Please join Village Preservation, the Historic Districts Council, and Save Chelsea this Thursday at 1 pm for a rally and press conference at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue to protest the city-approved near-complete demolition of nine landmarked 1840s houses at 44-54 Ninth Avenue/351 West 14th Street in the Gansevoort Market Historic District, and to demand these houses be saved. ALL ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!

Directly following last week’s broadcast from Village Preservation noting the failure of the City to provide any response to community organizations or solid information justifying their decision (thank you to everyone who sent letters posted on social media!), the heads of two city agencies finally responded to Village Preservation.

Unfortunately, they provided no substantive justification for ordering the buildings to be demolished (all but the party walls) as opposed to bracing and stabilizing the buildings and repairing them. Is it because stabilizing is a more expensive option? Is it because this developer has, from the beginning, sought to demolish as much of these houses as possible? Is it because doing so would be less compatible with the developer’s plans to build an office tower behind the buildings and turn the row of nine historic houses into a hollowed-out entry wing for the new complex? We still don’t have answers.

In addition to joining us Thursday at 1 pm, please tell city officials that their explanation is an unacceptable justification for demolishing nine landmarked houses rather than bracing and repairing them. 

TO HELP: