After a nearly half-century wait, last week the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission finally voted to approve landmark status for the 150-year old religious building located at 334 East 14th Street, now the Tifereth Israel Town & Village Synagogue, and prior to that a German Baptist and a Ukrainian Autocephalic Church. Ironically, the Commission’s decision was followed soon […]
The tenement at 342 East 11th Street has quite an attractive façade, for those who can will themselves to look up past the delightful display of pastries in the window of Veniero’s, the Italian bakery and café on the ground floor. The building was constructed 1865-66. Because it was built to house multiple families before […]
Veselka, an East Village institution, is celebrating its 60th anniversary and invites the community for free perogies and other Ukrainian comfort foods and beverages this Monday from 6pm to 11pm. Bring your party hats, a hungry appetite and come celebrate this village treasure! A Brief History In the wake of World War Two, Wolodymyr Darmochwal […]
(This post is the first of a series on the history of the LGBTQ community in Greenwich Village.) It is easy to assume, in the aftermath of the Stonewall riots, that Greenwich Village’s LGBTQ history happened entirely on Christopher Street. Of course, there’s a lot more to LGBTQ history in the Village than Stonewall, just […]
Earlier this month the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved a revised design for a new building at 192 7th Avenue South, corner of West 11th Street. It will replace a one-story structure. This is the second of two new buildings that the LPC has approved on 7th Avenue South this past year, no. 130 being […]
There are some people who can make great changes, come up with unique and far-reaching ideas, or create institutions that attain legendary status, yet keep a low profile themselves. By now everyone associates Halloween in Greenwich Village with the annual Village Halloween Parade, an event that draws 2 million people to the 6th Avenue corridor […]
This October, GVSHP is presenting a course that explores historic preservation by examining changing styles of housing, changing housing laws, and urban renewal in the twentieth century. While the course was developed specifically for practicing real estate brokers, I was reminded while sitting in on a recent lecture how much these issues are relevant (and […]
GVSHP will officially unveil a new historic plaque at the former Fillmore East at 105 Second Avenue on Wednesday, October 29 at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, but we appreciate reservations at rsvp@gvshp.org. About the place I first learned the name “Fillmore” from Grateful Dead bootleg tapes, which, among […]
New York City tap water. Winner of many awards. Secret ingredient of Joe’s pizza crust. We take it for granted when we turn on the tap, and we are annoyed when an underground water main ruptures, disrupting traffic for days. But what is the story behind the New York City water supply system? There was […]
The produce spilling out into the street and the haphazard awnings in the above 1925 photo of Bleecker and Christopher Streets is quite different from the Bleecker Street scene of today. Though the commercial tenants on the street have certainly changed, the corner building, with its interesting window design, has a long history.
Last week’s news that the First Department Panel of the Appellate Division struck down Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills’ ruling halting much of the NYU expansion plan was disappointing to say the least. But, as we have reminded people, it is not the end of the story by any means. Working with our co-plaintiffs and […]
Today on “A Tale of Two” I actually have three tenements to share and compare. This group can be found on the south side of East 13th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. If you’re familiar with tenement design and have a tendency to admire buildings like I do, you might have noticed that these […]
One-third of South Village still not landmarked Op-Ed BY ANDREW BERMAN, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation October 16, 2014 Word that an eight-story building is planned for 134 W. Houston St., next to the MacDougal Sullivan Gardens, has refocused attention on the unfinished fight to preserve the historic South Village, and […]
Have you ever walked by an unattractive building and thought – or maybe heard an innocent ask – “How could they allow that to be built?” Well, unfortunate edifices are allowed to be built because usually there is no “they” – no arbiter of aesthetics for as-of-right new construction outside of landmarked areas (beyond […]
By the turn of the twentieth century it is estimated that almost 75,000 horses and 4,500 stables could be found in New York City. Before the mass-adoption of the car and truck, horses played a vital role in the transportation economy of the city. Though today horses are largely absent from the city’s streets, their […]
Last night, GVSHP presented a free public program with James & Michelle Nevius, authors of the new book, “Footprints in New York”. James & Michelle are historians and tour guides who offer historic walking tours of many different New York City neighborhoods, but last night’s program focused on people and places of Greenwich Village. At […]
