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2014 Year In Review: GVSHP Programs
…and Presentation of the Village Awards Co-sponsored by The New School Monday, June 16 6:30 – 8:00 P.M. Free; reservations required The Auditorium at The New School 66 West 12th…
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African Free School, First in America for Black Students, Found a Home in Greenwich Village
…Rights and Social Justice Map. Want to learn about more civil rights and social justice sites in our neighborhoods? Check out our map. Sources: https://www.nyhistory.org/web/africanfreeschool/history/ https://www.nyhistory.org/web/africanfreeschool/history/philosophy.html http://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15052coll5/id/31512 http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/african-free-school-opens-new-york-city https://www.jstor.org/stable/274931?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://maap.columbia.edu/place/9…
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How Greenwich Village and the East Village Launched the 19th Century Hebrew Free School Movement
…for the Jewish community. The New York Hebrew Free Schools By 1868, New York’s Hebrew Free School Association consisted of 4 schools. The first two were housed at 36 Avenue…
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The Landmarked New School Auditorium — Home of Village Preservation’s 2019 Annual Meeting and Village Awards
…adjoining lot. The New School for Social Research Auditorium. Image via LPC designation report, Carl Forster The New School desired a building whose architecture would reflect the institution’s progressive philosophies….
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A Complete Guide to the Charles B.J. Snyder Schools in Our Neighborhoods
…and the old seal of New Amsterdam to the right of it to indicate that it was a public school in New York City. The E-shaped school was without a…
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W.E.B. Du Bois Makes – and Teaches – History at the New School, September 27, 1948
…Bois was a natural to teach the first African-American history class at a university, and The New School (then known as The New School for Social Research) was the natural…
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GVSHP 2016 Book List & Holiday Gift Ideas
…a Grid: How New York became New York You either love it or hate it, but nothing says New York like the street grid of Manhattan. Created in 1811 by…
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April 12, 1901: Back When the “New Law” was New
This was originally posted by Amanda Davis, GVSHP’s former Director of Preservation & Research. It has been updated with new information. New law tenement at 151 Bleecker Street in the…
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The New School vs. NYU — A Telling Comparison
…review. The New School‘s University Center under construction at 5th Avenue and 14th Street (image courtesy of Curbed.com) The comparison is quite telling… First, The New School’s (TNS) University Center…
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14 historic sites of the abolitionist movement in Greenwich Village
…Public Library. African Free School, No. 2, New York. 11. African Free School No. 3, 120 West 3rd Street This was one of seven schools dedicated to the education of the…
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“The NEW New York” – Immigrant Heritage Learning at Village Preservation
…that we haven’t heard before. The NEW New York: Immigration, 1820s to 1880s – An Overview SJ Costello’s “NEW New York” Lecture SJ Costello wowed us with information focused on…
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New York School Painter Janice Biala’s “Pendulating Spirit”
…Exhibition, which was largely considered the public’s introduction to the work of the New York School Painters. Studio 35 was named as such for its location at 35 East Eighth…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Children’s Aid Society’s Fourteenth Ward Industrial School on Mott Street
…lot behind the building. Fourteenth Ward Industrial School, 1895. Photo Courtesy of Children’s Aid Society Annual Report. The Fourteenth Ward Industrial School served as an industrial and night school until…
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When New York really became New York
…New Amsterdam’s name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized that colonial mission. Leon Ferris, The Fall of New Amsterdam. From a 1932…
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April 12, 1901: Back When the “New Law” was New
New law tenement at 151 Bleecker Street in the South Village. Photo by GVSHP. The 20th century had hardly begun when the New York State legislature signed into law a…
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How the New York Public Library got its start in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo
…the New York Public Library. The Public Theater today, photo by Ajay Suresh via Wikimedia Commons The Astor Library remained the new system’s flagship branch until a grand new central library opened on…
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New Historic Images- Astor Place, 10th Street, Village Community School, and more.
…constructed in 1885-86 as Primary School No. 7 and redesignated as Public School 107 in 1897. Following demographic changes, the school was closed in June 1930 and was acquired by the New…
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#SouthOfUnionSquare: 813 Broadway and the Report of the Citizens’ Association of New York Upon the Sanitary Conditions of the City
…of New York. New York: Appleton, 1865. Illustration from the Report of the Council of Hygiene and Public Health of the Citizens’ Association of New York. New York: Appleton, 1865….
