A Lifelong Commitment to the Village — Pi Gardner’s Oral History, Pt. 2

This is the second part of our series on Margaret “Pi” Gardiner. Click here to read Part 1.

Our new oral history explores the legacy of Margaret “Pi” Gardiner, Greenwich Village native and long-time executive director of the Merchant’s House Museum. Published this past October, Pi’s interview with our oral historian, Josie Naron, illuminates how her family’s deep history in New York City and Long Island inspired her interest in archives and historic preservation, and how this interest brought her to the Merchant’s House Museum. Pi discusses her continued fight to preserve the Merchant’s House, one of New York City’s oldest landmarks and the finest example of a preserved 19th-century row house inside and out in the city. This fight continues to this day, as a proposed development next door threatens the house’s historic features. 

Pi’s oral history joins our rich collection of oral histories, including interviews with some of the great artists, activists, business owners, community leaders, and preservation pioneers of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Our oral histories capture and preserve valuable first-person perspectives on important events and movements which have shaped our neighborhoods, city, nation, and world.

Today we take a look at Pi Gardiner’s indefatigable work at the Merchant’s House Museum, where she has been director for over three decades and where she continues to do critical education and preservation.

While working at Dun & Bradstreet, a co-worker mentioned the Merchants House Museum to Pi, knowing her interest in historical homes. So Pi went downtown to see what it was about. Once Pi stepped foot into the 1832 rowhouse, there was no turning back:

“I went to the Merchant’s House and, you know, there’s only one way to describe it, I fell in love. I walked in that house and just the double parlors and I said, ‘Okay, this is wonderful.’”

Not a week later, she began volunteering for Merchant’s House. During this time, the organization was spearheaded by a volunteer director, Joe Roberto. As director of the Merchant’s House through the 1970s, Joe oversaw a major restoration project that closed the house for ten years. He also began a fight against a developer whose plans to demolish the building next door threatened the integrity of the Merchant House’s exterior. The house faces a similar threat today, as a developer plans to build an eight-story building directly next to the historic structure.

Before any agreement was reached between the developer and the Merchant’s House, Joe passed away. This left Pi (who was a board member at this time) and a few others to figure out the next steps for the organization. Unfortunately, because of the timing of this transition, the developer was able to knock down the building next door, leaving the Merchant’s House with about $800,000 worth of repairs. 

With her position on the board and her background in business, Pi then took on the responsibility of creating a proposal to hire an interim director. Janine Veto, a fundraising consultant, was eventually hired for this position, and with her support, the Merchant’s House was able to secure funding from multiple sources including the Astor Foundation and the Kaplan Fund. Once Janine’s interim period had come to a close, the volunteers were back to searching for a long-term director. Pi recounts this period: 

“And I was on the search committee and sort of — was sort of doing it all. And so finally, somebody said, ‘Well, Pi, you’re already doing it. Why don’t you just become director?’ And I said, Hm, okay. I had two young kids in school and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it, but I gotta leave at 2:30 to go pick ’em up at school,’ et cetera, et cetera. So anyway. So that’s when I became director, which was, I think, ‘91 or ‘92.”

From that moment on, Pi has been at the helm of the organization, leading it through decades of successful preservation, education, and community-building efforts. 

One of the first projects Pi worked on was hiring a company to complete a historic structure report for the building. This completed report came with a large list of recommended repairs, so Pi got to work figuring out how to keep the house open and in working condition with the limited budgets available. She says about the effort:

“And then, and you have to — I mean, I hate to say it, but money. I mean, money, money, money, money. It takes a lot of money to keep a house like the Merchant’s House, you know, going.”

Joining the Historic House Trust in 1998 provided new avenues of support for the Merchant’s House. Joining the trust meant that the house was deeded to the city, and the Merchant’s House Museum organization ran as a museum and collection. This created a larger financial base for the museum and meant that most repairs would be the city’s responsibility.

