Ithiel Town, born on October 3, 1784, transformed American architecture, as well as the landscape of our neighborhoods. A significant figure in beginning the Greek and Gothic Revivals in this country, he was among the first professional architects here and started the first architectural firm, later joined by Alexander Jackson Davis, another seminal figure in […]
Seven late 19th and early 20th century buildings are now under consideration for landmarking by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. They are all located along Broadway south of Union Square, in an area rich in architectural and cultural significance, and also increasingly endangered. So in looking around the area, it begs the question: […]
New York City publishes a very useful map-based website with one very big flaw. NYCityMap offers users a tremendous amount of information on all properties in New York City. Some of the information that may be seen for each property includes zoning, owner, block and lot, lot size and lot frontage. Overlays may be added identifying […]
Our neighborhood is rife with educational institutions and schools which have blazed trails and tread new ground. Today we will look at two schools which have benefited the younger members of our neighborhood for a century, and continue to this day their original missions of progressive education.
On August 24, 2016, the New York City Planning Commission held a hearing to consider a zoning change and transfer of air rights for the development of the three-block long St. John’s Terminal site at West and Houston Streets. GVSHP testified along with political officials, neighbors and other organizations at the hearing demanding a series of […]
We recently added two new collections of photographs to the GVSHP Historic Image Archive, and they do not fail to impress! One is the Meatpacking District Above 14th Street/Chelsea Market/High Line Before Transformation and it comes from GVSHP’s own photo archives, taken in early 2002 as part of our advocacy efforts to preserve the Meatpacking […]
An important figure within New York’s Italian immigrant communities was the padrone — a middleman acting on behalf of his compatriots, helping them with advice, assistance, and protection. Padrone actually means “boss or lord,” and some may have abused their power and taken advantage of or exploited their fellow Italian immigrants, many acted in a much […]
Every month, GVSHP posts the upcoming applications for changes to landmarked properties in our neighborhoods that are significant enough to warrant a public hearing, known as certificates of appropriateness. Typically included in these applications are old photos of the properties which can serve to provide explanation or justification for proposed changes to landmarked structures. GVSHP […]
Our ever-expanding historic image archive has a number of fascinating collections which offer glimpses into our neighborhood and beyond throughout past decades. Carol Teller’s Changing New York (Parts I, II & III), Jack Dowling Collection: Decay and Rebirth Along the Greenwich Village Waterfront in the 1970s, and Ruth E. Cushman Collection: NY Undergoing Change in the […]
We have written a number of times about the former P.S. 64/ CHARAS-El Bohio Community and Cultural Center and our efforts to save the landmarked building. The beloved historic structure was built in 1906 and designed by architect and then-New York City Superintendent of School Buildings C.B.J. Snyder (November 4, 1860 – November 14, 1945). During his tenure […]
On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision (United States v. Windsor), declared unconstitutional part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which defined marriage solely as a legal union between a man and a woman. This landmark case had its roots here in the Village with the […]
This picturesque wintry scene of Christopher Street was painted by Greenwich Village resident and artist Beulah Bettersworth in 1934. Looking west from Hudson Street along Christopher, it shows the Ninth Avenue El Christopher Street Station and St. Veronica’s Church beyond. Currently, this painting is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. […]
Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley) was born on September 7, 1936, in Lubbock, Texas. He was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer who was one of the pioneers of Rock and Roll as it emerged in the 1950s. His impact on music and musicians resonates to this day, and those who cite him as […]
West 14th Street has a multi-layered history, preserved in its architecture, which reflects the development of the surrounding area as well as New York City itself. West 14th Street is also a border street, separating Greenwich Village to the south from Chelsea to the north. Save Chelsea’s President Laurence Frommer and I teamed up for […]
West 14th Street has a multilayered history, preserved in its architecture, which reflects the development of the surrounding area as well as New York City itself. West 14th Street is also a border street, separating Greenwich Village to the south from Chelsea to the north. Save Chelsea’s President Laurence Frommer and I teamed up for […]
West 14th Street has a multilayered history preserved in its architecture which reflects the development of the surrounding area as well as New York City itself. West 14th Street is also a border street, separating Greenwich Village to the south from Chelsea to the north. Save Chelsea’s President Laurence Frommer and I teamed up for […]
Greenwich Locksmiths, located in the heart of the Greenwich Village Historic District, is one of our 2018 Village Awardees. Located at 56 Seventh Avenue South for the last several decades, this Village fixture and its owner embody what is truly special about our neighborhood.
