What NYU Doesn’t Want You to Know About Faculty Housing at Washington Square Village

NYU’s massive, out-of-scale plan to construct 2 million square feet of new buildings within the Washington Square Village and Silver Towers superblocks is touted by the University as being desperately needed to accommodate its growth.  NYU President John Sexton in particular called out the need for more faculty housing. We have to call this in […]

On Tompkins Square

Since it opened in 1904, the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library has served as an important community resource.

    The Doors to Jefferson Market

    Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced 40 preservation projects in the running for grants through their annual Partners in Preservation program.  This program seeks to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of historic preservation, and this year it’s focusing on preservation in New York City. From April 26 through […]

      2012 House Tour Highlights

      We had a beautiful day for our 14th annual house tour benefit on Sunday, May 6th!  The sun was shining and hundreds of people came out to visit six wonderful Village homes at their own pace. The self-guided tour also included a bonus site: the former studio of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney at the New York […]

      The Awe Inspiring Interior of 62 East 4th Street

      Last week the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced that Duo Multicultural Arts Center (DMAC) was one of the 40 sites in New York City selected to compete for grants for preservation projects for the Partners in Preservation program. We are so excited that Duo is one of three sites selected in […]

      What’s Happening on Washington Mews?

      One of the resources that GVSHP offers to the community is its Preservation Watch program- a way to help ensure that serious landmarks violations are reported and the landmarks law enforced, and to preserve our neighborhoods’ historic integrity. Lately, we have been receiving numerous inquiries and complaints about the work being done on the roadbed […]

      Partners in Preservation Sites Announced

      Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express revealed 40 preservation projects up for grants through their annual Partners in Preservation program. This program seeks to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of historic preservation. This year, the program is focusing on preservation in New York City. From April 26 through […]

      Life, Out of Balance and On Film

      On April 28th, 1982, the landmark film Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of  Balance had its world premiere. A stunning, wordless, 86 minute visual collage featuring images of natural beauty, urban decay and renewal, pollution, nuclear proliferation, and the abstraction,  alienation, and wonder of modern life, the film received critical acclaim and has demonstrated an enduring appeal […]

      Save World of Video

      The World of Video at 51 Greenwich Avenue, the oldest and longest-running video rental store in the West Village, has been an important film archival resource for the public, the three major TV networks, and numerous notable filmmakers, because of its tremendous library of rare and classic films, as well as the matchless expertise and extensive […]

      Astor Place: Then and Now

        Astor Place — in one form or another — has been part of Manhattan’s landscape for centuries. It follows the path of an old Native American trail that appears on maps of the island at least as early as 1639.  Today we thought we would take a quick look back at the area’s more […]

      Take a Peek Into Six Greenwich Village Homes

      On Sunday, May 6, GVSHP will present its 14th Annual Village House Tour, a benefit that raises funds to support our work to educate about and advocate for the preservation of the distinctive character and irreplaceable architecture of our neighborhoods. This year, six homeowners in Greenwich Village will open their doors for the tour.

      Titanic Connections

      In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, the 883 foot long, 50 ton, and reputedly unsinkable ocean liner the RMS Titanic sunk on its maiden voyage from England to New York off the coast of Newfoundland, after hitting an iceberg just before midnight the night before. Of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, […]

      Keith Haring in the Village

      A recent visit to the highly-anticipated Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, Keith Haring: 1978-1982 did not disappoint.  The show looks at the early years of Haring’s career before his breakthrough exhibition at Tony Shafrazi’s SoHo space in 1982.  According to a New York Magazine review, during these years Haring was “merely one of […]

      Ladies Who Lunch, Cowboys, Condos, and Such

      As recently reported, the condo construction project at 61 Fifth Avenue (at 13th Street) has been getting closer and closer to completion. The condo site sits across the street from another construction site for the new New School building at 14th Street and Fifth Avenue. The new building will feature three large duplex apartments and […]

      135 East 2nd Street, Then & Now

      Walking along East 2nd Street, between Avenue A and First Avenue, you might have noticed a historic building that, in terms of its age and style, seems out of context with its immediate neighbors. It now serves as a residence, but what was it originally and who used it? And what’s with the parking lot […]

      FABulous East 4th Street

      There’s lots to love about the culture, architecture, and history of the East Village, and the Fourth Arts Block (East 4th Street between the Bowery and Seond Avenue) is a microcosm of the neighborhood’s layered history, distinctive architecture, and cultural innovation.  The Fourth Arts Block, a 2011 Village Award Winner, is one of only two recognized […]

      A View to a Historic Restoration

      Any restoration of a historic site within our neighborhoods is exciting. But when that project is a stone’s throw away from our office space at the Neighborhood Preservation Center, we get a little giddy. Not surprisingly, we have been thrilled to watch the progress unfold on the restoration of the West Yard Arch project.

