Considering New Buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District

On January 4, 2017, GVSHP released its report cataloging for the first time in one place all new buildings approved by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in the Greenwich Village Historic District since its designation in 1969 — click HERE to see the report.  It’s been updated since its release and to date, we have […]

Mapping Civil Rights and Social Justice — A Year Later

On January 3, 2017, GVSHP launched our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map.  Something in the air told us there might be a hunger and need for this kind of information.  But even we would not have guessed that the map would receive over 70,000 views in that time, with its praises sung in BrickUnderground, […]

Our 2018 Resolutions

Happy New Year! We here at GVSHP hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and look forward to 2018! Like many people everywhere, GVSHP has also made some resolutions for the New Year.  Some of our biggest goals for this year center on our advocacy efforts, our Historic Image Archive, and our public programming.  In 2018 […]

The Backstory on Backhouses

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 […]

    Historic Preservation 101: What is a Landmark?

    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, […]

    East Village vs. West — Which Is Really the Narrowest House in NYC?

    The following is a re-post originally written in 2011: Word that the West Village’s 75 1/2 Bedford Street is back on the market always brings attention to the slender house in which Enda St. Vincent Millay is said to have written “my candle burns at both ends.”  But it also raises the question of whether or not this truly […]

      The Oldest Building in the Village?

      The following is a re-posting of a post by Elizabeth Finkelstein from 2011: Call it whatever you’d like: antique, vintage, or historic. If one thing is for certain, the Village is really, really old. Old by New York City standards, and even old by American standards. But which building is the oldest of the old? 121 Charles Street […]

      Peeking Into Grove Court

      This post by Dana Schulz originally ran in 2011. This secluded alley of beautiful pre-Civil War homes made recent real estate headlines when one of its houses, 5 Grove Court, went on the market for $4.2 million.  The Corcoran listing describes its drool-worthy details: “exposed beams, 3 fireplaces, handsome working kitchen and a rooftop garden.”  In fact, in 2003, Architectural […]

      My Favorite Things: Holiday Lights Edition

      This is the latest installment of Off the Grid’s series, “My Favorite Things,” in which we showcase some of our very favorite spots around the neighborhood, highlighting the incredible architecture, history, people, and businesses of the Village, East Village, and NoHo; read more HERE. Holiday lights are one of my favorite things ANYWHERE they may […]

      The Gay Activist Alliance is Founded

      On December 21, 1969, the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA) was founded.  Almost exactly six months after the Stonewall Riots, the group was founded by Marty Robinson, Jim Owles, and Arthur Evans, as an offshoot of the Gay Liberation Front.  The GAA was intended to be a “single issue, politically neutral [organization]”, whose goal would be to […]

      Thomas Paine, the American Crisis, and Greenwich Village

      “These are the times that try men’s souls…” so says the opening line of the first pamphlet of the series, The American Crisis, written by Thomas Paine, which was published on December 19, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Journal.  Paine, an eighteenth-century philosopher and author of the Enlightenment, was known as the ‘Father of the American Revolution,’ in large […]

      The Melodious Sounds Which Emanated from 108 Waverly Place

      I manage GVSHP’s historic plaque program, through which we place two markers on buildings in our neighborhoods each year, highlighting their cultural or social significance. So I am always interested to see when a building has a similar such commemoration on it.  One such plaque on Waverly Place has always caught my eye: “Prior Home […]

      Pier 40/St. John’s Deal — A Win-Win with Lessons to Learn

      On December 15, 2016, the City Council approved a zoning change for the St. John’s Terminal site at West and Houston Streets that included a series of neighborhood protections and mitigations that GVSHP demanded. These included an agreement with the City for landmarking the final phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District, restrictions on […]

      A History of the Spring Street Presbyterian Church

      On December 14th, 1963, the Presbytery of the City of New York officially voted that the historic Spring Street Presbyterian Church would close its doors at the end of the month of December, with the last service to be held on December 29, 1963. Why is this important to us today? For so many reasons, […]

      How the Elevated Train and the Streetcar Both Began In Greenwich Village

      Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while […]

      Happy Anniversary to the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District!

      On this date in 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to designate the final piece of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District, an incredibly important part of our rich history. After a hard-fought, ten-year campaign led by GVSHP, three new historic districts were created including the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II in 2010, the South Village Historic District in 2013, […]

      Remembering Fiorello LaGuardia

      Many today are too young to remember that the name LaGuardia didn’t always just refer what is frequently called the worst airport in America. Rather, it also referred to a three-term New York City mayor often cited as New York City’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political […]

      A Great Tool for Seeing History Wherever You Are

      My colleague, Director of Research and Preservation Sarah Bean Apmann (she tells me that “Exalted Majesty Tour Guide” also works as a title), led the first GVSHP walking tour that I attended – our Bleecker Street walking tour  – and I was so lucky to have been there. I have walked up and down Bleecker Street countless times, […]

      Business of the Month — Theatre 80, 80 St. Marks Place

      Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo:  click here to nominate your favorite.  Want to help support small businesses?  Share this post with friends. Where can you see a play or […]

      My Favorite Things: Theater Edition

      This is the latest installment of Off the Grid’s series, “My Favorite Things,” in which we showcase some of our very favorite spots around the neighborhood, highlighting the incredible architecture, history, people, and businesses of the Village, East Village, and NoHo; read more HERE. Greenwich Village has been a hot-bed for creative theatrical minds since […]

      Remembering James Baldwin

      Through his writing, televised debates, and public speaking across the globe, author and activist James Baldwin (August 2, 1924 — December 1, 1987) was a vital voice for the civil rights movement. He was part of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as well as the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.  From 1958 to 1961 […]

      Happy Birthday, Jane Freilicher!

      On November 29, 1924, artist Jane Freilicher was born.  Freilicher was a member of the New York School, “an informal group of American poets, painters, dancers, and musicians active in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City.”  She was also a long-time Village resident and has even included her own recollections about her life […]

      Remembering Jimi Hendrix

      Who doesn’t know the opening notes? Who can’t recognize the wild, seething energy behind them? Who hasn’t seen his face, wavering with smoke and mystery? We heard him at concerts and celebrations all over the world. We watched and heard those first stark notes at Woodstock. We see him in his bright, colorful outfits. We […]

      New Historic Images Show Italian Immigrant Life in the South Village

      The Center for Migration Studies of New York is a think tank and educational institute devoted to the study of international migration, the promotion of understanding between immigrants and receiving communities, and to public policies that safeguard the dignity and rights of migrants, refugees, and newcomers. They have a huge archive documenting the early 20th-century South Village Italian […]

      November 22, 1909: A Frail 23 Year Old Woman Ignites the Strike of the 20,000 at Cooper Union

      On November 22, 1909, a frail 23-year-old woman, who’d been brutally beaten by strike-breakers, was helped up onto the stage of the Great Hall at the Cooper Union. Leaders of the labor movement – all men – had been speaking for hours to a crowd of thousands, speaking out against poor garment factory working conditions […]

      This is Radio Clash

      On November 20, 1981, The Clash’s genre-defying record ‘This Is Radio Clash’ was released. The band’s last stand-alone single, it presaged not only the direction the band would go in years to come, but also the direction of much of popular music in the decades which followed.

        Peeling Back Two Hundred Years of History on Second Avenue

        I recently wrote about the rich and interesting cultural history behind the Ukrainian National Home, located at 140-142 Second Avenue just south of 9th Street in the East Village, for the website 6sqft.  That incredibly diverse story extends from Peter Stuyvesant and his direct descendants to German teetotalers,  Jewish gangsters, Ukrainian Nationalists, Dixieland Jazz stars, […]

        The Ukrainian National Home’s Surprising History

        On 2nd Avenue, just south of 9th Street at No. 140-142, sits one of the East Village’s oddest structures.  Clad in metal and adorned with Cyrillic lettering, the building sports a slightly downtrodden and forbidding look, seeming dropped into the neighborhood from some dystopian sci-fi thriller. In reality, for the last half century the building […]

        Business of the Month – Village Music World, 197 Bleecker Street

        Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo:  click here to nominate your favorite.  Want to help support small businesses?  Share this post with friends. Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village has always […]

        Shop Local; Small Business Saturday

        November 25th is Small Business Saturday to supporting shopping local small shops. We recently hosted an architectural walking tour of Bleecker Street to draw attention to the array of shops on that classic strip and are attending the small business forum tomorrow being convened by Senator Holyman. Today we are doing a round up of […]

        Labor History in the Village

        Some of the most important events and most prominent figures in the labor movement bear strong connections to the Village and East Village.  Without these courageous individuals, or the events connected to them, we might never have had fair wages, better working conditions, or the right to collective bargaining.  Below are a few standout homes […]