There are a number of legendary rock venues in our neighborhood, many an integral part of the 1980s NYC club scene. One of the leading ones was ‘The Ritz,’ located in Webster Hall, designated a New York City landmark in 2008, on East 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. The Ritz opened on May […]
On April 24, 1904, artist and former resident of our neighborhood, Willem de Kooning, was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He would go on to be one of the 20th century’s leading artists within the Abstract Expressionist movement, a key figure in making New York the center of the art world.
Village Preservation shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each of these histories includes the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. Merce Cunningham […]
Victoria Woodhull is perhaps best known (if she is known at all) as the first woman to run for President of the United States, a campaign she first publicly announced on April 2, 1870 with a letter to the New York Herald. In fact, she was so much more. This one-time resident of what we […]
On March 30, 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was certified as duly ratified, prohibiting the denial of citizens the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” by state or federal government. This was of course meant to ensure that African-American men could vote, though that right was […]
On March 26, 1647, Anthony (also referred to as Antony) Congo, a newly manumitted slave of the Dutch West India Company, was granted six acres of land by the Council of New Amsterdam just east of the Bowery. His was one of more than thirty land grants to freed slaves by the Dutch New Amsterdam […]
Delmonico’s, synonymous with elegant dining and fine cuisine in the heart of the Financial District, has enjoyed a long history in New York City. The restaurant was first started by Swiss brothers John and Peter Delmonico (originally Giovanni and Pietro) in 1830 at 25 Williams Street, next to their confectionery at 23 Williams Street. According […]
Continuing our celebration of Women’s History, today we look at a seminal figure not only in women’s history but medical history as well — Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. You may already know that she was the first woman in the United States to receive her medical degree. But did you know that she not only lived […]
Exploring African American history in our neighborhoods, today we look at Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a woman who, in her simple quest to get to her church on East 6th Street sparked one of earliest challenges to institutionalized racial discrimination in public accommodations. In 1854 Graham challenged the segregation of New York City’s trasportation system, about […]
In continuing our celebration of black history, we have a new and exciting entry to our Civil Rights and Social Justice Map: North America’s First Freed Black Settlement. According to historian Christopher Moore, the first legally emancipated community of people of African descent in North America was found in Lower Manhattan, comprising much of present-day […]
To walk by the verdant, lush garden behind the graceful Jefferson Market Library today, one can scarcely imagine that it was once the site of an eleven-story prison, the notorious Women’s House of Detention. Found on our Civil Rights and Social Justice map, this former imposing edifice served as a prison from its opening on […]
A while ago I wrote about a wonderful resource on the GVSHP website, the GVSHP Landmarks Application webpage. This page contains all upcoming, pending and closed applications for alterations, demolitions, and new construction on landmarked sites in our neighborhoods (Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo). It also lets you know how you can weigh […]
In this part of New York, the Stuyvesant name is all around us: Stuyvesant Street, Stuyvesant Town, Stuyvesant Square, the old Stuyvesant Casino (a former East Village jazz club, now the site of the Ukrainian National Home) and, Stuyvesant Polyclinic, just to name a few. Many know that this stems from the Stuyvesant clan being the […]
Nearly all of the East Village falls in line with the Manhattan street grid, dating back to the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. However, one defiant street, only one block long, stands at odds with the grid, Stuyvesant Street. Running true East – West, it was named for Petrus Stuyvesant (1727-1805), the great-grandson of Petrus Stuyvesant […]
On January 4, 2017, GVSHP released its report cataloging for the first time in one place all new buildings approved by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in the Greenwich Village Historic District since its designation in 1969 — click HERE to see the report. It’s been updated since its release and to date, we have […]
“These are the times that try men’s souls…” so says the opening line of the first pamphlet of the series, The American Crisis, written by Thomas Paine, which was published on December 19, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Journal. Paine, an eighteenth-century philosopher and author of the Enlightenment, was known as the ‘Father of the American Revolution,’ in large […]
Many today are too young to remember that the name LaGuardia didn’t always just refer what is frequently called the worst airport in America. Rather, it also referred to a three-term New York City mayor often cited as New York City’s best mayor (and arguably both its first Italian-American and first Jewish mayor), who championed political […]
