During the Summer of Love, on June 3, 1967, The New York Times reported “Hippies Heighten East Side Tensions” following a confrontation the day before in Tompkins Square Park between a group of hippies and some 200 police officers along with residents who protested the hippies’ presence. The police descended on the park following complaints […]
It’s that time of year again…time for Village Preservation’s Annual Meeting and Village Awards! The Village Awards recognize and honor some of the businesses, organizations, and institutions that make our neighborhoods such special places to live, while our Annual Meeting also includes a review of Village Preservation’s activities and accomplishments over the past year. This […]
Dr. Bruce Raymond Voeller, a pioneer of AIDS research and a significant early gay rights activist, was born on May 12, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s no household name, and his early biography would provide few hints as to why he should be. He graduated from Reed College in 1956, was awarded a five-year fellowship […]
We are constantly making new discoveries about the architecturally and culturally rich area south of Union Square, where Greenwich Village meets the East Village. While further researching one building in the area, 60-62 East 11th Street (already identified on our South of Union Square map for its incredible architecture and part of the architectural tour), […]
As mentioned before on our blog (here and here), we have an incredible new resource of a Storymap showcasing stories and examples of Greek Revival architecture in our area (and a few beyond). Born out of our young country’s desire to find a style that represented our democratic ideals, the Greek Revival style flourished in […]
On April 15, 2001, Rock and Roll lost a true legend. On that day, Joey Ramone died of lymphatic cancer. That night, U2’s Bono told the audience at a concert in Portland Oregon how Joey and the Ramones had changed his life. He sang “Amazing Grace” in his honor, and then went into “I Remember […]
On April 6, 1965, the New York City Council approved the bill granting the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission the power to designate and preserve New York City’s landmarks. According to contemporary New York Times accounts, 33 out of 35 City Council members voted in favor (but it was noted that two of the […]
With the deadline for submitting nominations for the 2021 Village Awards fast approaching (it’s this Friday — submit your nominations HERE), we thought we would take a look at some of the incredible awardees over the past years. Here are a few of my favorites that beautifully represent the wonderful contributions our award winners make […]
The Greek War of Independence began on March 25, 1821, eventually leading to the formation of Greece as an independent state in 1830, with its borders defined in 1832 and expanded over the decades which followed. How does this chapter of history 5,000 miles away affect our neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and […]
It just never stops growing…Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive, that is. The latest addition is the Pryor Dodge Collection, a collection taken between 1966 and 1967. They provide a wonderful snapshot (pardon the pun) into Greenwich Village and the East Village from this time. Featured are children playing, musicians collaborating, and life on the Bowery. […]
The Police Athletic League Building at 34 1/2 East 12th Street between University Place and Broadway was built in 1855 for the New York City Board of Education, and designated an individual New York City landmark in 1998. The building has an amazing history in relation to the education of women and girls in our […]
Artist, poet, philanthropist, teacher, writer, and inventor Yun Gee (1906-1963) was the first Chinese-American artist to hold an important position in the history of Western contemporary art. Considered one of the great modernist avant-garde painters, Gee enjoys a number of other “firsts.” He was the first Chinese-born artist invited to join the Société des Artistes Indépendants; […]
Joaquin Alberto Vargas y Chavez (February 9, 1896 — December 30, 1982) was Peruvian-born painter of pin-up girls who would come to be known as the ‘Varga Girls.’ His artwork would appear in magazines, advertisements, calendars and even on the cover of a Cars album in the 1980s. He found the woman who would be […]
On February 2, 1860, a terrible fire broke out in a tenement at 142 Elm Street (today Lafayette Street, just north of Howard Street in SoHo). The building was occupied by 24 families, according to The New York Times account at the time, and the fire started in a bakery in the basement. Ten women […]
We have posted a number of times about the origins of the names of various streets in our area, nearly all of which honor men. Bethune Street, barely three blocks in length, deviates from that patriarchal trend. It was named after a woman who was exceptional in her philanthropic and educational work, Joanna Graham Bethune […]
We love historic photos of our neighborhoods, many of which appear in our vast historic image archive. A subset of that archive includes artists’ renderings and interpretations. One Village artist whose work we’ve often admired, Bertram Goodman, created a number of works showing Greenwich Village in the mid-20th century with a particularly special quality. Bertram […]
This has certainly been a challenging year, to say the least. In spite of that, Village Preservation, the Community Boards, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) have continued to review and process permit applications for the landmarked properties in our neighborhoods. Interestingly, in the virtual environment that we have been operating in, […]