        Suffragette City

        Today we look back on a critical milestone in the health of our democracy and a red letter day for the State of New York. The achievement of full voting rights for women in New York State came three years before the certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution on August 26, 1920 granted […]

        The Birth of the Provincetown Playhouse

        On November 3, 1916, the Provincetown Players performed their first production in their new home in Greenwich Village. The theater company performed King Arthur’s Socks by Floyd Dell, The Game by Louise Bryant, and Bound East for Cardiff by a young, relatively unknown Eugene O’Neill. Referred to as “the birthplace of modern drama”, the Provincetown Playhouse staged the works […]

          African Free School, First in America for Black Students, Found a Home in Greenwich Village

          The African Free School was founded on November 2, 1787 in Lower Manhattan by the New-York Manumission Society and founding fathers Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. It was the very first school for blacks in America.  Ultimately consisting of seven schools, the system’s third school was located in Greenwich Village, at 120 west 3rd Street, then known […]

          Remember ‘The Alamo’: A history of the Astor Place cube

          On November 1, 1967, an enigmatic 20-foot-tall cube first appeared on a lonely traffic island where Astor Place and 8th Street meet. Though several months before the release of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the one-ton Cor-Ten steel sculpture shared many qualities with the sci-fi classic’s inscrutable “black monolith,” at once both opaque and impenetrable and […]

          The Alamo Turns 50!

          On November 1, 1967, an 8′ x 8′ x 8′ 1,800-pound giant black cube was installed in Astor Place as one of 25 temporary public artworks by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. However, it was so popular that local residents petitioned the City to keep it, and except for its absences for restorations over the past few years, it […]

          Two Village Ghost Stories!

          As a surprise Halloween treat, this year’s Bowery Boys ghost stories podcast is focused all on the Village! While some of the stories are quite familiar to us at GVSHP, two particularly caught our eyes and ears: one about a haunted NYU dorm and the other about a townhouse on Bank Street…

          The East Village’s Club 57 Gets A Show at MoMa

          Who would have thought that the basement of a Catholic church would serve as a crucible of creativity in the East Village in the early Reagan era?  One did, however, and it is the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern art called “Club 57: Film, Performance, and Art in the East Village, […]

            Rare photos of the High Line being demolished in the 1960s tell the story of a changing West Village

            Few structures have had a more far-reaching impact upon the West Village and Chelsea than the High Line. Its construction in 1934, then partial demolition in the early ’60s, and final preservation and conversion into a park a decade ago have profoundly shaped the way these neighborhoods have changed over the last 85 years. And while […]

            Stories from GVSHP’s Historic Image Archive- “Is That My Mother?”

            Since its online release in August, 2017, GVSHP’s Historic Image Archive has been the source of several amazing stories. The recently released Carole Teller’s Changing New York Collection particularly so, perhaps because these images from the 1960s to 1990s cover relatively recent history, and thus many people connected to people and places in the images are […]

            This Day in Preservation History: Home of Alexander Hamilton (Jr.) is Landmarked

            The Federal-style rowhouse at 4 St. Mark’s Place, also known as the Hamilton-Holly house and the former home of  Trash and Vaudeville, was designated an individual New York City landmark on October 19, 2004.part of a proposal by GVSHP and the NY Landmarks Conservancy to seek landmark designation of thirteen (like the thirteen colonies) federal houses […]

            The High Line is Dismantled and the West Side is Transformed

            There’s no overstating it – we at Village Preservation love our members and friends sharing old mementos and images of our neighborhood. Personal or family pictures taken of one’s surroundings or familiar spots often now become, years later, important historical documents. Case in point:  we’ve just added to our ever-growing Historic Image Archive a mini-collection of […]

            A Tale of Two 50’s!

            Fifty years ago today, the musical Hair premiered at The Public Theater.  The first rock musical, it would go on to become a pacifist symbol throughout the world and bring groundbreaking innovations to the American musical theater genre.  As we remember this 50th Anniversary, we are preparing to celebrate another 50th that’s right up the street […]

            Happy Birthday, Eugene O’Neill

            On this day in 1888, Eugene Gladstone O’Neill was born, and the course of American theater would change forever. O’Neill became the first American dramatist to regard the stage as a literary medium and he remains the only U.S. playwright to capture the Nobel Prize for Literature.