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Community Cornerstone: Little Red School House-Elisabeth Irwin High School
Elisabeth Irwin founded Little Red School House in 1921. Image via LREI. In 2012, GVSHP spotlighted the work of Little Red School House/Elisabeth Irwin High School on Off the Grid…
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Robert de Niro, Sr. and the New York School Artists #SouthOfUnionSquare
…York School artist who painted in a style that deftly blended European Modernism and Abstract Expressionism. Born in Syracuse, New York in 1922, de Niro, Sr. attended Black Mountain College…
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The Documents of History: Mattachine Society of New York’s Archival Papers of 1951-1976 at the New York Public Library
As Village Preservation prepares to unveil a plaque commemorating the “Sip-In” at Julius’ Bar on April 21, 1966, one might wonder about the Mattachine Society of New York, which organized…
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The New Deal is Still Living
…to list all the tangible New Deal contributions to New York City: bridges, highways, tunnels, airports, schools, public buildings, housing, parks, playgrounds, pools, beaches, marinas, piers, art, and other creations that…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The New-York Historical Society
…and iconic emblems of what can only be called “classic New York,” the New-York Historical Society is firmly ensconced not only in the cream of New York’s cultural crop but…
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African Free School #3, 120 West 3rd Street
…fought for the Americans and 20,000 fought on the side of the British. By 1780, more than 10,000 Black people called New York City home. New York African Free School…
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Carole Teller’s ‘Changing New York’ captures the city’s 20th-century transformation
…New York’s landmarks law and the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Carole captured a hollowed out Penn Station; the Richard Morris Hunt-designed New York Tribune Building…
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Some Good News on Chain Stores for the New Year
…of the Chains, 2015, which is their yearly survey of the number and location of chain stores in New York City. https://nycfuture.org/pdf/State-of-the-Chains-2015-5.pdf The good news: in the past year, the growth…
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Mixed But Positive News on Chain Stores for the New Year
The tenth annual ranking of national retailers in New York City by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) just came out, and it reveals a 1.8 percent increase in…
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Former Schools of Greenwich Village and the East Village
…122, now Performance Space New York Built in 1893, this former school (previously known as P.S. 122, as in Public School 122) is one of many in New York designed…
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The New-York Historical Society Finds Its First Home in the East Village
The original New-York Historical Society building on the corner East 11th and Second Avenue. In 1804, New York City had already celebrated 190 years since its founding. Comparatively, the United…
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A new mayor means a new administration
New Yorkers have elected a new mayor, but it’s important to note that any mayor of any city does not operate in a vacuum. A mayor selects many individuals to…
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Good News on Chain Stores for the New Year
The eleventh annual ranking of national retailers in New York City by the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) just came out, and it reveals a 0.3 percent decline in the…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The New York Society Library, 53 East 79th Street
…brackets. The current New York Society Library, with its new awning The building was a residence until 1937 when the New York Society Library purchased the building and made updates…
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How Tall Will New Buildings in My Neighborhood Be? A New 3-D Map Tells Us
With everything going on in the world, you may have missed a great new resource DNAinfo recently released: an incredible interactive 3D rotatable map,called How Tall Will New Buildings in My…
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Charles Snyder’s Historic Schools in the East Village
The distinctive H plan of many NYC schools that Snyder designed, here the former P.S. 64/CHARAS building. Each year, New York City’s 1 million public school students return to school…
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No Need for a Mock UN at One East Village Elementary School
…and adaptability would be a trait required of all schools built under the new superintendent of school buildings, Michael Radoslovich. Under Radoslovich, many outside architecture firms were brought in to…
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The Biggest Mural in NYC, On View, For Now, at City-As-School
…swept the country during the 70s and 80s, popularizing the Deweyan school-without-borders model. From the start, City-As-School operated as a “transfer school,” a school designed to re-engage students who have…
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Great NYC Museums Go #BeyondTheVillageAndBack
…Missionary Baptist Church. Its school, Colored School No. 2, was the first school in the country to integrate both students and staff. It had one of the first if not…
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Celebrating the Landmarks of Immigration in the Greenwich Village Historic District
…the early 20th centuries, Greenwich Village had, along with nearby Little Italy and East Harlem, the largest Italian immigrant community in New York. 3. The New School for Social Research’s…
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Beyond the Village and Back: New York Public Library Main Branch, Steven A. Schwartzman Building, Fifth Avenue
…institution opening to the public almost three months later. The 1895 document that birthed the New York Public Library actually created a new corporation called “The New York Public Library,…
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Extra! Extra! Newsies Strike of 1899
…lodging houses*, and working as newsies was how they survived the tough streets of New York City. Newsgirl & Boy Selling around saloon entrances. Bowery. Location: New York, New York….