On December 5, 2020 at about 5:00am, a fire broke out at 116 Second Avenue, a neo-Grec tenement. The six-alarm blaze spread to the 1892 Middle Collegiate Church next door to the south. Nearly 200 firefighters were dispatched and while four suffered minor injuries, thankfully the human toll did not go beyond that. However, the […]
Tennessee Williams’ A Street Car Named Desire, one of the most critically acclaimed plays of the 20th century, opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. And while shocking its mid-20th century audience with its unabashed brutality and sexuality, when the curtain closed on opening night, the audience erupted into 30 […]
It’s Village Preservation’s 40th birthday this year. In honor of this auspicious occasion, we recently released a story map that details our efforts documenting, celebrating, and advocating for the preservation of our neighborhoods, all of which are made possible by our members and supporters. The map is divided by decade, and so today we showcase […]
If you are a research geek like me, you’ll understand that coming across a piece of relatively unknown history that is associated with our area can be very exciting. This was the case when I was recently researching 59 Fourth Avenue, part of the South of Union Square neighborhood for which we are seeking landmark […]
Village Preservation just released an incredible new tool, our #SouthOfUnionSquare “Virtual Village” site, which is an interactive map highlighting the architecture and histories of the area South of Union Square. In researching the voluminous history of the area, which surprisingly still largely lacks landmark protections, we discovered certain themes that we have turned into tours […]
The closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital in 2010, Greenwich Village’s one full-service hospital, was and remains the subject of considerable grief and dismay. But St. Vincent’s wasn’t the first Greenwich Village Hospital to close its doors. One particular one was set up to serve a growing immigrant community, and got some particularly high-profile help in […]
One of my favorite things about our neighborhoods is the history that is under our feet and to our side and yet unknown. Case in point is 49-51 Fifth Avenue. Here is a quiet, refined 1920s apartment building, and yet behind that genteel facade it has some really surprising and interesting history. A new building […]
On September 23, 1894, one of the East Village’s longest-running businesses, Veniero’s Pasticceria, opened its doors. This venerable local institution has been serving confections, cakes, and pastries to New Yorkers and visitors ever since from its home at 342 East 11th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenues, in the heart of what was once the […]
You never know what you may find when doing historic research in our neighborhoods, and it often raises more questions than it answers. I was recently looking into the history of a building on Fourth Avenue as part of our campaign to landmark the area south of Union Square. While scanning New York City Directories […]
Fifth Avenue, one of New York’s defining thoroughfares, stretches from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, kicked off (or terminated, depending upon your perspective) by Washington Square Arch. It stretches all the way to West 143rd Street in Harlem, and boasts some of New York’s as well as the country’s most significant architecture, and captures […]
This may be a little known fact even for the most dedicated of Monkees fans, but from 1967 to 1969, Monkees lead singer Davy Jones had a ‘mod’ clothing shop called Zilch I at 217 Thompson Street, a 1909 tenement in the South Village Historic District which Village Preservation got landmarked in 2013 (more info […]
You might be surprised to know that the Hospital for Special Surgery, the oldest existing orthopedic hospital in the United State, and a powerhouse in the world of medicine and orthopedic surgery, actually began in a row house in the increasingly immigrant-filled East Village more than 150 years ago. In 1863 in the middle of […]
Hilly Kristal is no doubt best known as the owner of CBGB in the East Village. But he actually had his first restaurant and bar in Greenwich Village just a few years before CBGB opened. Located at 62 West 9th Street, it was known simply as Hilly’s, and served coq au vin and duck a […]
These days, with cameras on our phones always at the ready, we give little consideration to a time when picture-taking technology was in its infancy. In the late 1830s, methods were first being developed to capture light and shadows on film — the earliest version of photography. As the technology developed, however, one subject proved […]
Limbo, the renowned vintage clothing shop on St. Marks Place in the East Village during the late 1960s and early 1970s, was started by Martin (Marty) Freedman in 1965. It was first located at 24 St. Mark’s Place, and by 1967, made its home at 4 St. Mark’s Place. This second-hand shop, initially appealing to […]
726-730 Broadway (aka 418-426 Lafayette Street) is a through-block loft building located in the NoHo Historic District. Not much to look at, what used to be here is infinitely more interesting and surprising than what is, and has been, for over a hundred years. In this case what used to be here was perhaps New […]
New York City has a rich history of developing a library system, starting with a variety of private charitable ones, several of which became the basis for the New York Public Library, the largest municipal library in the world. Some of those private libraries remained private, and some even still exist today, while others went […]
