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Press Conference to Save 186 Spring Street: Press Release and pictures
…of one of the trailblazing residents of 186 Spring Street. “186 Spring Street is more than brick and mortar; it is a living testament to the heart and soul of…
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A Call for Consistency: LPC and 186 Spring Street
…hearing on 186 Spring Street. I find the letter to be puzzling and hope that you will reconsider your decision. If the issue regarding the designation of 186 Spring Street…
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LGBT History and 186 Spring Street
In light of demolition plans that GVSHP uncovered for the Federal row house at 186 Spring Street, we recently discovered an incredible bit of history about the building. If surviving…
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182-186 Spring Street
…significantly altered two-story commercial building and construct a new building at 182 & 186 Spring St., and a portion of the rear of 185 Spring St. 2) View the application: 2/14/2023:…
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186 Spring Street
186 Spring Street Read Blog Posts about 186 Spring Street LGBTQ Sites South Village This nearly 200-year-old house became a ‘gay commune’ in the early 1970s, in which some of…
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Revealing LGBTQ+ History on Spring Street
…a years-long campaign by Village Preservation. 186 Spring Street Though now also situated within the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District, this lot to the east of 190 Spring Street unfortunately suffered a…
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Historic Senate Vote Had Roots in Village House
…see more at http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/186_spring/186-spring-08-23-12.htm. While the LGBT rights movement has made tremendous progress in the decades since 186 Spring Street was a nexus of such groundbreaking activity, the history and…
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Historic Court Decision Had Roots in Village House
…Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club is named in his honor. Press conference in 2012 seeking to save 186 Spring Street — see more at http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/186_spring/186-spring-08-23-12.htm. While the LGBT rights movement…
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Landmarks Preservation Commission Celebrates Gay Pride, Doesn’t Designate Gay Landmarks
…Rally to save 186 Spring Street. In fact, the LPC has a rather poor record when it comes to landmarking sites whose primary significance is LGBT history. In truth, the…
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Today in 1860: Lincoln and the Village
…Lincoln Portrait, 1860 (courtesy of the Library of Congress). Below: Mathew Brady, 1865 (courtesy of NYU’s Archives and Public History website) The portrait of Lincoln served a key role in…
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The 1863 Draft Riots and Abigail Hopper Gibbons
Abigail Hopper Gibbons, whose family’s home at 339 West 29th Street was attacked during the 1863 Draft Riots. As Off the Grid chronicled last year, today is the anniversary of…
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Celebrating Black History Month You Are Here – A Walking Tour of the Geographical History of Enslaved and Free Africans in Manhattan 1613 – 1865
Celebrating Black History Month You Are Here – A Walking Tour of the Geographical History of Enslaved and Free Africans in Manhattan 1613 – 1865 SOLD OUT — You can…
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You Are Here –
Lecture on the Geographical History of Enslaved and Free Africans in Manhattan 1613 – 1865
Celebrating Black History Month
Celebrating Black History Month You Are Here – Lecture on the Geographical History of Enslaved and Free Africans in Manhattan 1613 – 1865 Join author, tour guide, and native New…
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827-831 Broadway, Threatened 1866 Lofts Once Home to de Kooning, Landmarked! Year and a Half Campaign Saves Historic Structures from Wrecking Ball and Planned Replacement with 300 ft. Tall Tower Owner Opposed Designation, Threatened Lawsuit
…ft. tall office tower. Landmark designation takes immediate effect! These 1866 lofts were once home to Willem de Kooning and a vast array of influential art world figures, and were connected to…
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BREAKING: CITY MOVES TO LANDMARK ENDANGERED 1866 CAST-IRON BUILDINGS AT 827-831 BROADWAY WHICH GVSHP FOUGHT TO SAVE!
