Victory! After Four-Year Campaign, 50 West 13th Street Wins Landmark Designation!
Following a four-year campaign led by Village Preservation, this morning the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to landmark 50 West 13th Street, the endangered 1846 house we’ve been fighting to save through landmark designation since 2020! In its designation, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission dubbed the building “The Jacob Day Residence,” recognizing the nearly forgotten Black civil rights pioneer who owned the house and lived here from 1858 to 1884, which Village Preservation’s research originally brought to the Commission’s attention, and was the basis of our campaign for landmark designation (see also here).
“We are thrilled that after a four-year effort, this endangered and fragile historic site, so rich in Black history, women’s suffrage history, and theater history, is finally landmarked,” said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation. “Watching conditions at the building deteriorate for years, and the owner purposely strip historic 19th-century architectural features while the city refused to act, has been painful. We’re hopeful that landmark designation will stem the tide of deterioration at the building, and 50 West 13th Street will ultimately be restored to the condition it deserves. The house’s designation provides long-overdue recognition to Jacob Day’s inspiring work in the 19th century to abolish slavery and achieve equality for Black New Yorkers, Sarah Smith Garnet’s work in the 19th century to fight racism and advance women’s suffrage, and to 13th Street Repertory owner Edith O’Hara’s work in the 20th century to provide a platform for creative expression that eschewed the mainstream and transformed theater,” Berman added.
Village Preservation proposed and fought for landmark designation of the historic house following the death of longtime co-owner Edith O’Hara in 2020, which left the fate of the iconic structure in doubt. Our research and documentation submitted to the LPC showed not only the building’s exceptional significance to theatrical history in New York, as the longtime home of one of New York’s oldest and most important Off-Off-Broadway Theaters, but to civil rights and women’s suffrage history. As documented by our research, noted suffragist, educator, and civil rights leader Sarah Smith Tompkins Garnet lived here for at least eight years, from 1866 to 1874, during a critical period of her life. From 1858 to 1884, leading 19th-century Black businessman Jacob Day lived and ran his business here and owned the home, when Greenwich Village was the center of African American life in New York and the home of its largest Black population. Day was a leading crusader for abolition and for equal voting rights for Black New Yorkers, as well as a leading supporter of institutions like the Abyssinian Baptist Church, then located in Greenwich Village. One of the city’s most successful Black businessmen and leading citizens, Day was suspected of supporting the activities of the Underground Railroad, including at this location.
Since the landmarking campaign began in 2020, the owner has left the building empty and to rot, with noticeable signs of decay and extensive graffiti, and destroyed a rare, distinctive, elaborately detailed ironwork doorway surround that has been part of the building since the 19th century. The LPC held a hearing on landmarking the historic structure on September 10, at which Village Preservation called upon the Commission to act swiftly to designate the building rather than allow further deterioration and destruction to take place.
Village Preservation generated thousands of letters of support for landmark designation from New Yorkers and those interested in preserving Black, women’s, and theater history across the country, as well as elected officials and preservation organizations (see “Letters & Docs” here). We extend our deep gratitude to all who supported this effort and made this designation possible!
No. 50 West 13th Street is one of more than 1,250 buildings in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo for which Village Preservation has successfully advocated for landmark designation. We’ve made a special effort to document and preserve sites connected to civil rights, social justice, immigrant, and artistic history. These have included landmark designation of the Stonewall Inn (NYC’s and the country’s first officially recognized LGBTQ+ historic site) as well as Julius’ Bar, the Pyramid Club, and other LGBTQ historic landmarks; 70 Fifth Avenue, the longtime headquarters of the NAACP; the homes and studios of artists Frank Stella and Willem de Kooning (each saved from the wrecking ball); and the city’s first historic districts based on immigrant history.
Village Preservation continues to wage campaigns to seek landmark designation for the NYC Woman’s Suffrage League Headquarters at 10 East 14th Street as part of our proposed South of Union Square Historic District; the endangered Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 229 West 14th Street, New York’s very first Spanish-language church; the endangered New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, one of the first medical institutions dedicated to helping people with hearing and vision disabilities, at 13th Street and Second Avenue; and the former home of revered Black literary figure Steve Cannon and his “Gathering of the Tribes” organization at 285-287 East 3rd Street.