            Murder He Wrote: Gruesome Tragedies That Shook the Village

            Our neighborhoods are home to many charms and delights, known throughout the world. But they’ve also been home to more than their fair share of horror and mayhem. Below are just a few of the more notorious examples that have wreaked havoc upon our neighborhoods. The Butchery on Bond Street On January 31st, 1857, dentist […]

            Happy Birthday, Richard Meier

            American architect Richard Meier was born on this day in 1934. Over the course of his nearly sixty-year career Meier has designed countless buildings all over the world and received numerous prizes including the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1984, the AIA Gold Medal in 1997 and the Architizer Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Arguably best […]

              Farewell to Matt Umanov Guitars

              Last week Matt Umanov Guitars released the following bittersweet statement: “After fifty-three years of having been in the business of helping so many guitar (and all the other fretted instruments) players have the tools with which to make music, forty-eight of those years at my store here in Greenwich Village, in the great City of New […]

              de Kooning’s Greenwich Village

              While much has been said lately about the 11th hour salvation of 827-831 Broadway, two critically important buildings in the life and work of artists Willem de Kooning and Elaine de Kooning, we thought it would be interesting to explore other spots in our neighborhoods that were also particularly meaningful to the de Koonings, and indeed […]

                The South Village’s Italian Heritage

                Many think of Little Italy’s Mulberry Street or the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue as the centers of Italian-American life and culture in New York. But some of the most historically significant sites relating to the Italian-American experience in New York can be found in the Greenwich Village blocks known as the South Village–from the first church […]

                Happy Birthday to Wolf Kahn, who Draws the City like a Landscape

                The renowned painter Wolf Kahn was born on October 4, 1927.  In his oral history with GVSHP, Wolf Kahn brought wit, snark, and great, detailed memories about his time in the Village and the role he played in the art scene there, attending salons, renting half his apartment to Robert De Niro Sr., and spending […]

                  Iconic album covers of Greenwich Village and the East Village: Then and now

                  There’s no shortage of sites in the Village and East Village where great makers of popular music lived or performed. Less well known, however, are the multitude of sites that were the backdrop for iconic album covers, sometimes sources of inspiration for the artists or just familiar stomping grounds. Today, many are hiding in plain […]

                  Sullivan-Thompson Historic Historic District Gets Its Landmark Street Signs

                  The Sullivan-Thompson Historic District is the Village’s most recently designated historic district, and was designated in record time. We’re happy to report that it has received its new street signs in record time as well. Usually taking several years to install, the brown street signs that indicate an area lies within a historic district were recently installed, […]

                  W.E.B. Du Bois Makes – and Teaches – History at the New School, September 27, 1948

                  On September 27, 1948, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, more commonly known as W.E.B. Du Bois, began teaching the very first African-American history and culture class ever taught at a university, at Greenwich Village’s New School for Social Research. This history-making event appears on GVSHP’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Map (which can always be found […]

                  Happy Birthday, Tom Bernardin!

                  Our good friend Tom Bernardin was born on this day in 1948.  A longtime resident of the West Village, Tom is perhaps best known as the “unofficial” historian of Julius’ Bar, and is also a contributor to our oral history collection.

                  From Willem de Kooning’s loft to the threat of the wrecking ball: The history of 827-831 Broadway

                  Underneath the lyrical and much-admired sherbet-colored facades of the twin lofts at 827-831 Broadway lies a New York tale like no other. Incorporating snuff, sewing machines, and cigar store Indians; Abstract Expressionists; and the “antique dealer to the stars,” it also involves real estate and big money, and the very real threat of the wrecking ball. Ahead, […]

                  Friends Apartments- Fiction or Fantasy?

                  Love them or hate them, Friends was an acclaimed television mainstay, winning 69 awards during its eleven year run from 1994-2004. Friends debuted on September 22nd, 1994, with Greenwich Village as its somewhat implausible backdrop. Monica’s apartment, aka the “Friends Apartment”, as well as Joey and Chandler’s apartment, is shown to be 90 Bedford Street, […]

                    Saved From the Wrecking Ball: Today, and Fifty Years Ago

                    Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat! We have seen it on many occasions here at GVSHP. Most recently, in case you haven’t heard, we were victorious in persuading the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the New York City agency charged with administering the city’s Landmarks Preservation law, to begin the formal process of considering 827-831 Broadway […]

                    Celebrating David Rothenberg and the Fortune Society

                    Last night, GVSHP and the Fortune Society hosted a celebration in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Fortune Society’s founding by David Rothenberg, and marking the release of GVSHP’s oral history with David and his addition to our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map.  If you missed last night’s celebration, or want to relive […]

                    Welcome Aboard, Ariel Kates!