Our oral historian, Josie Naron, asked Pi if joining the Historic House Trust motivated cross-organizational communication and collaboration. At the time that the Merchant’s House joined, there were already about fifteen other houses a part of the program. Pi spoke to this, saying:

“It’s weird. It was a weird period in the ‘80s. Everybody was very territorial. It’s like, you know, you didn’t share lists. It was a weird — there wasn’t collaboration like I think there is today where it’s kind of like, we’re all in this together. So, you know, it was very — none of your business, we’re who we are, you know? No, no collaboration, so. It was a different era. It’s very strange, but.”

Over her thirty years at the Merchant’s House Museum, Pi has contributed immensely to the museum’s programming. Before she began volunteering at the house, there wasn’t even a tour (now a hugely popular aspect of the museum’s programming). She said:

“And so when I first got there, we created a, you know, Xerox. I mean, like, literally, you know, back and front six-page tour of the house. But it’s always been, you know, the Tredwells’ life. But it’s also not the Tredwells. They are just a generic merchant family. There’s nothing special about the Tredwells. Well, don’t listen to me, Gertrude. But [laughs] because, you know, four of the daughters didn’t marry. And that was like, what? That’s weird. But it’s, you know, a generic merchant family and how they lived and their Irish servants.”

She also talks about the process of opening a room as a part of the museum that was previously closed off to the public:

“And one of the great things I think that we accomplished was — I think it was 2013. We opened the servants’ bedroom on the fourth floor. Because before, we weren’t telling the whole story, because that house could not have been run without those four Irish girls. I mean, impossible. 10,000 square feet. I mean, impossible. So opening up that room really, I think just broadened our interpretation and the understanding of the period and how life was in, you know, the 19th century, in the mid-19th century. Because we could tell their story as best we could. You know? So I think that was a huge accomplishment. And of course, what we really want to do is when the developer gives up and gives us the lot, then we can move offices there and we can restore the office floor to the children’s bedrooms. And, you know, so we can really tell more of the story.”

Another important aspect of Pi’s work at the museum has been spearheading the continuing preservation efforts: 

“Oh, I mean, people joke. ‘Oh, my God. Are we saving the Merchant’s House again?’ [laughs] It’s just — I mean, in the ‘50s, I mean, somebody wanted to — a developer wanted to demolish. It was, you know, one of the first 20 landmarks in 1965. That march before, I think it was, there was a children’s march, you know, they marched around the Village and ended up at the Merchant’s House singing, “Where Have All the Landmarks Gone?” I mean, it was gonna go then. It’s just ongoing. Just like, it never ends, because people don’t care.”

But Pi and the rest of the Merchant’s House supporters have hope, thanks to the deep care and support for the house felt from the community. As Pi notes:

“People love the Merchant’s House. I mean, deep, deep love… We have an exhibition on now. It’s I Heart—I can’t even remember the name—I Heart Merchant’s House or something like that. Art for a national treasure? I can’t remember the title. But it’s all of the kinds of artwork of the façade over the years. That children did, you know, in sculpture or drawings or photographs. And you just feel—well, the creativity, but the love. It’s just—it’s really a remarkable house. It’s not—because I mean, blah, blah, blah my tour, you know, it’s not a curator’s aesthetic of what it might have looked like. You know, in some respects, of course it is. It doesn’t smell like [laughs] 19th century houses did, but it’s, you know, the real thing. Like as Ada Huxtable said way back in the ‘60s, and you feel it. Like I said, the 19th century is palpable. It’s as if the Tredwells have just wandered off to church, or they’ve wandered off to Broadway to go shopping, and they’ll be right back. And I think that just is—it touches people.”

You can learn more about, and read or listen to, Pi Gardiner’s full oral history here.

Village Preservation maintains nearly 70 oral histories with figures including Jane Jacobs, Penny Arcade, Wolf Kahn, Jonas Mekas, Marlis Momber, Edwin Fancher, Margot Gayle, David Amram, Matt Umanov, Merce Cunningham, Joan Davidson, Richard Meier, Ralph Lee, Mimi Sheraton, John Guare, Calvin Trillin, and Chino Garcia.