On December 5, 2012, GVSHP asked the New York State Office of Historic Preservation to find Julius’ Bar (a Village Award winner) eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places based upon research and documentation we provided (click HERE to see the letter), citing its critically important place not just in New York […]
If you look at Astor Place and Cooper Square on a map, it looks as though somebody took a lasso and tied a bunch of streets together. Multiple streets and thoroughfares converge and diverge here, and perhaps because of that, this New York City nexus has a long and varied history. One longtime witness to […]
Last week I took a break from my normal duties as GVSHP’s Director of Research and Preservation and led about forty people on a tour of Bleecker Street as part of the #ShopBleecker initiative of the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce. I confess that I was a bit nervous as this role of tour […]
On November 3, 1916, the Provincetown Players performed their first production in their new home in Greenwich Village. The theater company performed King Arthur’s Socks by Floyd Dell, The Game by Louise Bryant, and Bound East for Cardiff by a young, relatively unknown Eugene O’Neill. Referred to as “the birthplace of modern drama”, the Provincetown Playhouse staged the works […]
We had a promising hearing last Tuesday at the Landmarks Preservation Commission on our proposed landmark designation of 827-831 Broadway, with a vote planned for this coming Tuesday, October 31st. We’re hoping for an outcome that will be more treat than trick (if you want to do more than hope, send a letter here); for good […]
American architect Richard Meier was born on this day in 1934. Over the course of his nearly sixty-year career Meier has designed countless buildings all over the world and received numerous prizes including the Pritzker Prize in Architecture in 1984, the AIA Gold Medal in 1997 and the Architizer Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. Arguably best […]
As a historian and researcher who frequently relies on census data for information, nothing frustrates me more than the fact that nearly all of the 1890 Federal Census records were lost. For those who don’t know the story, the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1921 in the basement of the Department of […]
On this day in 1978, the award-winning television show Taxi aired its first episode. The much-loved pathos-filled comedy set in a New York full of misfits, dreamers, and malcontents largely took place in the garage of the fictional Sunshine Cab Company, shown to be at 534 Hudson Street, at the corner of Charles Street in Greenwich […]
While we all get ready to enjoy the holiday weekend, there is no holiday for preservation! At next Tuesday’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hearing, an exciting application will be presented for 74 East 4th Street, home to former Village Award winner, La Mama Experimental Theater Club. The application for this East Village landmark (both an […]
Madonna Louise Ciccione, known simply as Madonna, was born on this day in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. The singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, film director, author and businesswoman has won more awards and earned more accolades than could possibly be listed here over the course of her thirty five-plus year career. And although she […]
Pulitzer-prize winning American author Alex Haley was born this day, on August 11, 1921. GVSHP’s Civil Rights & Social Justice Map highlights over a hundred sites in our neighborhood associated with civil rights and social justice, including more than twenty sites connected to African-American history and civil rights; click here to see them all. One […]
On July 27, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended that President Richard M. Nixon be impeached and removed from office. And while many remember the two year saga which placed the executive office and country in turmoil, they might not remember that several prominent Villagers were at the forefront of this chapter in our history. […]
We are fortunate enough to live in a neighborhood rich in 19th century architecture — both individual buildings and entire streetscapes. But while well-preserved 19th century buildings are not uncommon in the Village, perfectly preserved 19th century interiors that we can still view, especially from the apex of the Gilded Age, are quite rare. Rarer still […]
In this series, ‘More is More,’ we look at historic district extensions in our area. The Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II was designated June 22, 2010 after a multi-year campaign led by Village Preservation. Although this is an extension of the Greenwich Village Historic District which was designated in 1969, it was also the first phase […]
The thermometer tells us we are definitely in the throes of summer. However, we’re fortunate enough to have a city pool in our midst where you can not only immerse yourself in cool water, but also in a prime example of the 1980’s New York art scene. The Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, formerly known as […]
Deborah Harry, lead singer of the seminal punk and new wave band Blondie, was born July 1, 1945. Both she as an artist and the group Blondie grew out of the ferment of the downtown scene of the Village and East Village in the 1970’s. From modest beginnings, they would go on to leave an […]