                    Today we are very excited to welcome aboard Ariel Kates as our new Manager of Programming and Communications.  Ariel is thrilled to be a part of our public programming and outreach highlighting our unparalleled neighborhood, and to work with our members.

                      Preserving Small Businesses with the Murrays

                      James and Karla Murray are influential artists, small business advocates, and 2015 GVSHP Regina Kellerman Village Awardees.  They have captured and preserved scores of Village locales (and thousands of NYC locales). Over 80% of the businesses featured in their first book have  gone out of business since its publication in 2008. Their photographs of these storefronts, and the […]

                        How Alphabet City’s ‘milk laboratory’ led to modern pasteurization

                        The utilitarian building at 151 Avenue C between 9th and 10th Streets would hardly elicit a second glance from the casual passerby today. But its unassuming looks belie the incredible story of how Gilded Age science and philanthropy converged here to save thousands of children’s lives. In the 1800s, intestinal infections and diseases like tuberculosis caused by […]

                        Critical Public Meeting Tonight to Save Our Neighborhood!

                        Critical Public Meeting on Saving Third & Fourth Avenue Corridors in the East Village TONIGHT — Wednesday, September 13th Anyone who cares about overdevelopment in the area between 3rd and 5th Avenues, Union Square to Astor Place: Join GVSHP and neighbors at the Community Board #3 Land Use Committee Meeting TONIGHT, Wednesday, September 13 Rutgers Community […]

                        When Taxi’s Sunshine Cab Company Made A Home in Greenwich Village

                        On this day in 1978, the award-winning television show Taxi aired its first episode. The much-loved pathos-filled comedy set in a New York full of misfits, dreamers, and malcontents largely took place in the garage of the fictional Sunshine Cab Company,  shown to be at 534 Hudson Street, at the corner of Charles Street in Greenwich […]

                          Business of the Month – Blaustein Paint & Hardware – 51 Greenwich Avenue

                          Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — help us to select the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo:  click here to nominate your favorite.  Want to help support small businesses?  Share this post with friends. Sometimes you  just have to attend to […]

                          When New York really became New York

                          On this day in 1664, then-Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered what was known as New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to English naval Colonel Richard Nicolls. The European settlement on Lenape indigenous lands extended as far as Wall Street at the time and was the cause of a protracted war, despite the lore of […]

                          “On the Road” Published

                          This is an update of a post written by former GVSHP staffer Andito Lloyd. The seminal tome of the Beat generation, Jack Kerouac’s novel, “On the Road,” was published  on September 5, 1957.  Though written in 1951 on a continuous 120 foot roll of paper it took many years and many revisions to finally get published […]

                          An East Village Landmark Gets a Facelift

                          While we all get ready to enjoy the holiday weekend, there is no holiday for preservation! At next Tuesday’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hearing, an exciting application will be presented for 74 East 4th Street, home to former Village Award winner, La Mama Experimental Theater Club. The application for this East Village landmark (both an […]

                          In the Village Voice today – August 31, 1967

                          Though the Village Voice ceased production some time ago, old issues can provide a nice insight into what was going on in the neighborhood and the world in years passed. So today we’re taking a look back at the August 31, 1967 issue, to see how things were looking as the “Summer of Love” came […]

                          The Art of the Artist’s Studio

                          This piece was originally posted in 2014 These beautiful late summer days have got us thinking about sun and sky. Which has us thinking about that most iconic of Village architectural features, the artist’s studio.  So we thought we’d use the occasion of these warm August days to conduct a brief survey of some of […]

                            Happy Birthday, Charlie Parker

                            On August 29, 1920, Charles Parker Jr. was born in Kansas City, Kansas.  A towering figure in American jazz, he spent his final years in New York, and lived at 151 Avenue B, in a now-landmarked building often referred to as the “Charlie Parker House,” from 1950 to 1954, one year before his untimely demise. Parker […]

                            East Village Cheese!

                            Tonight is GVSHP’s Cheese Please! Members Only Summer Tasting at Murray’s Cheese.  We LOVE cheese here at GVSHP!  Murray’s is a beloved and renowned Greenwich Village staple, and has been a wonderful supporter of the neighborhood and GVSHP for many years.  While Murray’s serves so many New Yorkers from its West Village location, we thought […]