…by GVSHP, the City has decided to calendar (i.e. begin the formal process of considering for landmark designation) 827-831 Broadway! These two 1866 cast-iron buildings originally housed and were built…
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Black History in Greenwich Village: Session 1 – The Geography and History of Early Manhattan 1600 – 1860
Black History in Greenwich Village: Session 1 – The Geography and History of Early Manhattan 1600 – 1860 Join Village Preservation for the kick-off of our new Black History in…
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LGBT History: Not Just West Village Bars
…they were targeted by an arson fire and subsequently were forced to cut back on functions. They officially disbanded in 1981. 186 Spring Street Residence 186…
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Where Once There Was History, A Hole in the Ground
…Spring Street, between Thompson and Sullivan Streets, in the South Village. Like the nearby 54 MacDougal Street, 186 Spring Street had some interesting recent pop cultural history — for many…
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LPC Application
186 Sullivan Street
APPROVED 05/07/2019 CB2 hearing: 04/11/2019 LPC hearing: 05/07/2019 MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District Between Bleecker Street and West Houston Street —- APPLICATION INFORMATION —- 1) From the CB2 agenda: Application is…
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Walking Tour: Reinventing the Bond Street Neighborhood, 1865-1900
Co-Sponsored by Merchant’s House Museum. In the first half of the 19th century, the “Bond Street” area was a fashionable exclave for wealthy merchant families like the Tredwells. As commercial…
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Campaign Update
FIGHT TO SAVE 1866 CAST-IRON BUILDINGS HEATS UP, WITH NY TIMES OP-ED and POSITIVE SIGNS ON POTENTIAL LANDMARKING FOR FORMER DE KOONING HOME
(l. to r.) 47 E. 12th Street and 827 and 831 Broadway. For well over a year, GVSHP has been fighting to save the beautiful, century-and-a-half old cast-iron and masonry…
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186 Sullivan Street
APPROVED with modifications 06/09/2020 CB2 hearing: 04/22/2020 – laid over CB2 hearing: 05/14/2020 – see webinar registration link below LPC hearing: 06/09/2020 – see link below for instructions for Public…
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186-192 West 4th Street
APPROVED on 03/02/2010 Greenwich Village Historic District Between Barrow & Jones Streets Application: A store and loft building designed by Charles Rentz and built in 1897 and enlarged several times between…
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Walking Tour: Reinventing the Bond Street Neighborhood, 1865-1900
Co-Sponsored by Merchant’s House Museum. Created and led by museum docent Michelle Barshay Join us for a captivating journey to discover the pivotal changes that shaped the “Bond Street area,”…
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Documenting the Fight
Jim Owles, a resident of 186 Spring Street was the first openly-gay candidate for public office in New York City, here in front of a campaign banner in 1973. Image…
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Dr. Bruce Voeller: Gay Rights and Public Health Pioneer
…their home in the 1970s and early 1980s at 186 Spring Street, in what Kantrowitz described as a “gay commune” (a building which Village Preservation sought to save from demolition…
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Neighborhood History
…discrimination. 186 Spring Street This nearly 200 year old house became a ‘gay commune’ in the early 1970s, in which some of the most important and influential activist figures of…
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The Mexican First Lady and a Jewish Anarcho-Feminist Walk Into An East Village Tenement…
…Mexican congress from 1864 to 1867. It was at this time, in 1864, that Juarez’s wife also fled Mexico, and came to live in the United States during the remainder…
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Lincoln and Memorial Day
…American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Greenwich Village witnessed memorable moments from the Civil War years including the Great Union Meeting in Union Square on April 20, 1861, the…
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LGBT History in All Corners: the South Village
…They officially disbanded in 1981. 186 Spring Street Residence !86 Spring Street. In the era immediately following the Stonewall riots, 186 Spring Street was home to a number of important…
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Accomplishments
…Julius’ Bar in the West Village, and 186 Spring Street in the South Village. The New School’s new main building topped out at 14th Street and 5th Avenue at roughly…
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#SouthOfUnionSquare: 813 Broadway and the Report of the Citizens’ Association of New York Upon the Sanitary Conditions of the City
…a Citizens’ Association Report, 1868 Cover of the Report of the Citizens’ Association of New York Upon the Sanitary Conditions of the City of New York, 1865. The Association was…
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Solving Mysteries in Historic Photos
…the Union but before Iowa did, and from July 1863 to July 1865, when there were 35 states and stars after West Virginia broke away from Virginia during the Civil…
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Underground Railroad Church Once Located in Greenwich Village Led Abolitionist Cause
