Celebrating #Landmarks60 Part II

The New York City Landmarks Law was signed into law on April 19, 1965 by Mayor Robert Wagner. Since then, about 38,000 NYC properties have been protected under the law.

Many of the landmarks designated in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo were highlighted as part of our celebration of Landmarks50, the 50th anniversary of the law in 2015, and in 2019, as we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District.

Much has changed in the past ten years since we celebrated Landmarks50. In the ten years following the 50th anniversary, twenty-five individual landmarks and one historic district have been designated in our neighborhoods, nearly all of which Village Preservation proposed for landmark designation and fought to protect. Today, we explore more of these recently designated landmarks (in chronological order following these):

827-831 Broadway Buildings

In 2016, a developer planned to demolish 827-831 Broadway and 47 East 12th Street, three interconnected, jointly built 1866 cast iron buildings, and replace them with a 300 ft. tall office tower. Village Preservation led the campaign to save the buildings from demolition, fighting for landmark designation. After initially rejecting the proposal, 827-831 Broadway was designated an individual landmark on October 31, 2017, although the 12th Street building was left undesignated.

827-831 Broadway was constructed in 1866 by Pierre Lorillard III, grandson of Pierre Abraham Lorillard, who founded the Lorillard tobacco empire. Soon after construction, the buildings served as the headquarters and showroom of Wilson Sewing Machines. Alan Wilson invented some of the first successful sewing machines in 1850, and his company revolutionized the process by which clothing was manufactured and repaired. During the time Wilson Sewing was located here, the company grew exponentially, dramatically changing the landscape of American manufacturing and domestic life. By the late 19th century, the buildings housed A.A. Vantine, the number one purveyor of imported goods from the recently-opened nation of Japan into the United States. Vantine soon after added Turkish rugs to his business, and became the leading merchant in that field in New York City. 

In the mid 20th century, 827-831 Broadway became the center of an art world revolution. In 1958, Willem de Kooning moved into a loft on the top floor of 831 Broadway, and the buildings would become home to a vast array of influential art world figures including Elaine de Kooning, Larry Poons, Paul Jenkins, William S. Rubin, and Jules Olitsky. The building was also well known as the location of Howard Kaplan Antiques for over 35 years, one of New York’s most prominent antique dealers. Pop star Cyndi Lauper lived here, and tryouts for Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue also took place here.

Click here to read more about 827-831 Broadway’s road to designation.

The Broadway Corridor Seven

The buildings described below are three of the seven properties along the Broadway corridor designated on June 11, 2019 in response to our efforts to protect the area South of Union Square. They all have rich architectural and cultural history. However, as we have noted, many of these seven buildings selected for landmarking were never really threatened for demolition. They were all built prior to the zoning laws that would have limited their size and are overbuilt for current zoning regulations.

817 Broadway

Located on the southwest corner of Broadway and East 12th Street, 817 Broadway is a beautiful, 14-story, 140,000 square foot commercial property formerly known as The Sprague Building.

Built-in 1895-98 in the Renaissance Revival style, this 14-story structure was designed by the prominent architect George B. Post, known for his innovative skyscraper designs, including the tallest building in the world at the time, The New York World Building. No. 817 Broadway was commissioned by William Weld, a Boston-based real estate developer, and was initially occupied by Meyer Jonasson & Company, then known as “the world’s largest manufacturer of ladies garments.”

826 Broadway

Located on the northeast corner of Broadway and East 12th Street, 826 Broadway is well known as the long time home of the Strand bookstore, a 2016 Village Awards winner and beloved New York institution.

This 11-story Renaissance Revival building built in 1902 was designed by architect William Birkmire. Birkmire began his career in the steel industry in Philadelphia and was an authority on modern steel construction. The brick and stone commercial store and loft building at 826 Broadway was occupied by garment industry businesses in its earlier years and various commercial interests since including a medical device company during the 1930s.

832 Broadway

Located on Broadway between East 12th and 13th Streets, this ten-story Renaissance Revival style building was constructed in 1896 for the Commercial Realty Improvement Company.

Designed by architect Ralph S. Townsend, this loft building primarily housed clothing manufacturers in its early years, but would later include a more diverse group of tenants. Around 1913, the National Free Labor Association, which lobbied for states’ use of free convict labor, used offices in the building as their headquarters. Around 1956 some offices were used for a communist publishing house which printed The Daily Worker. The building is now a 19-unit residential coop.

Twenty-five new individual landmarks and one historic district might seem like a lot, but landmarking has slowed considerably in recent years. Click here to read our report on Analyzing New York City Landmark Designations, and click here to urge the City to once again vigorously take up landmark designations and here to learn about all of our advocacy campaign work.

Explore our map highlighting the first 60 years of landmarking.