Many Gotham dwellers just about have their spirit broken from all the eclectic, only-in-New-York kinds of places that have been “developed” into achingly boring, everywhere-on-the-globe kinds of places. Unique theaters, gardens, community centers, shops, restaurants: Now they’re chain banks and drugstores and luxury dwellings. It’s enough to make a heartbroken New Yorker give up. Not […]
We love our landmarks. So we thought we’d show it with our new series: Your Neighborhood Landmark. This series will highlight and celebrate individual landmarks across our neighborhoods that have been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) since its creation in 1965. Do you live or pass by one of these landmarks often? Then be […]
Working in historic preservation, you know that you win some and you lose some. The forces of real estate in New York are quite powerful, and as passionately as New Yorkers feel about the character and spirit of their city and their neighborhoods, there’s no denying the big money interests are going to win some […]
Thinking of white glazed brick buildings can conjure images of boxy post-war high rises on the Upper East Side, but almost fifty years before they came into vogue, white brick homes were sprouting in the South Village. In addition to the well-known Mills House on Bleecker Street, five unique tenements designed by Louis A. Sheinart […]
This Wednesday, we here at Off the Grid are looking forward to celebrating the 15th birthday of the Neighborhood Preservation Center. The Center will be hosting its annual birthday party fundraiser at the landmark Webster Hall, and GVSHP will be there to commend the Center for all it does for the preservation community. The Center […]
Kids today still know what a pencil is and how to sharpen it, right? In any case, following the news of P.S. 64 we reported on earlier this week, we thought we’d take a look at another (even older) East Village school later converted to community use. This former H-plan school building was constructed in […]
Op-Ed BY ANDREW BERMAN, Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation October 2, 2014 The recent news that the Trump Soho Condo-Hotel is going into foreclosure and will be sold inspires some reflection. How did we get saddled with this 454-foot-tall eyesore anyway, and how was something so clearly wrong ever allowed to be […]
Last weekend, GVSHP, GrowNYC, and the East Village Parks Conservancy teamed up to create an exhibit that explores the history of Tompkins Square Park and its current function as a NYC greenmarket site. Don’t worry if you missed it. The exhibit will pop up again this coming Sunday, October 5 from 11:00 AM to 4:00 […]
There are still a few seats available for our free public program this Thursday evening at the Jefferson Market Library. The subject is the life and times of Rose Pastor Stokes, known to our presenter, Kate Pastor, as “My Great Great Aunt Rose of the Lower East Side.” Kate herself is a Bronx-based journalist who […]
When you’ve been involved in a struggle since last century – 16 long years – you don’t let an opportunity to celebrate pass by. Some 200 East Villagers, elected officials and others did just that yesterday, on a sunny street in front of a dilapidated building. The building – a grand public school opened in […]
This post is part of the Looking Up series, which explores the unique architectural and historical stories that can be discovered when we raise our gaze above the sidewalk, the storefront, and the second floor. Adjacent to the Ottendorfer branch of the New York Public Library on 2nd Avenue north of St. Mark’s Place is […]
For the next two Sundays, GVSHP is teaming up with GrowNYC and the East Village Parks Conservancy to explore and celebrate the Tompkins Square Greenmarket. We’ll be sharing images of the current market, scenes from out on the farms, and some historic images of the park. You’ll be able to peruse this pop-up exhibit, shop […]
Since 1912, this site has served as a station house for the NYPD (it replaced a 19th century stable and feed store). Originally known as the 15th Precinct Police Station, it became the Ninth Precinct in 1929 when the city’s precincts were renumbered. Fans of TV shows “NYPD Blue” and “Kojak” might recognize the building […]
The Hamilton Fish House is a stately home located on lovely Stuyvesant Street in the East Village. It is owned by Cooper Union and serves as the president’s official residence. Should you go there, you can read one plaque designating it a National Historic Landmark, and another one denoting it as a New York City […]
This Thursday evening, September 25, we will present the third program in our series “OMG!: Churches and Synagogues of Greenwich Village.” Father Joseph Lorenzo, O.F.M., pastor at the Shrine Church of St. Anthony of Padua, will present a slideshow and history of the church and the parish. Our previous programs in this series were The […]
Perhaps one of the most frequent questions we here at GVSHP get from the public regarding landmarked sites or sites within designated historic districts is “what can they do here?” Sometimes it’s a neighbor wondering what might happen to a newly-purchased piece of property nearby. Sometimes it’s an owner or prospective owner wondering what they […]