…consistently found new ways to fight the system of slavery and support the city’s black communities. During the Draft Riots of 1863, the church’s fourth minister, the avid abolitionist, educator,…
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A First for Recognizing LGBT History in the South Village
…meriting landmark designation. 186 Spring Street As GVSHP members and readers of Off the Grid know, we have not been sparing in our criticisms of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission…
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A Preservation Agenda For Landmarking’s 50th Birthday
…hands, as the case potentially carries tremendous precedence in terms of how public land must be treated and protected. 200 year old house at 186 Spring Street; the city refused…
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History Repeats Itself – Significant Site in South Village to be Demolished
…entire building. Provincetown Playhouse after demolition Today, almost three years later yet another site in the South Village is threatened with demolition, 186 Spring Street, which you can read about…
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Gay Activist Alliance Headquarters Bombed
…organizing around lesbian and gay rights. Just a few blocks away stood 186 Spring Street, an 1824 rowhouse which housed a “gay commune” of sorts where many important figures of…
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The Fight to Recognize LGBT Civil Rights History in Our Neighborhoods
…at all. Two examples: the post-Stonewall center of LGBT and AIDS activism 186 Spring Street and the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments at 133-139 MacDougal Street (which were of course significant…
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Thaddeus Hyatt: Trailblazing Greenwich Village Abolitionist and Inventor
…for him. Brown Brothers #4, 21″ Hyatt Light ca.1860. Thaddeus Hyatt’s patent basement extension, 1867. Advertisement for Hyatt’s Vault Lights circa 1880. Through his work with the National Kansas Committee, Hyatt became a…
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From the Archives … The Old Pear Tree
…first set were printed from 1841/2 to 1866, until David Valentine’s death, and again from 1868-1870 under successive City clerks. The second series were printed by Henry Collins Brown, founder…
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14 historic sites of the abolitionist movement in Greenwich Village
…were opened in 17 states and the District of Columbia. On August 13, 1866, a New York branch opened at 142 Bleecker Street (at LaGuardia Place). By October 1869, the…
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Hudson Square Rezoning and the South Village
…186 Spring Street, all have been destroyed in recent years due to lack of landmark protections. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a broad array of community and…
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Organizing for Irish Independence #SouthOfUnionSquare
…Griffith Thomas. The building was known as Fenian Hall beginning in 1865, when the Irish-American Fenian Brotherhood located here. From this spot, they organized around the cause of Irish independence….
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The Gilded Village: Shopping in the Neighborhood #SouthOfUnionSquare
…the 1830s to the late 1860s, this area, along with the areas around Washington, Union, Stuyvesant, and Gramercy Squares (the area South of Union Square basically fell between Washington and…
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Celebrating Flag Day!
…our neighborhood, city, and country’s history: 1863-1865 The flag in this image of Bleecker and Carmine Street actually helped us solve the mystery of when and where this picture was…
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East Village vs. West — Which Is Really the Narrowest House in NYC?
…obvious now, the two buildings were built together between 1863 and 1865 and were once identical houses. No. 41 likely looked much like its neighbor to the west, with Second Empire…
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East Village vs. West — Which Is Really the Narrowest House in NYC?
…St. Mark’s Place. Though it might not be obvious now, the two buildings were built together between 1863 and 1865 and were once identical houses. No. 41 likely looked much like…
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On This Day: New York City Draft Riots
Draft rioters clash with military troops on First Avenue between 11 and 14 Streets. On July 13, 1863 began several days of violence in New York City known as the…
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More Evidence of Historic Cemetery Under Endangered Church
…be the western wall of the long-vanished cemetery. The same wall, from the 11th Street side. The rears of the 1st Avenue buildings, built in 1867, are behind. While we…
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May 30th – the original Memorial Day
…1868, to honor those who died in the Civil War. Flowers were placed on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1873, New York…
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Standing the Test of Time: Father’s Heart Church
…of spirituality and service has been consistent through the years. The Father’s Heart Church was constructed between 1867 and 1868 as the Methodist Episcopal Chapel by the New York City…
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East Village vs. West — Which is Really the Narrowest House in NYC?