Mayor Jimmy Walker (1881-1946), known affectionately as “Beau James,” was New York City’s mayor from 1925 to 1932. He was known for his charm, good looks, impeccable wardrobe, and lavish tastes, very much reflective of the Jazz Age during which he served as mayor. He also became known for the rampant corruption of his administration, […]
It’s Pride Month!! Today we look at Richard Wandel, someone who has been instrumental in archiving LGBT history and who shared his story with us through our Oral History Project — read or listen to it here. Richard Wandel is a former President of the Gay Activists’ Alliance (GAA) in New York, and the founding […]
Each year, Village Preservation honors the invaluable people, businesses, and organizations that make a special contribution to our neighborhoods at our Annual Meeting and Village Awards. This year, on June 17th, 2020 we will be celebrating nine outstanding awardees — RSVP here to participate virtually. Cinema Village, located at 22 East 12th Street, is the […]
Each year, Village Preservation honors the invaluable people, businesses, and organizations that make a special contribution to our neighborhoods at our Annual Meeting and Village Awards. On June 17th, 2020 we will be celebrating nine outstanding awardees at our Annual Village Awards — RSVP here to participate virtually. Idlewild Books is an independent New York bookstore and […]
In 2007 the Chrysler Building was ranked ninth on the list of America’s Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Built in 1928-30 and designed by William Van Allen, it is a beacon in our rapidly changing New York City skyline, and in many ways the embodiment of the Art Deco style and the Roaring 20s’ exuberant building boom before the Depression.
Immigrant Heritage Week is a citywide celebration that honors the experiences and contributions of our city’s immigrants. Since 2004 it has been held every year starting April 17, the date in 1907 when more immigrants entered through Ellis Island than any other date in the city’s history. Our neighborhoods contain many layers of immigrant history, […]
Churches often represent some of the most historic and stunning architecture in a community, and that’s as true if not more so of the East Village as it is of anyplace else. East Village churches range in date of construction from 1799 to 1970, come in a variety of styles and sizes, and include the […]
Part of our blog series Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we look at buildings in our area we’re fighting to protect that are worthy of landmark designation, but somehow aren’t landmarked. The area south of Union Square is rich in architectural and social history which needs and deserves historic district (landmark) protections, which we have […]
On March 23, 1962, Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah took a group of photos of Abstract Expressionist artist Willem de Kooning in his studio and home at 831 Broadway. De Kooning lived and worked here from 1958 to 1964, and McDarrah’s photos offer an intimate glimpse into this brilliant artist’s world when he was at […]
Some years back, we had a series called ‘What’s In A Name?,’ exploring the reason behind some of the names found on buildings, streets, parks, or other locations in our area that we perhaps don’t give much thought to. One such example in our neighborhood might be the Stewart House. Built c. 1960 and located at […]
In 1991, the U.S. Congress proclaimed March Irish-American Heritage Month. Today we thought we would look at one part of our neighborhood that housed a large Irish immigrant community which greatly affected its development, the Far West Village. The beginnings of what would become a huge wave of Irish immigration to New York City began […]
Part of our blog series Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we look at buildings in our area we’re fighting to protect that are worthy of landmark designation, but somehow aren’t landmarked. Most of us remember the famous line from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller, Rear Window, “Meet me in the bar at the Albert Hotel,” delivered hauntingly […]
Minetta Street is one of the most charming and unique “corners” of Greenwich Village. I say corners, of course, because this one block-long street literally bends at nearly a 45-degree angle between Minetta Lane and the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Bleecker Street. This narrow street features small 19th century homes and 20th-century apartment buildings, […]
Our area boasts some of the most historic and attractive architecture in the city, if we do say so ourselves. All too often, however, these buildings lose beautiful historic details, through lack of maintenance or intentional removal. The most common such alteration to the look of buildings is probably the removal of cornices, the protruding […]
The New-York Historical Society was established as New York’s first museum in 1804, a mere 15 years after George Washington’s inauguration. Its present home on Central Park West was built between 1902 and 1908 and designed by the architectural firm of York and Sawyer
AMERINDA, American Indian Artists, Inc., is the premier Native American multi-arts services and the only independent, multi-arts organization of its kind in the United States, serving emerging and mid-career Native American artists. Founded in 1987, Amerinda catalyzes Native American performing, visual, literary and media artists, and promotes awareness of these artists. AMERINDA presents curated exhibitions […]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the great landmarks, and great institutions, of New York City, the nation, and the world. With more than 2 million objects in its collection, it is by far the largest museum in both New York and the country.
