Designated on November 14, 2007, 159 Charles Street is significant as a relatively rare surviving residential building of the early period of development of the Far West Village. This individual landmark was constructed around 1838 as a Greek Revival style rowhouse with a three-story height, flat roofline, machine pressed red brickwork laid in stretcher bond, […]
Happy New Year! Tomorrow will mark my four month anniversary working for GVSHP and it has been a whirlwind! My quiet existence as an architectural historian ended on September 8 of last year as I was swept up in the tumultuous world of New York City Preservation. Here are a few of the highlights […]
GVSHP Board of Advisors member Carol Greitzer was very active in the early preservation movement of the 1960’s. A female Democratic District leader in the Village in the 1960’s, she served as the Village’s representative on the City Council from 1969 to 1991, and remains a resident of Greenwich Village.
It’s always nice to start the new year off on a good note. So we were especially happy to receive the annual report from the Center for an Urban Future, State of the Chains, 2015, which is their yearly survey of the number and location of chain stores in New York City. The good news: in the […]
This post is the third of a three-part series called Histories of Fourth Street, from East to West, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2015 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with preparing a presentation around a particular topic concerning a section or block of Fourth […]
This post is the second of a three-part series called Histories of Fourth Street, from East to West, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2015 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with preparing a presentation around a particular topic concerning a section or block of Fourth […]
This post is the first of a three-part series called Histories of Fourth Street, from East to West, a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2015 Intro to Public History course. Each group of students was tasked with preparing a presentation around a particular topic concerning a section of Fourth Street in […]
As 2015 comes to a close, we are thankful for the generous support of our members and all it has allowed us to accomplish this year. But we still need your help! There is so much more work to do in 2016 to continue the fight. Please consider GVSHP in your year-end giving! In 2015 we lost […]
During the holiday season we reflect back on the past year. Here at GVSHP we’ve certainly had some big accomplishments. We have also had a lot of wonderful support from our members and neighbors, but we need your help to continue the fight. Please consider GVSHP in your year-end giving! Alice Carey and Geoffrey Knox, […]
During the holiday season we reflect back on the past year. Here at GVSHP we’ve certainly had some big accomplishments. We have also had a lot of wonderful support from our members and neighbors, but we need your help to continue the fight. Please consider GVSHP in your year-end giving! When asked what GVSHP means […]
As 2015 comes to a close and 2016 approaches, here is a look back at GVSHP’s public programs for 2015. In all, we produced or co-sponsored 60 programs that drew almost 5,000 attendees. Our programs consisted of slideshows, lectures, book talks, panel discussions, interviews, museum visits, walking tours, and other formats. We chose different venues […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
The City’s rezoning proposals ‘Zoning for Quality and Affordability’ (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) are making their way through the public review process. If approved, each would profoundly impact our neighborhoods and our city, increasing the size and amount of allowable development. And while both have received overwhelming disapproval from community boards and Borough Presidents, […]
The City’s rezoning proposals ‘Zoning for Quality and Affordability’ (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) are making their way through the public review process. If approved, each would profoundly impact our neighborhoods and our city, increasing the size and amount of allowable development. And while both have received overwhelming disapproval from community boards and Borough […]
The City’s rezoning proposals ‘Zoning for Quality and Affordability’ (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) are making their way through the public review process. If approved, each would profoundly impact our neighborhoods and our city, increasing the size and amount of allowable development. And while both have received overwhelming disapproval from community boards and Borough […]
The City’s rezoning proposals ‘Zoning for Quality and Affordability’ (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) are making their way through the public review process. If approved, each would profoundly impact our neighborhoods and our city, increasing the size and amount of allowable development. And while both have received overwhelming disapproval from community boards and Borough […]
The City’s rezoning proposals ‘Zoning for Quality and Affordability’ (ZQA) and Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) are making their way through the public review process. If approved, each would profoundly impact our neighborhoods and our city, increasing the size and amount of allowable development. And while have received overwhelming disapproval from community boards and Borough Presidents, […]