…it might not be obvious now, the two buildings were built together between 1863 and 1865 and were once identical houses. No. 41 likely looked much like its neighbor to…
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Village Firehouses Past and Present
…built in 1852, before there even was an organized Fire Department of New York. On July 31, 1865, the city created the Metropolitan Fire Department (MFD) and opened its first…
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Beyond the Village and Back: NY Foundling Hospital
…1869 to save the lives of babies being abandoned on the streets of New York, the Foundling currently serves over 30,000 people each year in New York City, Rockland County,…
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The Animal Rights Movement’s Origins (and still-visible legacy) in Greenwich Village
On the 19th of April in 1860, the New York state legislature passed a bill punishing an act, or omission of an act, that caused pain to animals “unjustifiably.” It…
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The Animal Rights Movement’s Origins (and still-visible legacy) in Greenwich Village
On the 19th of April in 1860, the New York state legislature passed a bill punishing an act, or omission of an act, that caused pain to animals “unjustifiably.” It…
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June is Gay Pride Month
…Remember the Losses: In our recent past we’ve lost people and places we should never forget. Read more about 186 Spring Street, a nearly 200 year old house the City…
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Thirteen Years Ago, An Idea: Landmark the South Village
…such as the Provincetown Playhouse and 186 Spring Street, were lost, and many non-contextual buildings replaced historic buildings such as the Sullivan Street Playhouse. Fortunately, we were able to stop further destruction by…
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“Rare Cancer Seen In 41 Homosexuals”
…the AIDS epidemic was the house at 186 Spring Street where Dr. Bruce Voeller lived. Voeller, who specialized in sexual health and research, got the name of the disease changed…
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South Village at Stake in Hudson Square Rezoning Vote
…ahead with full landmarking of the proposed South Village Historic District. 9 Minetta Street The Provincetown Playhouse & Apartments 186 Spring Street Sullivan Street Playhouse Tunnel Garage …
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Hudson Square Rezoning and the South Village
…the historic buildings have already been lost to development, such as the Tunnel Garage and 186 Spring Street. This area contains historically significant buildings including St. Anthony of Padua, the oldest extant Italian-American Church…
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Stonewall Inn: State and National Register Pioneer
…Oscar Wilde Bookshop, St. Vincent’s Hospital, and 186 Spring Street, and are fighting hard to preserve what is left! See a list of important LGBT sites here or the map below….
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Saving the South Village — ‘Seven to Save’
…of the historic buildings have already been lost to development, such as the Tunnel Garage and 186 Spring Street. This area contains historically significant buildings including St. Anthony of Padua Church, the oldest extant…
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The Legacy of the Stonewall Riots
…We have lost many historic historic sites that played important roles in LGBT history, including the Oscar Wilde Bookshop, St. Vincent’s Hospital, and 186 Spring Street, and are fighting hard to…
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How to Build a Building Without an Architect
…in “A History of Housing in New York City,” in 1860 a superintendent of buildings was established within the Fire Department to enforce structural safety laws; in 1866 the state…
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Pineapples, Pinecones, and Acorns, Oh My – in the Greenwich Village Historic District
…and 49 Charles Street “This row of four late Italianate townhouses was built of brownstone in 1869 with similar bracketed cornices, handsome doorways and stoops. No. 49, the corner house…
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Research Resources for East Village Building Blocks
…this day. New York City started to require permits for new buildings in 1866, so determining the date of construction for buildings constructed prior to that date means relying on…
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The Hospital for Special Surgery, Born in the East Village
…orthopedic surgery, actually began in a row house in the increasingly immigrant-filled East Village more than 150 years ago. In 1863 in the middle of the Civil War, Dr. James…
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Walking East 7th Street: Tompkins Market and Armory
…Draft Riots of 1863 which erupted among Irish immigrants and African Americans over the first federal draft. Draft Riots of 1863 The 69th regiment, a.k.a. the “Irish Brigade” gained fame…
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Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln!