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. The Greenwich Village Historic District has been home to more artists over the years than one could possibly count; we’ve identified more than one […]
This post is part of our blog series Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we look at buildings in our area we’re fighting to protect that are worthy of landmark designation, but somehow aren’t landmarked. This beautifully intact c. 1870 building at 32 East 10th Street was designed by W. Field & Son for Henry Naylor […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. On April 29th, 2019, we launched our new interactive map, Greenwich Village Historic District, 1969-2019: Photos and Tours, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. On April 29th, 2019, we launched our new interactive map, Greenwich Village Historic District, 1969-2019: Photos and Tours, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of […]
On Saturday, November 23rd, get a jump on your holiday shopping and support small business at this year’s #ShopBleecker Day as part of the month-long promotion of small businesses along this local thoroughfare. Participating businesses will be offering great deals, giveaways, and discounts. There will also be some fantastic prize packages valued at $2,000 each […]
Village Preservation has so many online resources available about the history of our area. But did you know that we now also have an incredible archive available online of the history of preservation efforts in our neighborhoods? This archive contains materials from organizations and individuals involved in historic preservation efforts, particularly those connected to Greenwich […]
Have you ever heard the term ‘French Flat?’ It sounds rather chic, doesn’t it? That’s because it was meant to. In New York City in the mid-to-late late 19th century, respectable, middle- and upper-class people were supposed to live in private homes. The poor and working-class lived in “tenement houses” (derived from “tenant houses”), which […]
We are starting a new blog series entitled Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we will look at buildings in our area which are worthy of landmark designation but somehow aren’t landmarked and we are fighting to protect. To kick off this series, our first stop is the San Isidoro y San Leandro Western Orthodox Catholic […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. Dr. Horatio Gomez was a 19th-century doctor who could trace his Jewish lineage to Abraham Haim de Ludena, one of the original Sephardic Jewish […]
One of our most recently landmarked buildings, the Roosevelt Building at 841 Broadway, has an exciting application for alterations which includes the restoration of its piers at the storefront level. Included in this application are some beautiful images of not just the building but Broadway, Union Square, and East 13th Street which we have just […]
As we do every month, we just added some new historic images to the Village Preservation historic image archive from the latest Landmarks Permit Applications which we have reviewed. This round had an intriguing one of Astor Place/Cooper Square from 1925 which shows how many of the striking historic buildings remain from that time (largely […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50. We recently posted about the Tenth Street Studio, the first of its kind, purpose-built studio/live-work space for artists, completed in 1858 at 51 West 10th Street. In 1889 a […]
Located in the heart of the South Village and the South Village Historic District is the oldest continuing South Village Italian organization, Tiro a Segno, today located at 77 MacDougal Street. It has been at this location since 1924 and has served the Italian American community since its founding on August 14, 1888. Tiro a […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50. Ever wonder what started Greenwich Village’s role as a mecca for artists? A good deal of the credit can go to a single building which changed the way artists […]
It’s rare to become a published poet by age 16, finding yourself praised by the some of the foremost Beatnik writers. It’s even rarer when no less than Patti Smith says that by age 21 you were ‘pretty much universally recognized as the best poet” of your generation. Add to that having your first album […]
On June 11th, 2019, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated seven buildings in the area south of Union Square as individual landmarks. While these seven buildings are just a fraction of a fraction of the buildings we called for to be landmarked in connection with the City’s shady Tech Hub “deal”, and […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. Richard Wright (September 4, 1908 — November 28, 1960), novelist and short-story author, is considered among the most important figures of 20th-century American fiction. […]
I often get asked what my favorite building is in our area, and 154 West 14th Street ranks up there as one of my tops. Located at the very prominent corner of Seventh Avenue and West 14th Street, this polychromatic, 12-story visual delight is replete with glazed terra cotta in hues of white, beige, yellow, […]
