-born artist who’s lived in the […]
Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and ’70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, […]
Greenwich Village has been known throughout its existence for breaking new ground and embracing outsiders. One often-forgotten but important element of that trailblazing narrative is the extraordinary role the Village played in relation to African American history. The neighborhood was home to North America’s earliest free Black settlement in the 17th century, to some of America’s […]
The innocuous-looking apartment building at 226 East 13th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, may raise few eyebrows now. But on February 8, 1976, the building became synonymous in the popular imagination with drugs, prostitution, runaways, murder and mayhem, steeped in the urban decay which many saw as defining New York City in the 1970’s.
Fifty years ago this week, the Velvet Underground released their second album, “White Light/White Heat.” Their darkest record, it was also arguably the Velvet’s most influential, inspiring a generation of alternative musicians with the noisy, distorted sound with which the band came to be so closely identified. Perhaps the place with which the Velvets have come to […]
The disembodied church steeple sitting in front of a 26-story NYU dorm on East 12th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues makes for one of the more head-scratching sights in New York. This jarring juxtaposition results from a confluence of powerful New York forces, including religion, immigration, real estate, and the expanding appetite of one […]
The stately church building at 141-145 West 13th Street in the West Village is the picture of serene elegance. Built in 1846-47 in the Greek Revival style, the classical balance and symmetry of the façade mask a history full of controversy, including the birth of a notorious slur in American politics, which arguably changed the […]
The former firehouse located at 84 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village is often noted for being the renovated and restored home of TV personality and journalist Anderson Cooper. But it’s just as noteworthy for an unusual history connected to Benjamin Franklin and insurance underwriters, and for not being the kind of firehouse you think it is at all. […]
This post was originally published in 2011. One of the many wonderful things about our neighborhoods is the seemingly limitless possibility for surprises. Though small in scale and geography, the Village, East Village, and NoHo may have more unexpected and often unknown nooks and crannies than any other area of New York City. And sometimes […]
This is a re-posting of a piece originally written in 2011. Architect Phillip Johnson and others protesting the demolition of Pennsylvania Station We speak often of historic districts, individual landmarks and national and state register sites but, what do those terms really mean? This post will review how the designation of landmarks came to be, […]
The following is a re-post originally written by Sheryl Woodruff in 2011: An old photograph can help you find out more about the history of your building. The New York Public Library, whose digital gallery we here at GVSHP turn to quite frequently when looking for images to assist in our own research, recently included an article […]