Now in its fourth home, the St. Mark’s Bookshop has become a kind of movable landmark, so it’s fitting that the two-month-old store on East Third Street is in a landmarked building: First Houses, the first federally-funded public housing complex in America. Whether or not they were aware of this historic significance, the customers browsing […]
Many longtime residents of the Village have wondered about the fate of 43 MacDougal Street, which has sat vacant for decades. Located at the corner of King Street on the eastern edge of the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District, 43 MacDougal is a Greek Revival style townhouse that was built as part of a row in 1846. […]
Next in the Map It! series is 7th Street Place, aka Leandert’s Place and St. Bridget’s Street, a long-lost alleyway on the Avenue B side of Tompkin’s Square Park between 7th and 8th Streets that angled toward the center of the block behind Nos. 183 to 197 East 7th. The skewed property line dates to […]
Congratulations to our friends at The High Line! The third and final section of the park will open to the public this Sunday, September 21st. GVSHP has a special kinship with The High Line. I mean that is what historic preservation is all about! GVSHP was one of the earliest endorsers of the plan to […]
Next Tuesday there will be a panel discussion moderated by GVSHP’s Executive Director Andrew Berman addressing affordable housing and how it relates to — or doesn’t relate to — historic preservation. This is a subject that is of real concern to anyone who is interested in Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo, but also […]
This post is part of the Looking Up series, which explores the unique architectural and historical stories that can be discovered when we raise our gaze above the sidewalk, the storefront, and the second floor. The Washington Square Arch is something that many people who live in the neighborhood can easily take for granted. […]
Are you shaking your head sadly again? You know, that doleful tut-tut about the sweet old building just torn down, or trusty independent business that closed its doors? Well, it’s time to take a break from all that, because there’s plenty of good news in our neighborhoods as well. Welcome to Wonderful Wednesdays. We’d like […]
GVSHP is proud to share a report we commissioned which examines some flaws in New York City’s landmarking system, and urges that changes be made to better protect historic structures. The report can be viewed here. It looks at the practices of the prior administration regarding the timing of landmarking properties and the notification given […]
It’s been a while since our last Building Broadway post, but that doesn’t mean we’ve stopped admiring all those stunning structures along that oh-so-famous thoroughfare. Today’s feature is 841 Broadway, originally known as the Roosevelt Building when it was constructed in 1893. Yes, it was named after those Roosevelts, powerful merchants in 19th century New […]
GVSHP is pleased to partner with WNYC on this post that spotlights their archival collection. WNYC 93.9 FM and AM 820 are New York’s flagship public radio stations, broadcasting the finest programs from NPR, American Public Media, Public Radio International and the BBC World Service, as well as a wide range of award-winning local programming. […]
Last month reader Mike commented on our Lewis Street post that his aunt lived nearby on Houston, and that he remembered seeing a ‘Manhattan Street’ when he visited. I hadn’t heard of Manhattan Street, and since I love looking at old maps, I just had to investigate! Lo and behold, there it was on the […]
There are only a few seats left for tomorrow evening’s program with photographer Richard Blair and his new book New York 1969. Richard moved from New York to California in 1969 – he was official photographer of Yosemite National Park in the 1970s – but before he left, he photographed street scenes of New York, […]
Much of the Village Voice from the 1950s to the mid-2000s is available to view online via a Google digitization project. The huge trove of scanned newspapers helps reveal the changes that have occurred over fifty years to the architecture of the neighborhood, to music and culture, to local businesses, to politics, to the concerns […]
Labor Day was created as a federal holiday in 1894, and according to the US Department of Labor, is a national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The first Labor Day celebration took place in New York City in 1882, when workers marched from City […]
The recent piece on PBS’ MetroFocus series about GVSHP’s book, Greenwich Village Stories (watch here) reminds me what a perfect end-of-summer read the book is (the book can be purchased here). Where else can you find sixty-six reminiscences about the Village and East Village from some of the great musicians, politicians, performers, artists, writers, actors, […]
GVSHP has always been concerned about the status of small businesses, whether they be restaurants, theaters, or small shops. We also recognize outstanding local businesses as part of our Annnual Village Awards ceremony every June. Today we thought we’d take a look at some local businesses in our neighborhoods from almost eighty years ago.
Next Thursday evening GVSHP will present a program with photographer Richard Blair about his new book New York 1969. It’s a collection of some of Richard’s photos, mostly black & white and taken in New York circa 1969, paired with poems written by his father, Ed Blair.
