It’s up! Village Preservation and The New School have installed a special installation celebrating the centennial of the birth of renowned writer and activist James Baldwin (August 2, 1924–December 1, 1987). This large-scale commemorative display will be showcased in the window at 70 Fifth Avenue (13th Street) through February 1, 2025 — come take a look!

The installation, designed by Penny Hardy of PSNewYork and commissioned by Village Preservation, features a dynamic graphic and interactive components that invite viewers to engage with Baldwin’s work and ideas, encouraging dialogue around his relevance in today’s societal context. The public can scan the embedded code in the graphic to activate the interactive elements.

Village Preservation has previously celebrated Baldwin’s life, legacy, and connection to Greenwich Village with the installation of a memorial plaque marking his former home at 81 Horatio Street, and with its interactive VILLAGE VOICE multimedia art installation. Village Preservation had worked in partnership with The New School to honor the history of 70 Fifth Avenue as a place of enormous significance to Black and civil rights history as the former headquarters of the NAACP, the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, and home of The Crisis Magazine, W.E.B. DuBois’ trailblazing publication and the first magazine in America for Black readers. This included securing landmark designation for the building in 2021, and installing a plaque commemorating its history in 2022.