Unsure of what to get that special someone for the holidays? How about a horse? A hundred years ago you could have gone down to 126-128 East 13th Street and bid on one of the magnificent equines available via auction by Van Tassell & Kearny who occupied the building for more than fifty years. Built […]
In June, 2015 GVSHP was proud to award Barbara Shaum a Village Award. We are very sad to share the news that she passed away in September. Her longtime friend Eleanor Magid and her granddaughter Amity Paye shared a beautiful obituary they wrote with us: Barbara Shaum, New York’s doyenne of custom-made sandals, died at […]
We continue the Landmarks50 celebration by taking a deeper look at Saint Marks-in-the-Bowery Church at 131 East 10th Street. This landmark represents construction over a considerable period of time. The main body of the church – with fieldstone walls and trimmed round arched windows – is of the late Georgian style. It is also the […]
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is excited to share our oral history collection with the public, and hope they will shed more light on what makes Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant areas. Each of these histories highlights the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, […]
Want to help? Attend the City Council public hearings at City Hall on Tuesday February 9 or Wednesday February 10 starting at 9:30 am, and send letters to city officials in opposition here (letters can also be used as sample testimony; testimony must be no more than four minutes, but 20 copies of written testimony of […]
On December 3, 1935, First Houses were dedicated and opened, the first housing project undertaken by the then-recently established New York City Housing Authority and the first publicly-funded low-income housing project in the nation. The groundbreaking development was made a New York City landmark on November 12, 1974.
All this year we have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the New York City landmarks law, and today we focus on one of the very first buildings to be granted landmark designation. At the first meeting of the new Landmarks Preservation Commission, on September 21,1965, the Old Merchant’s House – now known as the […]
Village Preservation is excited to share our oral history collection with the public, and hope they will shed more light on what makes Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant areas. Each of these histories highlights the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or […]
4 St. Mark’s Place, also known as the Hamilton-Holly House and current home of Trash and Vaudeville, was recently in the news as it came on the market for $11.9 million. This building was built in 1831 and designated a NYC landmark in 2004. As part of Landmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of […]
This has been no small year for preservation in New York City, and we at the GVSHP in the season of thanks wish express our gratitude to our members and volunteers who have worked so hard in helping us achieve some very sizable accomplishments. Here are just a few…
Today we take a look at one of the many wonderful individual landmarks in our neighborhood, the Germania Fire Insurance Company Bowery Building at 357 Bowery. Designed by prominent German-American architect Carl Pfeiffer and built in 1870, the Germania Fire Insurance Company Bowery Building recalls the time when the Bowery was a major thoroughfare of […]
Want to help? Attend the City Council public hearings at City Hall on Tuesday February 9 or Wednesday February 10 starting at 9:30 am, and send letters to city officials in opposition here (letters can also be used as sample testimony; testimony must be no more than four minutes, but 20 copies of written testimony of […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Tom Bernardin has been a good friend to Village Preservation for some time. And it’s safe to say he is obsessed with the history of our neighborhoods. In his capacity as the unofficial historian for Julius’, the historic gay bar on the corner of West 10th Street and Waverly Place, he has given lectures and […]
We continue celebrating Landmarks50 with a look at individual landmarks in our neighborhood. Yesterday we learned about the Children’s Aid Society, Tompkins Square Lodging for Boys and Industrial School. Today we read about the Children’s Aid Society, Elizabeth Home for Girls at 307 East 12th Street, which the LPC designated on March 18, 2008. The […]
Now home to seven apartments, 295 East 8th Street a.k.a. 127 Avenue B, opened in 1887 as the Children’s Aid Society, Tompkins Square Lodging for Boys and Industrial School. As part of Landmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look at some of the many […]
“I have lived on the Lower East Side for seventy years. And when I came here, I found Nirvana, and I will die in this building — not in a hospital. I’ll die in this building. This is my home, and I love it here.” That is just the beginning of the fascinating story of […]