      The WPA Today

      On April 8 1935, the creation of the Works Progress Administration was approved by Congress as a part of FDR’s New Deal.  The New Deal was born at the height of the Great Depression as a series of economic programs that focused on the three R’s- Relief (for the unemployed and poor), Recovery (of the […]

      A Civil Rights Activist and the Café Society

      While we look back and honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., it’s interesting to also note that one of his early influences and closest confidantes, Bayard Rustin, had a very close connection to Greenwich Village, especially the legendary club Café Society. Bayard Rustin was a pioneering activist involved in the struggles for civil […]

      Researchers Rejoice 1940 Census Released!

      Yesterday, the National Archives released its records of the 1940 Census. And that’s a big deal because census records remain sealed for 72 years. So historic researchers, genealogists and family history buffs rejoice, you can now track down information on who lived where and what they did in 1940. Census data has certainly been useful to […]

      Memories of the Church of Mary Help of Christians

      Following a recent post about the Roman Catholic Church of Mary Help of Christians at 440 East 12th Street, we conducted a Q & A with one of its parishioners, Janet Bonica. Mary Help of Christians is one of the many magnificent churches in the East Village with rich history and striking architecture that should be […]

      Goodbye 316 East 3rd Street

      EV Grieve broke the news this morning that the beautiful early 19th century rowhouse at 316 East 3rd Street has alas been demolished.  We knew it was coming, but the site of the now-vacant lot really brings to light the fact that the East Village is still gravely unprotected in terms of landmarking. The building […]

      Time & Space on the Lower East Side

      If you’ve gotten our program email or flyer you know that Time and Space on the Lower East Side is the title of one of our upcoming events.  But it’s also a wonderful book of photographs that looks backward and forward, positing the idea that places are not simply “then and now,” but exist in […]

      Two Churches with Irish Heritage in Greenwich Village

      With St. Patrick’s Day just this past Saturday, we thought we would take a look at two seminal Irish institutions in Greenwich Village, The University Parish of St. Joseph’s and the Church of St. Veronica-In-the-Village. Both churches were built to accommodate increasing Catholic immigrant populations in the neighborhood, particularly the Irish laborers who began populating […]

      The Village in Song

      Last week Time Out New York compiled a list of the 100 Best NYC Songs.  While perusing this list we were surprised to see the number of songs with a Village connection  So, of course we have to share them with you…. #87: “La Vie Boheme”, Original Broadway Cast of Rent (1994) Says TONY: “dedicated […]

      Eating in the East Village

      The Village Voice recently released its annual 10 best picks for the best restaurants in the East Village. Check it out and see how it compares to your personal list of East Village culinary favorites. GVSHP has been no stranger to food in the East Village. Be sure to check out our stories on eating […]

      The Heroism Behind Father Fagan Park

      The Village is full of beloved landmarks and winding streets familiar across the world.  However, one of the wonderful things about being involved with this vibrant community is discovering the spots cherished by local residents. Father Fagan Park, located at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Prince Street in the South Village, is one […]

      Happy Birthday Jack Kerouac!

      “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” […]

      Seen & Heard Around the Village: East Edition, 3.10.12

      EV Grieve puts together a 1st Avenue penthouse striptease and reveals the new Retina mural on the Bowery You can now buy creations by the Mosaic Man on Etsy (Gothamist) Students at the East Village Community School learn healthy cooking skills (DNAinfo) Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space will share history of squatting & activism (NY […]

        Seen & Heard Around the Village: West Edition, 3.10.12

        Exhausting images of Astor Places (Bowery Boys) Two townhomes of Downing Street have a big day (Curbed) Writer Mickey Rapkin buys his greeting cards at Greenwich Letterpress (Racked) Carrie Bradshaw’s house is flipping (Curbed) Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York has a timeline of the upscale-ization of Bleecker Street Police seize more than 3,000 books from 6th […]

          Remembering the Fillmore East

          Forty-four years ago today, music promoter Bill Graham opened the Fillmore East at 105 Second Avenue. This 2,600 seat venue hosted concerts from 1968 to 1971, including performances by the Allman Brothers Band, the Who, and the Doors. The venue was known for launching many seminal bands of the era, and because of its excellent […]

          This Day in History: The Rosenberg Trial Begins

          It was on this date in 1951 that the infamous espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg began.  The Jewish-American Communists, along with Soviet spy Morton Sobell, were accused of selling nuclear secrets to Russia. Ethel’s brother, David Greenglass, worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory and allegedly supplied Julius with information regarding the atomic bomb.  […]

