Did you know that Village Preservation members receive advance notice of many of our public programs? Our tours and other programs sometimes offer limited capacity, and often fill up quickly. By becoming a member, you can take advantage of that advanced notice and register before the general public. Find out how to become a member here.

Film Screening: 9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero

This year marks 25 years since the events of 9/11. Village Preservation invites you to a special screening of a new documentary, 9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero, that looks at how a city came together to remember and rebuild after the worst tragedy in its history.

After the 9/11 attacks, once the smoke cleared and the rubble was removed, New Yorkers faced a fundamental question: who gets to decide the future of Ground Zero?

There will be a guided discussion after the screening, offering a chance for the audience to share thoughts, reflections, and memories on how our neighborhoods were impacted.

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Freedom’s Edge: Greenwich Village and the American Revolution

Co-Sponsored by Merchant’s House Museum

Whose freedom, exactly, did the American Revolution promise? 

The answer is written into the streets and shoreline of Greenwich Village itself. Before the Village was bohemian, fashionable, and a nightlife destination, it was a front line. In 1776, the Hudson River waterfront was simultaneously a military corridor, a labor ground for enslaved Black workers, and for some a potential pathway to freedom.

This 90-minute walking tour traces sites along the Village waterfront and inland streets where the promises and betrayals of the American Revolution played out in real time. The ground tells the story. Come walk it.

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Members-Only Garden Tour at Merchant’s House Museum

Take a trip back in time with us to old New York. Village Preservation and Merchant’s House Museum members are invited to join the Museum’s head gardener John Rommel for a tour of their beautiful and lush 19th-century garden in full bloom. This is an exclusive opportunity to explore this hidden oasis.

In addition to the garden tour, enjoy a special members’ reception with light refreshments and some edible autumnal treats. A plant sale will also take place after the tour.

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The Unseen Revelers

Join us for a walking tour as we visit the places and spaces where female activists, artists, and culture creators made iconic moments and movements in nightlife venues in Greenwich and the East Village.

This 90-minute walking tour will explore the remarkable contributions of women who took up space in taverns, bars, lounges, speakeasies, and clubs to advance political ideas; highlight emerging subcultures and art forms; gather people of classes, races, and ethnicities; and shift the zeitgeist.

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Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus Part 4: The Zoning Alibi

This event is Part 4 in the ongoing program series Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus. This series is co-sponsored by the City Club of New York and by CNU NYC.

In Part 4 of Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus, we speak with economic geographers Maximilian Buchholz (University of California, Berkeley) and Tom Kemeny (University of Toronto) about research done with Gregory Randolph (Georgia Tech) and Michael Storper (UCLA/LSE) that calls into question both the relation between zoning restrictions and rising housing prices, and the efficacy of deregulation in lowering them. The panelists will make the case that no realistic construction boom would provide significant relief to cost-burdened households in major U.S. cities, and they argue that income inequality offers a far better explanation than regulation for rising housing prices.  

The panelists will consider the policy implications of their findings and of understanding the affordability crisis not as a problem of supply but as one of demand. 

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Architecture and Nature in New York’s Gilded Age: The Careers of Calvert Vaux and Frederick Clarke Withers

Co-sponsored by Jefferson Market Library

Join Francis R. Kowsky, a leading authority on the Jefferson Market Courthouse (now Library) design and construction, and an expert on our building’s architects: Calvert Vaux and Frederick Clarke Withers, in cooperation with the Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance.

Learn about the celebrated Gilded Age careers of architect Withers and architect/landscape designer Vaux, co-designer of Central Park. Also find out about restoration efforts underway at The Point, the landmark Hudson Valley estate in Staatsburg, NY, designed by Vaux for the Hoyt family in 1855.

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Richard Barone’s Village Nights: The 1970s

Village Preservation is pleased to partner with musician and author Richard Barone for his revitalized new series, Village Nights, coming to The Bitter End nightclub. Each event will focus on a specific decade of the Village’s musical history, featuring legendary musical guests and panel discussions with noted journalists, authors, and historians.

A singer-songwriter, guitar player, teacher, author, innkeeper and founding member of the legendary sibling trio The Roches and the band Afro-Jersey, Terre Roche has performed in countless clubs and concert halls throughout the United States and Europe. She’s appeared on numerous TV shows over the course of her 50-plus-year career.  

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Death Matters: From Your Parlor to Ours — The Growth of the Neighborhood Funeral Home

Co-Sponsored by Merchant’s House Museum

Join Village Preservation and the Merchant’s House Museum for this special edition in-person installment of the the Museum’s series Death Matters. In this series, thanatologist Matilda Garrido interviews those working in the fields of end of life and beyond. This is a unique chance to explore the historical perspectives and emerging ideas, and join in an open discussion around topics usually hidden.

To help mark the centennial of the Greenwich Village Funeral Home, Matilda will be in discussion with the home’s director, Peter DeLuca. They will examine how funerals transitioned from in-home services in the 19th century to the modern funeral home as end-of-life practices became more professionalized. 

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Don’t miss out on the rest of our August programming!