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Back To School
…time when “the Board of Education had 271 schools under its jurisdiction, including 95 grammar schools, 101 primary schools, 14 ‘colored’ schools, 29 evening schools for working children, 3 normal…
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13 places in Greenwich Village where the course of history was changed
…Studies and Women’s Studies The New School today via Wiki Commons Founded 100 years ago, The New School broke new ground from the very beginning. “Frustrated by the intellectual timidity of traditional…
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Catholic Churches: Anchor of New York’s 19th Century Irish Community
…Irish immigrants faced crowding, inadequate sanitation, and the threat of disease in this impoverished neighborhood.” Source:New-York Historical Society New York City didn’t have a Roman Catholic Church until 1785 when…
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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….
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11 landmarks of immigration in Greenwich Village
…School for Social Research’s “University in Exile,” 66 West 12th Street Via Wiki Commons The New School was founded in 1919 by progressive intellectuals “looking for a new, more relevant model of education,…
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Beyond The Village and Back: the Statue of Liberty and “The New Colossus”
…the pedestal that got a Greenwich Village resident named Emma Lazarus involved. Emma Lazarus, born on July 22, 1849, in New York City, was the fourth of seven children in…
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The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary’s Rich History
Robert Williams Gibson Building, 1893-1903 in April 2022. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at 2nd Avenue and 13th Street, 1904. Photo by Irving Underhill. Courtesy MCNY. The New York…
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More Historic Photo Mysteries Solved — Brownstone Revival and New York Apocalypse Edition
…grown up during that time period (I was born in 1969) in the Bronx, it was a phase of New York’s life I knew well. And everything about this picture…
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Third Street Music School’s Long Journey to 11th Street
…another settlement house located nearby. The College and University Settlements then combined music schools to form the Music School of the University and College Settlements. This new school was located…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Juilliard School
Juilliard School at Lincoln Center In our series Beyond the Village and Back, we take a look at some great landmarks throughout New York City outside of Greenwich Village, the…
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Fiorello LaGuardia — NYC’s ‘Greatest Mayor,’ One of Several from Greenwich Village
…LaGuardia High School of Music & Performing Arts Also in 1936, Mayor LaGuardia opened the High School of Music and Art, as a place for New York City public school…
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Fred W. McDarrah’s Greenwich Village and the East Village of the 1950s and 60s
…and composer Charles Mingus (1922 – 1979) (in white shirt) and his band perform at the Five Spot Cafe (2 St. Marks Place), New York, New York, August 22, 1962….