          My Favorite Things: East Eleventh Street Baths

          One of my favorite things about historic architecture research is uncovering the fascinating histories of lesser-known buildings. When I worked at the Landmarks Preservation Commission, I researched and wrote the designation report for the East Eleventh Street Baths at 538 East 11th Street. So let’s take a look at what makes this East Village spot […]

          This Day in History: Abingdon Square Becomes a Public Park

          One of the most interesting things about New York City’s public parks is the rich history that lies beyond the grass and trees.  Abingdon Square, bounded by 8th Avenue, Hudson Street, Bank Street, and West 12th Street, is no exception. The quarter-acre park was originally part of the Warren Estate.  Sir Peter Warren was a […]

          The Keller Hotel: Then and Now

          We’re coming up on the sixth anniversary of the landmarking of the Keller Hotel at West Street and Barrow Street in the Far West Village. The Keller Hotel (built 1897-98) is one of only three remaining intact former sailors’ hotels on the Greenwich Village waterfront, and as you can see from the before and after […]

          Peruse These Village Bookstores

          Last year, Off the Grid featured a look at some of the Village’s more specialized bookshops, including shops featuring cookbooks, comics, and mystery books. If you didn’t catch it, be sure to take a look. With so many independent bookstores to cover, this time around, we thought we would explore some of the neighborhood’s all-genre […]

          Happy Presidents’ Day

          Can you name the only United States president to be born in New York City? Here’s a hint: he served as the city’s Police Commissioner when the 9th Police Precinct Station House on Charles Street in the Far West Village was constructed in 1896-97.                      

          We Miss You, Keith Haring

          On February 16, 1990, we lost one of the most memorable and enduring figures of the 1980’s Downtown arts scene, Keith Haring (born May 4, 1958).  Haring came to New York in 1978 to study at the School of Visual Art, and quickly became a noted up and coming artist.  Haring utilized whatever canvas was […]

          Gone But Not Forgotten: Van Nest Place

          Walking west along Charles Street, it is hard to imagine that the area bounded by West 4th, Bleecker, and Perry Streets was still rural until the mid-1860s. At the center of this property was the former estate of Sir Peter Warren. The Warren estate survived on this site, although altered in form, until the mid-1860s. […]

          Village Sweet Spots

          Calling all procrastinators!  It’s not too late to buy your special someone a tasty chocolate treat.  To make your last-minute Valentine’s shopping easier we’ve put together a list of our favorite Village chocolate spots!

          Baking on Broadway — Then and Now

          Standing where Broadway begins its curve to the west at 10th Street, the landmarked Grace Church has been a fixture of Broadway’s landscape for over 160 years. James Renwick Jr.’s gothic masterpiece was consecrated in 1846 after the congregation moved uptown from its original location at Broadway and Rector Street. The 1890s photo above shows […]

          What’s in a Name: Taras Shevchenko Place

          If you’ve taken a trip to the new Cooper Union building or gone for a beer at McSorley’s, you’ve most likely noticed that small one-block street that runs between St. George’s Ukrainian Church and Cooper Union, between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.  This little off-the-grid street is known as Taras Shevchenko Place, named after the […]

          Map It! Bleecker at Christopher Street

          Have you ever come across a peculiar street pattern in the city and wondered how it became that way? It’s a topic that’s especially prevalent in the Village, where street development occurred long before the adoption of the Commissioner’s Plan of 1811. As many of our readers know, this plan is what formed the famed […]

          February Long on New and Old News

          February may be the shortest month, but that does not mean that there is any shortage of important things happening this month on the Village Preservation calendar. Far from it.  Aside from our ongoing roster of programs, as anyone who has been following the battle over NYU’s massive 20 year expansion plan knows, this month […]

          My Favorite Things: Archive Edition

          A recent inquiry by a researcher looking to document the emerging folk scene in the Village had me looking through the archive of Robert Otter, a photographer who captured the Village’s vibrant and bohemian character from 1960 to 1972. I was happy to spend time looking through these photographs. Indeed, the image “Barefoot in Washington […]

          Ghost Sign: 310-312 East 11th Street

          Between the 2nd and 3rd stories of this handsome building at 310-312 East 11th, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, there is a faint sign that reads “Knickerbocker Boarding.” Today the building is a parking garage but the sign indicates that there may be more to its history than meets the eye. Using GVSHP’s research about […]

