Valerio Orselli
Orselli immigrated from Italy to Brazil in 1954, and to New York in 1960. He has been a passionate advocate for affordable housing for almost 50 years, especially in the … Continued
Full TranscriptVillage Preservation Oral History Collection
Village Preservation’s Oral History Project includes interviews with some of the great artists, activists, business owners, community leaders, and preservation pioneers of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. It captures and preserves their first-person perspective on the important histories they witnessed or of which they were a part.
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Fred Bass
Bass (1928-2018) joined the family business, the Strand Bookstore, at the age of 13 when it was located on 4th Avenue. In 1956 he took over the business, and in … Continued
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Tod Williams
Architect Tod Williams worked with Richard Meier during the conversion of Westbeth from an industrial building to artist’s housing in the late 1960s and early 70s. He, along with this … Continued
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Peter Ruta
A renowned painter who focused on views of Lower Manhattan, Ruta painted for nearly seventy years and had lived in Westbeth since its opening in 1970 when he passed away … Continued
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Richard Meier
Architect Richard Meier was commissioned in 1967 to renovate the former Bell Laboratories in Greenwich Village into the affordable artist’s housing Westbeth.
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Joan Davidson
Daughter of J.M. Kaplan and a member of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, Joan Davidson coordinated the founding of the Westbeth Project, an artist’s residence in the West Village.
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Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham (1919 -2009) was an American dancer, choreographer and leader of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, located since 1971 at Westbeth in the West Village.
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Peter Cott
Peter Cott served as the Executive Director of the artist’s community Westbeth from 1970 to 1973.
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George Cominskie
Since 1983, Cominskie has lived in Westbeth, a nonprofit housing and commercial complex dedicated to providing affordable living and working space for artists and arts organizations, located in the old … Continued
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Ana Steele Clark
Ana Steele Clark worked at The National Endowment for the Arts for over thirty years, serving the organization from soon after its 1965 founding. Her oral history focuses on the … Continued
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Dixon Bain
Dixon Bain served as the project manager for planning and construction of Westbeth Artist’s Residence in the West Village from 1967-1971.
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Matt Umanov
Umanov is the founder and proprietor of Matt Umanov Guitars, located at 273 Bleecker Street. Since 1965, Matt Umanov Guitars has been buying, selling, and repairing vintage guitars, and has … Continued
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