The St. Mark’s Historic District Extension was designated 15 years after the St. Mark’s Historic District and only consists of two buildings, 102 and 104 East 10th Street. But they are quite an important pair of buildings, which one might be surprised were not included in the original landmark designation. No. 102 is actually the […]
Gansevoort Market, a giant, open-air farmer’s market located on the enormous block between Gansevoort and Little West 12th streets, Washington and West Streets, officially opened for business on June 15, 1884. This was the former site of Fort Gansevoort, and is now the home of the Gansevoort Market Meat Center and the Whitney Museum. That […]
Two pretty big things, actually, which is surprising, considering one is the funky heart of our nation’s largest city, while the other is a ‘city’ of 36,000 in pretty sparsely-populated northeastern Oklahoma. And we’re betting that depending upon your areas of interest, while you may know one surprising connection between the two places, you probably don’t […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the 2017 Village Awards winners in the lead up to the June 6th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Click here for more information about the event and to RSVP. Read about other awardees here. Dinosaur Hill, an East Village stalwart for over 30 years, is a toy store which features an eclectic and unusual collection […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the 2017 Village Awards winners in the lead up to the June 6th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Click here for more information about the event and to RSVP. Read about other awardees here. B & H Dairy has been a mainstay in the East Village since 1938, located at 127 2nd Avenue. In 2015, B […]
On May 2, 2006, two new historic districts were designated in the Far West Village, the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension and the Weehawken Street Historic District, as part of GVSHP’s on-going campaign since 2001 to secure protections for this historically, architecturally and culturally rich area. The Greenwich Village Historic District Extension was the first-ever […]
Note: This is an updated version of a post originally written by Drew Durniak Map of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click to enlarge. On April 29th, 1969, Mayor John Lindsay was still smarting from the botched cleanup of the February 1969 snowstorm, The 5th Dimension was at the top of the pop charts with […]
On this day in 1954, the West Washington Market, which stood on the west side of West Street at Gansevoort Street for sixty-seven years, was demolished, ending its tenure as the City’s meat, poultry and dairy market center. The Gansevoort Market area was actually home to three distinct markets that existed here at various times […]
On March 3, 1865, The Freedman’s Savings and Trust Company, commonly referred to as The Freedmen’s Bank, was created by the United States Congress to aid freedmen in their transition from slavery to freedom. During the bank’s existence, 37 branches were opened in 17 states and the District of Columbia, making it one of the […]
In this series, ‘More is More,’ we look at historic districts extensions in our area. In the previous posts, we covered the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension and the St. Mark’s Historic District Extension. Today we are going to look at the NoHo Historic District Extension, designated May 13, 2008. Following the designation […]
On this last day of Women’s History Month, we would be remiss if we didn’t salute one of my favorite 20th century female figures, Eleanor Roosevelt. Aside from being First Lady (1933-1945), a political leader, a social reformer, a civil rights activist, a writer, a mother and a UN delegate (1945-1953 & 1961-1962), she was […]
March is Women’s History Month. We here at GVSHP are celebrating by highlighting different sites and locations of significance to Women’s history in the Village. A great source is our recently-released Civil Rights & Social Justice Map, which has more than twenty sites connected to Women’s history and women’s rights; click here to see them all. As […]
On March 6, 2007, three historic structures GVSHP fought to have preserved were designated as New York City landmarks: 159 Charles Street, 354 West 11th Street and 150 Barrow Street, aka the Keller Hotel. These designations represent just part of GVSHP’s ongoing campaign to preserve the Far West Village, which has also resulted in three historic […]
February is Black History Month. We here at GVSHP are celebrating by highlighting different sites and locations of significance to African-American history in the Village. A great source is our recently-released Civil Rights & Social Justice Map, which has more than twenty sites connected to African-American history and civil rights; click here to see them all. One […]
In this series, ‘More is More,’ we look at extensions of historic districts in our area. In the previous post, we covered the designation of the St. Mark’s Historic District Extension. Today we are going to look at the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension, designated in 2006. This was the first-ever expansion of the Greenwich Village […]