          A Vicious Anniversary

          On this day in 1979, Sex Pistols punk rocker Sid Vicious was found dead of a heroin overdose in a Greenwich Village apartment.  Born John Simon Ritchie, Vicious (as he came to be known) joined the band in 1977, taking over for bassist Glen Matlock.  Vicious notoriously faked his musical ability, with his own band […]

          Variety, East Village Style

          As EV Grieve recently reported, the final credits may be on the way for a movie theater turned grocery store on Avenue A.  As the end may be coming for the former Hollywood Theater, we thought we’d take a brief look at another East Village showplace that only recently went the way of the silent […]

          Jackson Pollock’s Old Stomping Grounds

          On Thursday evening, Village Preservation and the New School for Public Engagement hosted a lecture titled, “Jackson Pollock’s Downtown Years” given by art historian and MoMa educator Larissa Bailiff.  While we can’t recount the entire amazing lecture to you (you’ll have to wait until a video of the event is available!), we can highlight some […]

          Superblock Sleuthing

          “Superblock” is a term that we have been hearing more and more with the publication of the NYU 2031 Plan and its roadmap for massive additional development on two of the city’s most prominent and historic superblocks- Silver Towers and Washington Square Village.  The University is asking zoning and urban renewal deed restrictions to be […]

          Creative Conversion

          In an earlier post we cleared up some common misconceptions about landmarking, one of which is the notion that landmarking “freezes a building in time.” Every Tuesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission meets to review and work with architects on major alterations to historic buildings. We find it especially gratifying to see creative conversions that satisfy […]

            What’s in a Name: Bleecker Street

            It is hard to imagine Bleecker Street, with its high fashion boutiques, small businesses, cafes, and food shops as farmland, but then again it is hard to visualize any part of Manhattan in its rural state. Bleecker Street’s provenance is that of the Bleecker family, prominent New York City citizens who owned farmland in the […]

            Welcome Amanda Davis – Village Preservation’s Newest Staff Member

            Today we are thrilled to welcome Amanda Davis – our new Director of Preservation and Research – to the Village Preservation team! Among many others, Amanda’s projects will include design review for projects in our historic districts, historic buildings research for undocumented buildings, and attending public hearings and community meetings on behalf of Village Preservation. […]

            Sullivan Street Playhouse: Gone But Not Forgotten

            The final performance of the off-Broadway hit The Fantasticks took place at the Sullivan Street Playhouse at 181 Sullivan Street in the South Village on January 13, 2002.  That marked the end of a remarkable 42-year run of the show – making it the longest-running musical ever. Unfortunately, the closing of the show and playhouse would also […]

            The Ghost of Preservation Battles Past: The House of Genius

            61 Washington Square South, before it was demolished in 1948, was known as the House of Genius, part of the so-called genius row named for the artists and writers who made the red brick houses between West Broadway (now LaGuardia Place) and Thompson Street home for the latter half of the twentieth century. Number 61 […]

            A Boxing Legend’s Memory Lives on 14th Street

            Have you ever walked on 14th Street near Irving Place and looked up to see that this section of the thoroughfare had a secondary street sign naming it “Cus D’Amato Way?”  I recently did just this.  I walk on 14th Street every day- how had I never noticed it?  And how did I not know […]

            East 10th Street’s Landmark-worthy Buildings

            What an amazing picture!  Talk about the good old days. We love historic images here at Village Preservation.  They help us with our research, like our building-by-building documentation of the East Village, and frankly they’re just fun to look at.  This picture of East 10th Street from 1934 is a favorite, with a great row of houses, […]

            Seen and Heard Around the Village 1.6.12: West Edition

            The Downtown Piano Queen played at the space of the former Circle in the Square Theater (Bowery Boogie)…and Van Halen played at Cafe Wha! (NY Times) The Thompson Street location of Porto Rico Coffee has closed …. and Atlas Meats is almost completely demolished (Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York) Rents in the Meatpacking District go from […]

            Seen and Heard Around the Village 1.6.12: East Edition

            After 28 years Polonia, Polish restaurant, closes due to small-business-killing landlords (The Local East Village) PS 64 principal wages dress code war on teachers (DNAinfo) EV Grieve notes many neighborhood closings this week: Mars Bar; Vampire Freaks; Autumn Skateboard Shop; Billy’s Antiques.  And notes the upcoming Starbucks at 3rd Street & 1st Avenue Tompkins Square […]

            My Favorite Things: Poets 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. The Village and East Village have spawned so many remarkable and […]

            Walking East 7th Street: Tompkins Market and Armory

            Walking East 7th Street is a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2011 Intro to Public History course. Each pair of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of one particular block of East 7th Street and sharing with us something fascinating they discovered along the way. All posts below were […]