This week we thought we’d take another look at sister tenements – designed by the same architect, built the same year, and located next to each other – in the East Village. Constructed c. 1890 by builder/owner Jobst Hoffman, 226 and 228 East 6th Street are two such buildings. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style, […]
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 our favorite artist’s studio windows in the […]
Here at Off the Grid we were saddened to hear of the passing of Rebecca Lepkoff. She died on Sunday, August 17 at the age of 98. Ms. Lepkoff was a photographer that captured the very human quality of life on of the Lower East Side from the 1930s onwards. Rebecca Lepkoff was born in […]
It was almost sixty years ago that, after changing the course of music forever, Charles Parker, Jr. died at the tender age of 34 in the Stanhope Hotel. Despite being gone for so long now, Charlie Parker’s spirit comes vibrantly to life every summer in Tompkins Square Park. The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival has been […]
Last night, in the main gallery of the Salmagundi Club on 5th Avenue, GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman gave a lecture/slideshow about the state of historic preservation. Over the past 10 years we have seen a lot of changes in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. The purpose of last night’s program was to […]
Much has been said lately about the potential sale of 121 Charles Street in the Greenwich Village Historic District. This summer, members of the Glass family (owners of the house for nearly a century when it was located on York Avenue) contacted us about their concern for the house’s future. They also sent us some […]
Most of us have experienced the surprise and sadness of walking by a favorite business and seeing it shuttered. The reasons for closures are many – including such personal matters as an owner’s simple desire to retire. But other reasons are potentially within our power to change. Here at GVSHP, as one part of […]
I think I’m infatuated with Greenwich Village’s Hudson River waterfront. I can’t seem to get enough of it. Last month our good friend Dr. Robin Nagle spoke about the history of the Hudson River waterfront and its historic and current role in New York City sanitation. In June, one of our Village Award winners was […]
From its days as beer-loving Kleindeutschland to the throngs of SantaCon attendees today, the East Village has been known – for good or ill – as a place where it’s not difficult to find a drink. It’s partly that reputation that resulted in the placement of a unique piece of functional art in the neighborhood’s […]
Today on Map It! we’re unearthing some old maps and photos of Lewis Street, which once ran diagonally from Grand Street to East 8th Street between Avenue D and the East River. It was almost completely de-mapped in the mid-20th century to make way for three public housing complexes: the Jacob Riis Houses (built 1945-49) […]
Off the Grid often features images from GVSHP’s Preservation Archive and Oral History Project. The image archive includes approximately 300 images from ten different collections that document the architecture, cultural history, and preservation of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. This summer, we were pleased to accept two new images into the archive.
Two weeks ago our friends at Green Guerillas led us on a tour of some remarkable gardens in the East Village. There are more community gardens in the East Village than in any other neighborhood in New York. Each one has a different story to tell, a different look and feel. And each one is […]
One of the most reliable laugh lines from the hilarious current movie Obvious Child doesn’t come from the mouth of stand-up comedians Donna (played by Jenny Slate) or Joey (Gabe Liedman). It’s when the awning of the bookstore where Donna works flashes across the screen, reading: UNOPPRESSIVE NON-IMPERIALIST BARGAIN BOOKS. “Audiences laugh so hard when […]
From November 1975 to September 1976, artist Roy Colmer photographed more than 3,000 Manhattan doorways to create an art project called Doors, NYC. The New York Public Library, which houses the collection, notes that the project “was as much an exploration of the serial possibilities of photography as of its ability to capture a place. […]
Completed in 1853, by architect James Renwick, the St. Denis Hotel stood at the corner of East 11th Street and Broadway. The property, which was owned by the Renwick family, had been given to them by their relative, Henry Brevoort, a successful farmer and prominent landowner during the late eighteenth century. The hotel was named […]
Located at the corner of West 10th and Washington Streets, the imposing building at 277 West 10th Street was built between 1894 and 1896 to the designs of Martin V.B. Ferdon. Now residential, it lies within the boundaries of the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension in the Far West Village. No. 277 West 10th Street […]
