Did you know that Village Preservation members receive advance notice of many of our public programs? Our tours and other programs sometimes offer limited capacity, and often fill up quickly. By becoming a member, you can take advantage of that advanced notice and register before the general public. Find out how to become a member here.

For information about our past programs, including lecture recordings, click here.

Village Preservation is looking for your feedback! Click here to take our five- to 10-minute program survey. Scroll to the bottom of this post for more information. Thank you!

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On the Edge of Water and Change: An Exploration of John T. Krawchuk’s Photography of the West Village Waterfront in the Early 1990s

Join us for a special evening with John T. Krawchuk as we explore the West Village waterfront on the brink of radical change and redevelopment in the early 1990s. Krawchuk is a registered landscape architect and practicing historic preservationist in NYC for over 30 years and has been a resident of the West Village since 2005. He served as the Director of Historic Preservation for NYC Parks from 2002 to 2016 and as the Executive Director of the Historic House Trust of NYC until 2022.

As part of his 1995 Columbia University graduate thesis in Historic Preservation, Krawchuk photo-documented the Meatpacking District, Far West Village, and Hudson River. His thesis, “On Edge: The West Village Waterfront,” along with the earlier work of Regina Kellerman, helped document and highlight the architecture and history of the waterfront blocks initially left out of the 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District. Their work helped contribute to renewed interest in these historic yet undervalued and undesignated blocks, resulting in the establishment of the Gansevoort Market Historic District in 2003 and expanded landmark protections in other parts of the Far West Village in the decade that followed.

Krawchuk will be joined in conversation with Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman and Director of Preservation and Research Dena Tasse-Winter to help further highlight changes in this unique part of our neighborhood at a critical turning point in its history. 

Krawchuk’s photographs are now part of Village Preservation’s Historic Image Archive and can be seen online as the John T. Krawchuk Collection: The West Village Waterfront in the Early 1990s.

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Members-Only Holiday Party

Come celebrate this festive season and Fifth Avenue’s 200th anniversary with Village Preservation in the parlor of the historic Salmagundi Club. Enjoy the sounds from the golden age of American jazz and vintage-inspired originals from The Buck and Quarter Quartet and the beautiful interior of this 1854 Fifth Avenue mansion!

Members of Village Preservation at the “Sponsor” level and above (and invited guests) join us to enjoy a drink, some light fare, and good company. Please indicate if you plan to bring a guest and provide their information at the time of registration. We very much hope to see you there to help celebrate your incredible support in 2024 and to look forward to an exciting new year. Thank you for your continued generous support of Village Preservation!

Please note: Registration is NOT confirmed until you receive a personalized email from our Programming Team. We will check your membership status prior to sending your personalized registration confirmation.

This event is not fully accessible. There are 10 stairs up to the front door.

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Second Annual Sullivan-Thompson Historic District Holiday Shop and Stroll

Join us in celebrating South Village Month by coming down to the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District for some holiday shopping! Take a stroll among the district’s many wonderful independent stores and businesses while enjoying the festive decor. Several shops will be offering treats, prizes, or discounts for those who sign up. A full list of participating businesses will be available soon! Pre-register now!

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50 Years of Bimbo Rivas’ “Loisaida”

Co-sponsored by The Loisaida Center

Bimbo Rivas was a celebrated Puerto Rican artist and activist who lived and made his mark on the Lower East Side. He played a key role in the Nuyorican arts and cultural movement, and authored the poem “Loisaida,” which popularized the term and reinforced a sense of cultural identity in the neighborhood. To mark the 50th anniversary of that poem’s publication, this event will celebrate Bimbo’s life, work, and legacy. 

The program will features a live performance of the poem by one of his daughters, with live music by one of Bimbo’s mentees, Daso, and a photo montage by the great East Village photographer Marlis Momber. This performance will be followed by an overview of life in the neighborhood at the time of the poem’s publication, a discussion of Bimbo’s various artistic efforts, and an assessment of his influence on the Nuyorican Movement. Participants will include some of Bimbo’s relatives, friends, and colleagues, as well as artists who followed in his wake. 

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Becoming Fifth Avenue: A Bicentennial Celebration of Architectural History Along One of NYC’s Most Notable Streets

Join Village Preservation’s research team on an illuminating journey as they uncover 200 years of architectural history.

On November 1, 1824, Fifth Avenue was born. At the time, the first portion of the avenue, extending from Washington Square North (then “Art Street”) to 13th Street, was nothing more than a country road, surrounded by farmland. But a mere quarter century later, Fifth Avenue was already transforming into one of New York City’s grandest thoroughfares, lined by opulent mansions for some of the city’s wealthiest inhabitants. While most of those original homes have since been demolished in favor of towering 20th-century hotels and apartment buildings, a select few remain in place to this day.

Join Village Preseration’s research team, Dena Tasse-Winter and Chloe Gregoire, in discussion as they explore how they uncovered the history of every single building to ever be constructed along lower Fifth Avenue. They’ll reveal just how many of the avenue’s current buildings have been in place since the beginning, and which others are only the second generation of structures to be constructed there (almost all of them!).

Dena and Chloe will take us on a virtual tour through the history and evolution of the avenue, its people, and its architecture, showing how it became the centerpiece of Greenwich Village, and of New York City. You can preview some of this compelling history via Village Preservation’s Fifth Avenue Storymap.

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A Mile South of Washington Square: The Church of the Most Precious Blood, 1892-present

Join us in celebrating the immigrant history of the South Village with a special talk by Mary Elizabeth Brown, the Center for Migration Studies’ archivist, on her new book, The Art of Immigration: Italian Art in an American Church.

In this illustrated Zoom presentation we’ll explore the artistic legacy of Church of the Most Precious Blood at 113 Baxter Street and its impact on the surrounding Italian immigrant community. It is one of the few churches with an interior almost completely preserved from the early 20th century, with Sicilian marble altar furnishings, statues dating back to the earliest Italian immigrant communities, and a complete suite of murals by Italian immigrant artist Donatus Buongiorno.

Comprehensive detective work reveals an intricate, interwoven community of multiple generations at Most Precious Blood. New immigrants established neighborhood businesses in the shadow of the church and preserved their families’ stories in Most Precious Blood’s decorations, which came from other immigrants in the community. Learn more about this often overlooked landmark of immigrant history and how it relates to our own Italian immigrant history in the Village.

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Village Preservation Programming Survey

As valued members of our community, we want to hear from YOU! What kinds of programming would you like to see from Village Preservation in the future?

This year, we have offered over 75 programs, almost all of which are free and open to the public. Our programming, which explores the rich history and culture of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, has served over 4,000 people in the past year alone.

As we look forward to 2025, we want to hear from you! 

Our survey provides opportunities to give feedback on past programs and offer general and specific ideas for the future; What kinds of programming do you like best? Is there a certain neighborhood-related topic you want to know more about? A speaker you’ve been eager to hear from? A museum or exhibit that you want a private tour of?

Now is the time to let us know!

This survey should take approximately five to 10 minutes. We appreciate you letting us know who you are, and the data we collect will be used for this research purpose only. Your feedback is crucial to improving our programs, and we thank you for your time.

Please email rsvp@villagepreservation.org with any questions.