Burial spaces serve a wide variety of purposes: religious, political, socioeconomic. For example, a graveyard might demarcate the boundary of a church or private property, while the kind of interment that was undertaken (burial, cremation, mausoleum) might give insight into the roles and statuses the deceased maintained in their lifetime. It also gives us insight […]
Once upon a time in Chelsea, New York, a young woman lived in an apartment on the sixth floor with a magical view. Facing north, there was the Chelsea Hotel, and the Empire State Building, and the spire of the Chrysler Building: stolid, yet ever-changing, amid sunrise or fog, rainbows or fireworks. Directly across the […]
Everyone knows the iconic Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street and Broadway. But before moving to 34th Street, Macy’s operated out of a series of buildings on West 14th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. As part of Landmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look […]
Twelve years ago tomorrow, GVSHP began an initiative to secure historic district designation for the South Village. It’s hard to believe that the original 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District did not include some of these best-known and best-loved locations. Fortunately, the LPC agreed to designate some of the area we proposed, but the remaining area […]
As part of our continuing Landmarks50 celebration, and in honor of Stanford White’s birthday today (he would be a mere 162 years old), we are looking at the New York Public Library Tompkins Square Branch designed by his firm, McKim Mead & White, and completed in 1904. Located at 331 East 10th Street north of […]
We continue the Landmarks50 celebration by taking a look at another individual landmark in our neighborhood. The First Ukrainian Assembly of God (originally, the Metropolitan Savings Bank) at 9 East 7th Street, was completed in 1867 by architect Carl Pfeiffer, and designated on November 19, 1969. The French Second Empire building stands at a corner […]
On Monday, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation hosted a program on the oral histories of the East Village, highlighting our commitment to the stories of our neighborhood and our initiatives to preserve them. This week, GVSHP has made twenty new oral histories available through our website. Each of these histories highlights the experiences […]
On Monday evening, GVSHP presented a program at the Sixth Street Community Center with our own Karen Loew, Director of East Village and Special Projects, and Liza Zapol, an artist and oral historian. The program, “Oral Histories of Extraordinary East Villagers,” was about the concept of oral histories, and new additions to GVSHP’s archive of […]
On the morning of January 31, 1857 the body of Dr. Harvey Burdell was discovered in his office at 31 Bond Street, strangled and stabbed fifteen times with the walls and doors “besmeared with blood,” according to The New York Times. A search of the building, owned by Dr. Burdell, revealed a bloody towel and […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. The Police Athletic League Building at 34 1/2 East 12th Street between University Place and Broadway was built in 1855 for the […]
Last night GVSHP presented a program at the Jefferson Market Library about the history of magic and magicians in our neighborhoods. The speakers were long-time GVSHP supporter Tom Klem and his colleague Richard Cohn. Tom is an artist and historian, and a member of the Society of American Magicians, of which he is the former archivist […]
As Halloween is right around the corner, we here at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation would like to satisfy your cravings for hauntings as you go out and wander the Village for candy. Preserving the Village not only means maintaining the old buildings and historic landscapes, but sometimes also the domiciles of the […]
On October 28, 1972, Stevie Wonder released his album, Talking Book recorded at Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street. Rolling Stone Magazine’s review of the album at the time described it as “…the laid back funk of the vocals resting on a deliciously liquid instrumental track like a body on a waterbed. Yet […]
Influential American abstract expressionist painter Lee (Lenore) Krasner, was born on October 27, 1908 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from high school, where she spent three years majoring in studio art, Krasner was awarded a scholarship and attended the Women’s Art School of Cooper Union and later studied at […]
At this time last year, the Metropolitan Opera was aflame in controversy about an opera production called The Death of Klinghoffer. The eight performances between Oct. 20 and Nov. 15 brought waves of accusation and defense, of every political and artistic variety, over this dramatization of a real-life cruise ship hijacking and murder. In that […]
On October 25, 2011, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously to landmark Westbeth, following through on a promise made seven years earlier to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and other community groups working to extend landmark protections in the Far West Village. In 2009, GVSHP’s nomination of Westbeth was accepted […]
We celebrate Landmarks50 by taking a look at Joseph Papp Public Theater (often referred to as The Public Theater), which, at the time of its designation in 1965, was the Astor Library / New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. This individual landmark at 425 Lafayette Street was built in 1849 and completed in 1881. The […]