A recent report about a possible five-story expansion atop a century-old building has inspired us to share a bit about this capacious three-story brick structure, which stands at the southeast corner of Second Avenue and 2nd Street. (If you click through to the report, you’ll see in the comments that the current owner denies any […]
With the summer breeze , a stop along the Greenwich Village waterfront to reminisce about its past seems in order. The building at 392 West Street (A.K.A. 6 Weehawken Street) is a charming physical reminder of the wooden buildings that once lined this stretch of our neighborhood. For its modest appearance, its history is quite […]
The view above looking west on West 12th Street from Eighth Avenue taken in 1929 shows how the northern end of Abingdon Square has changed over the years. Though the five-story building on the right at the corner of West 12th and Eighth Avenue remains today (and houses Spyros Food Mart on the ground floor), […]
With all the talk about immigration reform in the news lately, it got us thinking here at Off the Grid about the effect of United States immigration laws on the history of the Village. We’ll leave the debate about current immigration issues for a different forum, and instead take a look at past immigration trends […]
Next Tuesday, GVSHP will present a panel discussion entitled, “Historic Preservation, Meet Restaurant Preservation.” GVSHP’s Karen Loew will moderate the evening’s discussion of what can be done to keep our favorite dining establishments from disappearing. Panelists scheduled to participate include former New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, Eater.com restaurant critic Robert Sietsema, Columbia University […]
The “Gilded Age” in New York City – roughly 1870 through 1900 – gets something of a bad rap as a time of overwhelming inequality, when the rich basked in opulence while others were trapped in filth and poverty. (Hm, sounds familiar.) West Villager Esther Crain, author of the historical blog Ephemeral New York, presents […]
Seven years ago today, on July 24th, 2007, two very lucky federal rowhouse survivors on Greenwich Street were landmarked, thus insuring their nearly 200 year run of good luck would continue.
We look at historic buildings and documents a lot here on Off the Grid. Many times we cast our gaze back centuries to the 1780s or 1880s, but this time we thought we’d look a little closer to home – the 1980s. And nothing says ‘80s’ more than Memphis-Milano design. That design aesthetic – love […]
The freestanding house at 121 Charles Street has been in the limelight the last few weeks. The home is currently on the market and the listing notes that the home is “the best development opportunity currently available in Manhattan.” While the press has explored a lot of angles on the home and its real estate […]
OK World Cup is over, so now the spotlight is on baseball. It always bothers me that basketball and hockey are still being played in the month of June. But that’s just me. And this year, the once-every-four-years World Cup seemed to be more popular than ever. So I’m happy that the focus is on […]
Located at 113 East Fourth Street on a through-block lot bound to the north by East Fourth Street and to the south by East Fifth Street, sits one of the East Village’s oldest extant public schools, P.S. 25, now P.S. 751. The Flemish Renaissance Revival public school was designed by Charles B. J. Snyder (more […]
Here’s an unassuming building with some interesting connections to one of our country’s premiere architectural firms — McKim, Mead & White. Meet 119 Avenue D, which at first glance may be mistaken for an old tenement building, but was actually built as a factory in 1883. Though the facade has been altered over the […]
Street construction is a constant part of New York life. The jackhammers, the dust, and the diverted traffic all conspire to fray one’s nerves and disrupt one’s day. This view looking north on Lafayette Street from Houston Street shows one of the most disruptive times in New York City history – the construction of the […]
OK, let’s face, it, nobody likes to talk about or think about sanitation. Well, I shouldn’t say “nobody.” I know someone who not only thinks about and talks about sanitation, she is passionate about sanitation. Her name is Dr. Robin Nagle, and she is Anthropologist-in-Residence with the New York City Department of Sanitation. (It’s a […]
Folk icon Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie was born July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma, and died fifty-five years later of Huntington’s disease in his adopted hometown of New York City. In between, he spent a lot of time in Greenwich Village.
The image above was taken in 1933. It’s a view looking across Seventh Avenue South, northwest toward Grove Street. In addition to the price of gasoline (eight gallons for $1.05 at the ‘Sheridan’ Shell gas station in the photo), some other changes have occurred to the view from this location over the past eighty-one years.