Ten years ago today, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held hearings on three Federal-era (1790-1835) houses GVSHP had proposed for landmark designation — 94, 94 1/2, and 96 Greenwich Street, located just below Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. These houses were built in 1798, making them among the oldest extant structures in Manhattan. That same […]
In this series, ‘More is More,’ we will look at extensions of historic districts in our area. Extensions to historic districts are just what they sound like — additions to previously-designated historic districts that abut the original district and are determined to share not just geography but architectural and/or historic significance. Why such areas are […]
Politician, feminist and Villager Bella Abzug is featured in our Civil Rights Map. An outspoken advocate to the Equal Rights Amendment and co-founder or the organization Women Strike for Peace, she was also one of the first members of Congress to support lesbian and gay rights. Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, […]
GVSHP’s recently published Greenwich Village Historic District New Buildings Report for the first time catalogues every new building approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in the Greenwich Village Historic District, our city’s largest and one of its oldest historic districts. That’s got us thinking a lot about this set of buildings, and what we can learn […]
Off the Grid has previously taken a look at African American history in the South Village, which was home to almost a quarter of the city’s African-American population during the mid-19th century and known as “Little Africa.” The newly designated Sullivan-Thompson Historic District included part of “Little Africa,” and in looking at the recently published designation report for […]
The recently landmarked Sullivan-Thompson Historic District is one of the first historic districts in New York City so designated almost exclusively based upon its immigrant history and working-class architecture. As stated by the LPC research staff in their presentation before the Commissioners’ vote, “The architecture in the proposed district reflects the waves of immigration that […]
Christmas is coming early this year! We have been told by the Landmarks Preservation Commission that the designation report for the newly landmarked Sullivan-Thompson historic district, aka phase III of our original South Village proposal, will be published today. Perhaps appropriately, it is scheduled to be released almost exactly three years after the designation of […]
As mentioned in the GVSHP testimony at the designation hearing for the Sullivan-Thompson historic district, the majority of the historic fabric in this district is its tenements. Here is a laboratory and cross-section of tenement types which served as the homes for much of NYC’s African American community in the 19th century as well as many […]
Neighbors, elected officials and fellow preservation groups turned out in droves yesterday at LPC with GVSHP to speak in favor of the designation of the Sullivan-Thompson historic district, the third and final phase of GVSHP’s original South Village proposal submitted to LPC ten years ago. This proposed district is made up of roughly ten blocks […]
On Monday morning, I was walking up the subway stairs at Union Square thinking, “what am I going to write about for Off the Grid this week?” As I came around the corner, lo and behold the idea presented itself. I found thousands of multi-colored Post-It notes adorning the long, white tile wall at the Union […]
We here at GVSHP work hard to honor, celebrate, and perhaps most importantly learn from our history. There were uplifting triumphs and disappointing setbacks, incredible progress and devastating losses, tremendous innovations and inexplicable reversals. This may be more important to remember today than ever. We now have a new tool as we seek to […]
The newly calendared Sullivan-Thompson Historic District contains some of the oldest and most historically significant buildings in the South Village, including St. Anthony of Padua, the oldest extant Italian-American Church in the country, 57 Sullivan Street, built in 1817 and the oldest extant house in the South Village, and a unique set of early reform housing/model […]
The following was originally posted by Drew Durniak. It showcases one of the South Village’s most significant and historic presences both architecturally and culturally, St. Anthony of Padua. It is located at the corner of West Houston and Sullivan Streets at the north end of the third phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village historic district. […]
Two and a half years after the designation of the South Village Historic District, the official brown terra cotta signs are now appearing identifying the streets included in the landmark district. This district is part of the original proposal for South Village designation submitted to LPC by GVHSP in 2006. To date, the City […]
A significant chapter in the Village’s extensive theater history belongs to The Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Founded in 1967 by dramatist, actor and agent provocateur Charles Ludlam, the Ridiculous Theatrical Company (RTC) was part of the theatrical genre, the Theater of the Ridiculous. This was an American movement that started in 1965 with its beginnings in […]
You may have Vice-Presidents on the brain in anticipation of the upcoming Vice Presidential debate. To help, we thought we would take this opportunity to look at two past United States Vice Presidents with close ties to the Village — Aaron Burr and Theodore Roosevelt.