“You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s real Jewish rye,” was the slogan for a brand of bread baked in Brooklyn, and offered with a memorable ad campaign to the wider world. Well, you also don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy a feast for the senses tomorrow evening, Thursday October 22, when […]
Ever since the Stonewall designation back in June, the push for designating LGBT sites around New York City and Greenwich Village has been met with more energy and enthusiasm. One site in particular, Christopher Park, has gained the attention of the National Park Service (NPS), thanks to the advocacy of the National Parks Conservation Alliance, […]
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born on February 22, 1892 in Rockland, Maine. But the Village was always in her blood; her middle name, St. Vincent, came from the Greenwich Village hospital where her uncle’s life had been saved just before her birth, and she often referred to herself as ‘Vincent.’ Millay moved to Greenwich […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Greenwich Village in the early 19th century had a varied mix of racial communities living within its boundaries. As slavery was not formally abolished within New York until 1827, there existed both slave and free black communities, inhabiting an area around the now disappeared Minetta Creek (namesake for Minetta Lane/Minetta Street) known as “Little Africa.” […]
We continue the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Landmarks Law by learning about individual landmarks in and around Greenwich Village. Next up: the Bayard-Condict Building in NoHo. Located at 65-69 Bleecker Street, the Bayard-Condict Building is universally considered one of the most significant commercial building utilizing skyscraper structural techniques in New York City. […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the adoption of the NYC Landmarks Law in 1965, we took a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. On October 13, 2009 the Ralph and Ann E. Van Wyck Mead House (later Isaac T. Hopper Home […]
This year the city is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Landmarks Law that created the legal framework to preserve for posterity the architectural and scenic treasures that help make our city so aesthetically and culturally rich. In the East Village, two historic cemeteries were designated as individual landmarks in 1969, not long after the […]
Eight years ago today, on October 8, 2007, GVSHP published the report, “The Italians of the South Village” as part of the Historic South Village Preservation Project — you can see and read about the Columbus Day celebration GVSHP held to announce the release of the report here. The purpose of this project was to […]
Today marks the 11th year and anniversary of the Art in Odd Places (AiOP) festival. AiOP is a visual and performing arts festival that strives to present works outside the confines of traditional public space and stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm. The festival itself runs along 14th Street, all the way […]
There are hundreds of individual landmarks in Manhattan alone – many in Greenwich Village, NoHo, the East Village and surrounding areas. In celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Landmarks Law, enacted in 1965, we’re taking a look at some of these important sites, one of which is the Andrew Norwood House at 241 West 14th Street. […]
New York City is known as one of the art capitals of the world. Art is all around us – from the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side to the galleries of Chelsea and beyond. We are often told to look up as to not miss any of the magnificent architecture above our heads. […]
What is it about James Baldwin? This writer, long recognized as an important voice in American literature, has been gone for over a quarter-century, yet seems to be speaking incessantly in the country’s ear. He was born in Harlem in 1924, and died in the south of France in 1987, and achieved the kind of […]
Our latest examination of honorific street names takes us further into the East Village to 1st Avenue. From 14th Street all the way to Houston, 3 honorifics exist along this avenue: Jodie Lane Place- Located on 11th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A, there is an unfortunately tragic story behind this honorific. Jodie Shonah Lane (1973-2004) […]
The writer we know as Truman Capote was born Truman Streckfus Persons on September 30, 1924 in New Orleans. Although he grew up in the South, he and his family moved to New York in 1933, where he lived until moving to Connecticut in 1939. In 1942 the family returned to New York, and soon […]
There are hundreds of individual landmarks in Manhattan alone – many in Greenwich Village, NoHo, the East Village and surrounding areas. We’re taking a look at some of these important sites, one of which is the 203 Prince Street House.
When we think of Art Deco architecture in New York City, what often comes to mind are Midtown icons such as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, or Rockefeller Center. However Greenwich Village and the East Village boast some of their own Art Deco gems, also worth examining.