Six sites were recently designated landmarks by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission based on their LGBT history and association, two of which were part of a five-year campaign by Village Preservation: the LGBT Community Center and the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse. This comes four years after the first and until recently only NYC individual landmark […]
When people hear the name E.B. White, most immediately think of the much-adored children’s’ classics, Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and Trumpet of the Swan. However, his work extended far beyond that genre, and his literary “hats” included essayist, novelist, humorist, and poet (although he described himself as a “non-poet who occasionally breaks into song”). Like […]
This was one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District in 2019. Credited with building some of the most elegant New York buildings of the interwar years, Emery Roth (July 17, 1871-August 20, 1948) was one of New York City’s most prolific architects during […]
Since 1896, the Little Missionary Day Nursery has been serving the families of the Lower East Side and the East Village, providing care and education for the young children of this area. It was founded by Sara Curry, who dedicated her life to the care of the neighborhood’s impoverished children and their families.
For the almost three decades, Tea & Sympathy at 108 Greenwich Avenue has been a fixture in Greenwich Village for greeting, meeting, and eating. Serving tea and traditional British comfort food, this iconic and authentic British eatery is beloved by locals and visited by people from all over the world. In June at Village Preservation’s […]
Alphabet City owes much of its initial development to shipbuilding, the industry that used to dominate the area. Known as the Dry Dock District, this area used to bustle with thousands of workers building waterborne vessels, as well as in supporting trades such as iron works and wood mills. Residences were built around the area […]
Village Preservation’s 21st Annual Spring House Tour on Sunday, May 5th is right around the corner, and this year’s homes are really special. Additionally, they are all in the Greenwich Village Historic District, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Every year, in addition to a selection of fabulous homes, there is always a special […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. President Abraham Lincoln, after saving the Union and winning the Civil War, was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, finally succumbing to his wounds […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50. Churches are found throughout the Greenwich Village Historic District, and were built as early as 1821, and as late as the 1970s, after the district’s designation in 1969 (one […]
On April 5, 1959, Village Voice photographer Fred McDarrah snapped this iconic photo of Willem de Kooning on the stoop of 88 East 10th Street, his home and studio from 1952 to 1959. De Kooning lived and worked here during some of his most productive years as an artist, and when he and his contemporaries […]
We recently came across a video on YouTube of what looks almost like silent home movies of beat writers Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and several others gathering at an East Village bar, the Harmony Bar & Restaurant. This rare footage was shot in 1959 on 16mm film, and the others identified in the footage include […]
We have just added a new tour to our wildly popular East Village Building Blocks, our online tool which provides invaluable information about over 2,200 properties in the East Village. This tour takes you through the thirty individual New York City landmarks in the East Village — one of the highest concentrations in New York […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. One of New York City’s most prolific architects before and after the turn of the 20th century was George Frederick Pelham. He designed a […]
Ellen Emmet Rand was an American painter and illustrator during the first half of the 20th century who specialized in portraits. Over the course of her career, she painted over 500 works, including the official portrait of Franklin Roosevelt. Apparently, she attempted to paint his cousin Teddy as well, but gave up because “he couldn’t […]
MacDougal Sullivan Gardens, the incredibly charming enclave of twenty-two houses on a block bounded by MacDougal and Sullivan Streets, Bleecker and Houston Streets, has a long and storied history. As most people know, the houses were originally built in the 19th century as single-family houses — in 1844 and 1850 to be exact, by a […]
Over the years, Off the Grid has featured many posts about Tompkins Square Park, including The Young Lords Start in Tompkins Square Park, The Tompkins Square Park Riots of 1988, and Get your Fruit, Veggies, and Milk in Tompkins Square Park. We even had a quiz to test your knowledge of the park and the […]