On October 1, 2010, the New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) agreed to GVSHP’s request to find 326 and 328 East 4th Street eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. According to the significance statement issued by the NYSHPO, “the two adjacent three story, brick houses at 326 and 328 East […]
Tucked away on East 7th Street between Avenues C and D is the former Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Anshe Ungarn. This small synagogue, designed in the classical revival style, is set amidst Old and New Law tenements. It’s a small but striking reminder of a time when New York was home to the second largest Jewish community […]
The following post was originally written over five years ago as part of a series on East 7th Street. This post described the history of the stretch of East 7th Street between Avenues C and D when it was known as Political Row. It was given this name during the 19th century when it was […]
Recently we have been running a series in Off the Grid on the Village as the birthplace of modern drama. NoHo has its own history with drama, and as it turns out, it’s a violent one. In 1849 the Astor Place Riot took place in front of what is today 21 Astor Place, then the […]
Occasionally in the course of my research of buildings in our area, I come across a familiar name. Last week exactly that happened. In looking into the history of 35 East 9th Street, I found that it had a famous resident at one time, Hugh Ferriss. For those who aren’t familiar with the name, you […]
As both we and the media have recently reported, two months ago GVSHP requested the landmark designation of a potential historic district on East 11th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. GVSHP was aware that a developer was planning to move ahead with plans to demolish a significant stretch of this block, which we had long […]
Greenwich Village is not the only part of the City which defies the New York City grid. NoHo also challenges the regularity of the 200+ year old grid with what I like to call Gridus Interruptus (its Latin, sort of). Each of its streets has its own story but today we will look at NoHo’s “newest” […]
Last Tuesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) handed preservationists what may seem like a small victory, but was nevertheless an important one. The LPC denied an application to remove a 1930 studio window from 246 West 11th Street, an 1842 Greek Revival row house in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The applicant proposed to replace it with a […]
Part of my job at GVSHP as the Director of Research and Preservation is to review all certificate of appropriateness applications for proposed changes to the landmarked buildings in our area (click HERE for the GVSHP Landmarks webpage). Consequently, I am presented with a continuous stream of architectural resources that vary in type, style and […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo offer a vast array of architectural styles that span their long histories. Through this series “What Style Is It?” we will explore the architecture of our area and look at the various architectural styles and their features. So far we have looked at the Federal style, Greek Revival and some […]
This past Wednesday marks six years since the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II (click HERE for the designation report),which was Phase I of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District from 2006. This 235-building, 12 block designation was at the time the largest expansion of landmark protections in Greenwich Village since 1969. […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo offer a vast array of architectural styles that span their long histories. Through this series “What Style Is It?” we will explore the architecture of our area and look at the various architectural styles and their features. So far we have looked at the Federal style, Greek Revival and […]
Off the Grid is highlighting the 2016 Village Awards winners in the lead up to the June 14th Annual Meeting & Award Ceremony. Click here for more information about the event and to RSVP. Read about other awardees here. The East Village Meat Market was opened in 1970 by Julian Baczynsky as a meat market but quickly morphed into an […]
Note: This is an updated version of a post originally written by Amanda Davis Two recent Landmarks applications at Jane Street (11 Jane and 85-89 Jane) have garnered a lot of public interest and therefore involvement in the process of the certificate of appropriateness permits for landmarked properties. To that end, we thought we would […]
Julia Ward Howe was a true 19th century Renaissance woman. In addition to being a serious scholar of philosophy and fluent in seven languages, she was a social reformer, writer, abolitionist, suffragette, and one of the early founders of Mother’s Day. Author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” this one-time Bond Street resident did […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo offer a vast array of architectural styles that span their long histories. Through this series “What Style Is It?” we will explore the architecture of our area and look at the various architectural styles and their features. So far we have looked at the Federal style and Greek Revival. […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo offer a vast array of architectural styles that span their long histories. The Greek Revival style, which dominated these neighborhoods for much of the 1830s and 40s, and of which ample examples survive today, was in many ways inspired by an event which took place on March 25, […]
Its been almost two years since the Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel announced the LGBTQ Heritage Initiative by the National Park Service (NPS) outside the Stonewall Inn. As part of this initiative, a theme study was undertaken to identify significant places and events associated with LGBTQ Americans for the inclusion in the parks and programs […]
April 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 significant moment in New York City housing history resulted from intense pressure by housing reform groups, leading to Governor Theodore Roosevelt appointing a commission to […]