One of the quirkiest and most beloved icons of the Village and its propensity for non-conformity, defying the street grid, and embracing a diminutive scale is also the smallest piece of property to ever be privately owned in New York City. The story of the ‘Hess Triangle,’ at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue South […]
The East Village was the first home of the Ferrer Modern School of New York City. First located at 6 St. Marks Place, this school was based on the European model of the Esquela Moderna founded by Catalan educator and anarchist Francisco Ferrer, executed for sedition in 1909. Ferrer espoused education for all regardless of […]
Today is Yom Kippur, so let’s take a look at some East Village buildings that are, or used to be, synagogues. Jewish immigrants to the East Village and Lower East Side were a significant segment of the population of these neighborhoods, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sixth Street Community Center, 638 East […]
The Ottendorfer Branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL) at 135 Second Avenue was designated an individual New York City landmark September 20, 1977. The library was built in 1883-4 by Oswald Ottendorfer, a wealthy German newspaper magnate, along with the adjoining Stuyvesant Polyclinic Hospital. These buildings are both representative of Kleindeutschland, or “Little Germany,” […]
On September 20th, 1966, the Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark. One of New York’s most beloved and iconic landmarks, the Flatiron Building is known for (among other things) its unique shape, formed by the intersection of Broadway and 5th Avenue forming an acute angle amidst the otherwise right-angled, rectilinear street grid of Manhattan. […]
As part of NYCLandmarks50, the celebration of this year’s 50th Anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, we are taking a look at some of the many and varied individual landmarks in our neighborhood. The building complex now known as Colonnade Row, first named LaGrange Terrace, was one of the first properties landmarked under the Landmarks Law in […]
Greenwich Village is home to what is considered by many one of the finest examples in the nation of a mid-century modern residential complex: the University Village/Silver Towers. Designed by I.M. Pei & Associates with James I. Freed as lead project architect, the complex was built between 1964 and 1966. Critics from the time of […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
As we here at GVSHP have previously discussed, many streets in Greenwich Village bear an honorary secondary name recognizing important people and institutions associated with the Village and its history. These honorary names are given in additional to the street’s standard or existing name, and typically only applies to a specific block. These renamings are implemented by […]
A while back on Off the Grid we wrote about some of our favorite theaters. Theater, performance spaces, and the arts have all always been an important part of the Village, East Village, and NoHo’s cultural heritage and built environment. And last week, as part of our free public programs, we started a series about theaters […]
Renowned musician Andy Statman and the Andy Statman Trio will perform in the main sanctuary of the Eldridge Street Synagogue on Thursday, October 22, 2015. This special concert, presented by the GVSHP Brokers Partnership and benefiting GVSHP and the Museum at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, provides a unique opportunity to hear one of today’s best klezmer […]
Today is the second installment of a new occasional series, “The Village Seen,” to display the work of the many talented visual artists in our neighborhoods. Longtime East Villager Patricia Melvin has been painting downtown for more than three decades; you may have seen her stationed outside with her easel near Jefferson Market Library, St. […]
On September 9, 2003, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Gansevoort Market Historic District. GVSHP led the fight to protect the important historically significant buildings in this neighborhood, and continues to fight today when those protections are threatened. In its designation report (read the two parts here and here), the LPC noted that the […]
Today we’re thrilled to welcome aboard Sarah Bean Apmann, GVSHP’s new Director of Research and Preservation. Sarah fills the position most recently held by Amanda Davis. In her new position, Sarah will interact with the public in many capacities, including as the point person for GVSHP’s review of landmarks applications, coordinator of our historic research, and […]
For many people, Labor Day means one last trip to the beach or pool before the unofficial end of summer. Or some need to finish their back-to-school shopping, so it means a day at the stores. How you spend your Labor Day is up to you, but here at Off the Grid we are well […]
Chess tables have been a staple of New York City public parks for decades. While the first ones appeared in parks during the 1940s, the popularity of “street chess” as it is known, came about beginning in the 1960s when a man named Bobby Hayward set up a chess set on top of a garbage […]