Village Preservation’s East Village Building Blocks, our web-based tool which provides information on each property in the East Village, has been wildly popular since its release just over a month ago. Equally popular has been the accompanying, in-depth report on the East Village by architectural historian Francis Morrone entitled, “A History of the East Village […]
In a recent post, we discussed the many resources that we used to research the over 2,200 properties that are featured in our online tool, East Village Building Blocks. In that post, we looked at how we figured out the history of two buildings which are easily discernible as 19th-century structures. Today we thought we […]
Saul Leiter, American painter and photographer, was part of what was known as the New York school of photography of the 1940s and 50s, and resided on East 10th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues for 61 years until his death in 2013. His photographs from the 1950s experimented with color, unlike those of his […]
GVSHP’s recently-released East Village Building Blocks online web tool provides invaluable information about over 2,200 properties in the East Village, including each building’s date of construction, original architect, original use, and more. This resource was over ten years in the making, and with so many of the structures having been built before New York City had […]
On January 7, 1967, German-born singer Nico performed with The Velvet Underground at Steve Paul’s nightclub, the Scene, and this moment was captured stunningly in a photograph by Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah was the photographer behind the Village Voice at the time and he had a fifty-year association with the paper that chronicled the post-War […]
Napoleon Eugene Charles Henry LeBrun, a prominent and prolific American architect of the late 19th century, was born on January 2, 1821. He began his career in Philadelphia and designed a number of notable buildings there and other Pennsylvania towns. In 1864 he moved his family and his practice to New York City. He would […]
Happy New Year and welcome to 2019! Perhaps you welcomed in the new year a bit ‘robustly’ last night. In that spirit, we thought we’d look at a few posts from this past year about the free flow of alcohol. So put a cold compress on your head, grab your coffee, put your feet up […]
Calvert Vaux, one of the most prolific and influential architects in the United States during the second half of the 19th century, was born on December 20, 1824, in London, England. Best known in New York City as the co-designer of Central Park along with Frederick Law Olmsted, Vaux’s talents went beyond landscape architecture and […]
We recently wrote about the online release of the 1940s tax photos of every building in New York City by the New York City Municipal Archives. As we mentioned, the 1980s tax photos have been available online for a while now. However, Maps Mania has taken this a step further and made this resource infinitely […]
“I am Spartacus!” That is what many people think of when they think of Kirk Douglas, in his role in the 1960 film Spartacus as the leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome. But did you know he once made his home in Greenwich Village? While he was a struggling actor at the beginning […]
New York history buffs have been waiting a long time for this — the New York City Municipal Archives has digitized all 720,000 of its tax photos of every building in New York City, taken 1939-1941, and placed them all on their website. The city agency had already posted digitized versions of its ca. 1980 tax […]
James Renwick, Jr. was born on November 11, 1818, in New York City. He would become one of the most successful American architects of the 19th century, designing such high profile buildings as New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Smithsonian “Castle” in Washington D.C., and Grace Church, right here in our neighborhood on Broadway […]
On November 1, 1871, one of America’s most influential writers, Stephen Crane, was born in Newark, New Jersey. He is probably best know for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote from his home at 61 Washington Square South, part of what was known as “Genius Row” — so named […]
John “Jack” Silas Reed was an American journalist, poet and communist activist at the beginning of the 20th century whose writing about revolutionary events and radical causes made him a very polarizing figure in this country and abroad. He is probably best known as the author of Ten Days That Shook the World, his account […]
In a recent application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make some changes to the building at 770 Broadway (8th/9th Streets), there is a great picture of this impressive building being constructed; the photos from this application are now part of our historic image archive. This photo really showcases the construction technology of a steel […]