…day in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky. Serving as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861, until his assassination in 1865, Lincoln most famously…
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Map It! Manhattan Street
Manhattan Street in 1861. Major & Knapp Engraving, Manufacturing & Lithographic Co. Published in 1864. Source: New York Public Library Last month reader Mike commented on our Lewis Street post…
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Great Writers and the Greenwich Village Historic District
…1867. A leading Whig and Republican, he served New York as Speaker of the State Assembly, then as Lieutenant Governor, and finally as Congressman (1865- 67), at which time he…
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The First Library for Women, in Greenwich Village
…in 1860, it was set up to serve working-class women and was originally located in the University Building (since demolished) of New York University, which used to be located on…
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When was my building built? and other tricky research questions
…The Manhattan Department of Buildings was created in the 1865, and from that year forward, DOB has kept a record of all new buildings, alterations to existing buildings, demolitions, and…
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“When was my building built?,” and other tricky research questions
…look at the building’s file at the Department of Buildings. The Manhattan Department of Buildings was created in the 1865, and from that year forward, DOB has kept a record…
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How Greenwich Village and the East Village Launched the 19th Century Hebrew Free School Movement
…that story is the history of Hebrew Free Schools. A movement which began in Philadelphia in 1848, it did not spread to New York until 1864, when Christian missionaries began…
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Beyond the Village and Back: Harlem’s Mother A.M.E. Zion Church
…congregation worshipped here from 1864-1904. In 1864, Varick’s church (renamed the Zion African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church) relocated to a former Dutch Reform Church at the northeast corner of West…
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“When was my building built?”, and other tricky research questions
…created in the 1865, and from that year forward, DOB has kept a record of all new buildings, alterations to existing buildings, demolitions, and other changes to sites. A fairly-reliable…
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Irish American Heritage Permeates #SouthOfUnionSquare
…north of Washington Square. The building was designed in 1868-1869 by architect John Kellum, known for his work in the new medium of cast-iron. Kellum incorporated into the design a…
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Abolitionist History in Greenwich Village
…Black abolitionist, minister, educator and orator lived at several different addresses within the Village: 183 Bleecker Street from 1868 to at least 1869; and 185 Bleecker Street, from 1870 and…
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Walking East 7th Street: Elizabeth Blackwell’s New York Dispensary
…ideas that suggested health was a product of individual piety. While New York suffered cholera epidemics in 1832, 1849,1854 and 1866, by 1866 the number of deaths was greatly reduced….
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An East Village Story — From German Church, to Synagogue, to Landmark
…and Second Avenues was built up with houses. In 1865, New York City purchased the lot at 340 East 14th Street for Engine Company No. 5. In 1866, the First…
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121 Charles Street, from Yorkville to the Village
…has also been speculation that the house was built in the late 18th century. William Glass and his wife bought the property and farmhouse in 1868 and operated a dairy…
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Sharpen Your Pencils: A History of 710 East 9th Street
…over the doorway. It is also present on the 1868 Perris & Browne fire insurance map, but this is because the map-makers later updated the map to include it (a…
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The Greenwich Village Home Where Lincoln’s Assassination Might Have Been Averted
…Civil War, was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, finally succumbing to his wounds the next morning on April…
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Uncovering Mysteries in East Village Building Blocks
…1863. 1871 tax records for Nos. 33, 35 & 37 First Avenue. The 1871 tax record for 84 East 2nd Street is illegible as photocopied. We looked through the Real…
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Where Was Laura Keene’s Theatre?
“Interior of Laura Keene’s New Theatre, Broadway, New York,” December 13, 1856. Source: NYPL. Laura Keene, c. 1860. Source: NYPL. In remembering the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln assassination, the…
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Spring House Tour Benefit Surprises and Delights
…home to the Simon family, headed by Richard Simon, co-founder of the publishing house Simon & Schuster, and father of famed singer and song writer Carly Simon. 1860 Mason’s Row…
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Victoria Woodhull, the Original ‘Nasty Woman’
…for the better. In 1868 the sisters did just that, moving to a house at 17 Great Jones Street (later demolished with the extension of Lafayette Street). The 1869 New…
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Celebrating the 15th Amendment on Bleecker Street
…Street. The Mother AME Zion Church, also known as “Mother Zion”, remained on Church Street until 1864, and became a part of a network of Underground Railroad “stations.” In 1864,…
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