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Tenement House Act of 1901
…12, 1901 marks the date when the New York State Legislature passed the Tenement House Act of 1901, more commonly known as the “New Law” or “New Tenement Law.” This…
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Jesús Colón Writes and Fights for Puerto Rican New Yorkers
…New York and Other Sketches. A series of vignettes, the book chronicles his experience finding jobs and housing in New York City, and offers a portrayal of Puerto Rican New…
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2014 Village Award Winner: New York Marble Cemetery
Courtesy of New York Marble Cemetery, Inc. Second Avenue entrance. Courtesy of New York Marble Cemetery, Inc. Here’s a neighborhood old-timer for you. The New York Marble Cemetery, which turns…
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New York in Four Maps – Walking the Village of the Past
…its transformation. Randel’s job was to implement the new grid plan, which was met with much pushback from landowners. According to this New York Times article: Beginning in 1808, Randel…
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A Historic New Home for St. Mark’s Bookshop
…New York City.” Yet another plaque is on the building’s street facade closer to First Avenue. First Houses is thrilled with the new tenant, said Resident Association President Brenda Santiago…
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New Buildings Approved for Construction Within the Greenwich Village Historic District Since Designation
…sparked enormous controversy, and still do. Some will make you wonder “what were they thinking?” Today we explore a few of these approvals: 224 West 11th Street The first new building…
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On Saving the Soul of New York City and Yourself
Photo via pennyarcade.tv. Penny Arcade has been living the bohemian life in New York City, and making art about it, on and off for more than four decades. She says…
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Anarchy in the East Village! The Ferrer Modern School
The Modern School, c. 1911-1912, from the Friends of the Modern School website. The East Village was the first home of the Ferrer Modern School of New York City. First…
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C.B.J. Snyder and the East Village
…the New York City Superintendent of School Buildings in 1891. From the beginning, he sought to improve conditions at New York City schools, which had been likened to factories by…
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15 Sites of Critical African American History in Greenwich Village
…by the New York Manumission Society, was the very first school for blacks in America. The first African Free School, a one-room schoolhouse located in lower Manhattan, was established in…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
…the City of New York on both its interior and exterior, the Met is a must-see for any visitor to the city and a staple for any New Yorker with…
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Favorite Things Edition: Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York
…best resources for keeping up to date with changes throughout New York City is the oft-plaintive blog Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York. An exterior sign at the former Howard Johnson’s in…
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The Largest School in the World
…The school still exists as P.S. 188, and is now known as The Island School. The building is also home to Girls Prep Lower East Side Elementary Charter School. P.S….
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Buy a Book Locally on Small Business Saturday
…really there.” James and Karla Murray live in New York City and were awarded the New York Society Library’s prestigious New York City book award in 2012 for their last…
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2014 Village Award Winner: New York Central Art Supply
New York Central Art Supply Browsing the merchandise at New York Central Art Supply can be a little intimidating for the uninitiated, but that’s just because this store, which has…
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Robert Hogan: Unsung Hero of Irish New York, and Resident of MacDougal Street
…179. Photo courtesy of the New-York Historical Society Digital Collections. In addition to the annual ball, the new organization relied on annual subscriptions costing five dollars, as well as members’…
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A Poet, A Bookseller, and the Father of Social of Social Security: New Additions to the Greenwich Village Historic District 1969-2019 Photos and Tours Map
…In the months since we have been expanding the map, adding both new tours and new entries to previously existing tours. Now, beyond depicting images of every one of the…
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A Landmark SCOTUS Win: Penn Central v. City of New York
The summer of 1978 in New York City has been well documented. The city was a place of joy, grit, and transition, looking for the next big idea — or…
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Remembering Christopher Moore and Honoring New York City’s Whole History
…War II, Slavery In New York, The Black New Yorkers: 400 Years of African American History, Standing In the Need of Prayer: African American Prayer Traditions, and more. He was…
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Publishing giants, radical literature, and women’s suffrage: More secrets of Union Square South
…Socialist party, a number of schools teaching the party’s beliefs began to emerge. The New York Workers School, which developed in October 1923, was first located on University Place near…
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Brownstone Quarry That Helped Build New York Closes
“Brownstones occupy a unique place in the New York psyche, as one of the city’s most prototypical signposts, like yellow cabs and fast walkers, yet are able to stir aching…
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#SouthofUnionSquare: Department Stores and the New Woman
…around Union Square began to change. Hearn’s Department Store, 1916 – Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library: New…
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Open House New York in Greenwich Village: The history of three unique sites
…early New York skyline, if not the tallest — a title held by Trinity Church at a time when the New York skyline was still dominated by church steeples. While…
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Berenice Abbott’s Changing New York
…4, 2023, presents a selection of unbound pages from Changing New York, shedding new light on the creative process of one of the great photographic artists of the twentieth century….