Welcome back to another post in our Throwback Thursday series where we feature everyday scenes of yesteryear. I recently came across some neat market photos taken by Andrew Herman as part of the Federal Art Project. The ones featured today were all taken in the 1930s on First Avenue between today’s St. Mark’s Place (referred […]
At the southeast corner of Bowery and East 3rd Street, within the recently designated Bowery State and National Register of Historic Places District, sits the Bowery Hotel, designed by Matt Markowitz Architect, PC and built in 2002-2004. Maybe you’ve stepped in for an event, or maybe you’ve enjoyed a meal at Gemma, the hotel’s Italian […]
Happy birthday Kevin Bacon! The versatile actor/musician/philanthropist was born in Philadelphia to Ruth Hilda and Edmund Norwood Bacon on July 8, 1958. Of course Kevin Bacon is more than just a multi-talented artist of various media. He’s also the basis for the popular game which shows how interconnected we all are, Six Degrees of Kevin […]
Greenwich Village, like the rest of New York City, has seen many changes over the years. What was once a marshy area of sandy hills before Europeans arrived became the location of farms and estates, and ultimately the destination for people of means escaping epidemics in Lower Manhattan.
Any connoisseur of the East Village worth her salt has heard of C-Squat, a tenement at 155 Avenue C that is one of many buildings that were abandoned by their owners in bleak economic times, only to be homesteaded by squatters in the late twentieth century and eventually rehabilitated into aboveboard housing again, but with […]
On July 3, 1981, the New York Times ran a small story with perhaps one of the most foreboding and portentous headlines in modern history: “Rare cancer seen in 41 homosexuals.” Of course this was one of the very first published reports dealing with what has come to be known as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) […]
Do you know what a lot line window is? Could you identify them in the historic photo of the Bayard-Condict Building above? They’re a little tricky to see given the angle of the camera, but they are the windows on the side elevation (wall) that butts up against the property’s lot line and the one-story […]
On June 28, 1914, in a place far away from Greenwich Village, something happened that changed the world forever. The heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, were assassinated. Of course this act triggered the start of the First World War. Most of Europe was plunged into armed […]
This post is part of the Looking Up series, which explores the unique architectural and historical stories that can be discovered when we raise our gaze above the sidewalk, the storefront, and the second floor. The Schermerhorn Building at the corner of Lafayette Street and Great Jones Street is an individual landmark and part of […]
A neighbor was having a sale last Saturday to clear out bric-a-brac. My trusty companion and I arrived looking for the advertised guitar, which was already sold, so we left with an armful of books for $6 instead. Among the lode were two Greenwich Village Guides, published by The Villager newspaper. The years 1947 and […]
In 2014 Village Preservation presented a program at the Community Room at Westbeth with author Prof. William W. Buzbee and his book, “Fighting Westway: Environmental Law, Citizen Activism, and the Regulatory War that Transformed New York City.”
They’re next door neighbors, but they could not be more different. One is high-rise and concrete, the other low-rise and brick. One is modern and geometric, while the other is quaint and irregular. One is pre-planned and serene, the other — spontaneous, and buzzing with activity. Who is this odd couple? It’s Silver Towers and […]
One year ago today outside the Church of the Village at the corner of Seventh Avenue and West 13th Street, GVSHP helped to unveil a plaque to commemorate the first meeting of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The organization, which now has 350 chapters in all 50 states, had its humble beginnings […]
On June 19, 2008, 101 Avenue A, home to the Pyramid Club, was found eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places after GVSHP researched and nominated it for consideration. The listing highlighted both the unique architectural character of the building, as well as the variety of significant cultural uses over […]
What could be better on Throwback Thursday than taking a look-see at the advertisements of yesteryear that are still visible today? Ghost signs, or fading ads, have been described a number of different ways. The most common is an old painted sign (including letters and images) on the side of a building advertising a product […]
It may be a hazy West Village memory now, but there was a time in the recent past when some local parks were not the well-kept, well-used green spaces they are today, but sometimes barren or forbidding places. Now Christopher Park — a .19-acre triangle formed by Christopher, Grove and West Fourth Streets — will […]
Last evening, as part of Village Preservation’s Annual Meeting, we celebrated the best of Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo by presenting our annual Village Awards. Each June for the last 24 years, Village Preservation has presented the Village Awards to the people, businesses, organizations, and even public spaces that make our beloved neighborhoods […]
Every so often we get a call or an email here at GVSHP asking about a scaffold-like structure that suddenly pops up on a rooftop of a neighboring building. What is it and what does it mean? Quite simply, more often than not these are temporary mock-ups constructed to help Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) staff […]
On a hot summer day in the East Village, when your skin is sticky and the streets are oppressive, there’s nothing quite like escaping into the cool haven of De Robertis Pasticceria and Caffe for an orzata with lemon ice. Since you’re there, you’ll probably go ahead and taste one of the best cannolis or […]