Next Wednesday, September 9th, a City Council hearing will be held on a bill that will drastically change NYC landmarks preservation protections. Intro. 775, if passed, would give those opposed to historic preservation a new tool to remove historic structures from our city. Read this Gotham Gazette editorial published today by GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman: “Intro. […]
On September 1, 1940, Lillian Wald passed away. While not a household name, Wald’s influence on public social services in New York City is exemplary, as she is the founder of the Henry Street Settlement, The Visiting Nurse Services of New York, and is the namesake for the Lillian Wald Houses on Avenue D in […]
On Wednesday, September 9, a bill will be introduced to the City Council that, if approved, will deal a devastating blow to the cause of historic preservation. The bill, Intro 775, would impose strict, unfair deadlines and rigid timeframes to the landmarks application process, potentially enabling the demolition of historically or culturally significant properties. This […]
It’s been over four years since the original It Happened Here: 80’s Music Videos graced the pages of Off The Grid. But like all good sequels, this one hopes to be worth the wait. These last dog days of summer often make one think of their misspent youth; and what better way to see how much […]
Dive bars and dead prostitutes! While these could be plot points in any Hollywood movie, back in the late 19th century these unwholesome characteristics gave the infamous McGurk’s Suicide Hall its name. Originally located at 295 Bowery (between Houston and East 1st Street) and opened in 1893, McGurk’s was the latest in a string of […]
That’s the name of Tim McDarrah’s new walking tours. The tours are based on the photographs his late father, Village Voice photojournalist Fred W. McDarrah, took of people and places in the Village starting in the mid-1950s. I joined Tim and a group of 8 others recently for an amazing 90-minute journey through the neighborhood […]
There’s an appealing 1951 painting by Stuart Davis owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art, though it’s not currently on view in the new building. Vibrant and memorable, the work is titled “Owh! In San Paõ.” The Whitney explains the unusual name: “…Davis had planned to exhibit it at the 1951 Biennial in São […]
Acclaimed author and journalist Tom Wolfe is known for his use of New Journalism (employing fiction-writing techniques such as sustained dialogue, well-developed characters, and vivid scenes) and for his best-selling books including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) and The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987). After earning his Ph.D. in American Studies in 1957 and […]
Greenwich Village has long been associated with the arts and countercultural movements. Former publishing house Grove Press in particular exemplifies this history. Founded in 1947 and named for its location on Grove Street in Greenwich Village, Grove Press rose to prominence after it was purchased by Barney Rosset Jr. in 1951. Though the original location is not […]
Last night GVSHP held a public program co-sponsored by The Merchants House Museum; The Merchant’s House Museum – A Tale of Survival, a lecture and slideshow with Michael Devonshire. The Merchants House is one of only a handful of interior and exterior NYC landmarks, and is one of the first designated NYC landmarks. Michael Devonshire is a commissioner at the […]
Today we launch a new occasional series, “The Village Seen,” to display the work of the many talented visual artists in our neighborhoods. Longtime East Village resident Dan Efram is a producer, manager and curator in various media, whose sensibilities as a photographer caught our attention. As you can see in full on his Instagram […]
On August 18, 1970, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated landmark status to the grand Greek Revival house at 37 East 4th Street. The house was built in 1844-45 by Samuel Tredwell Skidmore, a relative of Seabury Tredwell, who lived with his family a few doors away at 29 East 4th Street, known today as the […]
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its doors at its new location—99 Gansevoort Street—on May 1, 2015. Founded by sculpture and arts patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum famous for twentieth-century and contemporary art of the United States, first opened on West Eighth Street in 1931. The Whitney later moved uptown and beginning in 1966 […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
Here at Off the Grid we are primarily concerned with Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, but tomorrow we will be happy to help our neighbors celebrate an important anniversary. It was on August 14, 1973, that the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District.
The hyped musical “Hamilton” opened on Broadway last weekend to rave reviews. The excitement surrounding the musical and the legacy of Alexander Hamilton, one of the United States’ Founding Fathers, has us reflecting back on Village history and preservation related to the famed New Yorker (and his rival, Aaron Burr). 54 MacDougal Street Located in […]