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Considering New Buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District
…after its initial designation. Some were rather hum-drum like a new gas station at 8th Avenue and 13th Street, while others had significantly more drama attached to them, like the new…
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North America’s First Free Black Settlement In Our Neighborhoods
…riches of New Amsterdam, c. 1642 This settlement’s status did not remain permanent, however. When the English captured the colony of New Amsterdam and renamed it New York in 1664,…
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Business of the Month: Newsbar Cafe, 107 University Place
…The Nation or the New York Review of Books with coffee and a sandwich. At Newsbar, thanks to proprietor Jan Balasack, they make you feel at home in an interactive…
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Berenice Abbott and the Legacy of the New Deal
…which became known as Changing New York, contained over 1,000 images and was eventually deposited at the Museum of the City Of New York. Abbott expressed that, through the project,…
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New York City’s First Public Nurse: Lillian Wald
…in the East Village. Born in 1867 in Ohio, Wald and her family moved to Rochester, New York in 1878. In 1889 she attended the New York Hospital’s School of…
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New African-American History Curriculum for Children’s Education Program
Just in time for the upcoming Black History Month, Village Preservation has developed a new, four-part course on African American history for middle school students as part of our Children’s Education…
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Tom Wolfe: New Journalism and the Women’s House of Detention
…moved to New York City, where he joined the New York Herald Tribune as a general assignment reporter. Like many writers, Wolfe’s experiences in New York City shaped and influenced…
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October 26, 1825: The Erie Canal opened. And New York would never be the same.
…Clinton knew that the most logical place to create one was upstate New York. The canal began at Lake Erie in Buffalo, carving its way through central New York State,…
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New Kid on the Block
…similar profiles. Original sales brochure via New York Real Estate Brochure Collection, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University. Original sales brochure via New York Real Estate Brochure Collection,…
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On This Day: New York City Draft Riots
…Draft Riots. These civil disturbances rocked New York City and revealed a deep racial and class divide that existed in New York City in 1863, one that was particularly visible…
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The Female Trailblazer Who Helped Build New York’s Landmarks #SouthOfUnionSquare
…what would be one of the most iconic buildings in New York City, the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street and Broadway. That building is of course both a New York…
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A Streetcar Named Desire — New Orleans Set, Greenwich Village Rooted
…New School, with influential German director Erwin Piscator. He first stayed with his sister who lived near Patchin Place. In his autobiography, he talked about the “ecstasy of sleeping on…
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Facts and Data Continue To Contradict Upzoning Argument
…brings down prices quite simply belied the facts. Who knew that a new, even more detailed analysis would come out just a few days later, even more emphatically showing the…
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Welcome to the New Whitney
…are inside, the new building’s transparency and visibility interact with visitors, neighboring buildings and spaces, and the outside world at large. The new building’s strikingly asymmetrical form responds to the…
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Documenting New York ca. 1940 via ‘Tax Photos’
…of Finance) took advantage of the sponsorship opportunities presented by the New Deal. Various Tax Photo Outtakes, 1940s Tax Department photographs, 1939-1951; Municipal Archives, City of New York Instituted during…
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Exploring the New York City Backdrops of Sex and the City
…Apartment In season three, Samantha’s search for a new living space away from nosy neighbors brought her to the Meatpacking District in downtown New York. Undergoing a significant transformation from…
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What is the Oldest Bar in New York City?
…became the bar’s first female customer on August 10th, 1970. McSorley’s boasts that it is the oldest bar in New York City. Founder John McSorley claimed that it opened its…
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Echoes of Silence: New American Cinema’s Take On Life in Greenwich Village
…often a new film-maker with so much promise comes on to the scene. There are several things that are good about Goldman. First, the mastery and feeling that he managed…
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When Pavement Was Pretty: New York’s Cobblestone Streets
…request for New York neighborhoods where they can find that “old cobblestone street feel.” So, where can we find those old cobblestone streets? To start, most of New York was…
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Disappearing New York: The Case of the Missing Watch Repair Shop
…filmmaker, has recently taken to the streets of New York to document what he describes as “Disappearing New York.” A native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West…
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Landmarks50: The New York Public Library Tompkins Square Branch
The New York Public Library Tompkins Square Branch, courtesy of HDC As part of our continuing Landmarks50 celebration, and in honor of Stanford White’s birthday today (he would be a…
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The New York City Work Horse
New York City was powered by horses for almost three hundred years. At its peak, well over 150,000 horses and by some estimates up to 200,000 lived in the city….
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New Map Shows Most Buildings in NYC ca. 1940
It’s no secret that we are big fans of the New York City Municipal Archives digital collection of all 720,000 of its tax photos of most building in New York…
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