The Smithsonian Institution is a treasured facet of American culture, founded by the U.S. government on August 10, 1846 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The Smithsonian is the largest complex of museums, education centers, and research institutes in the world. While its main branch may be situated on the Mall in Washington D.C. […]
Greenwich Village has always been a cutting edge neighborhood, but who were the true trendsetters? Who dared to dream up something truly novel and break barriers we didn’t even know existed? Greenwich Village boasts an abundance of history, but it’s rare to find historical figures who can truly claim to be the first. In the […]
1991 was a memorable year. The Cold War ended as the Soviet Union collapsed. The Gulf War was waged. We watched Murphy Brown and slow danced to Bryan Adams. And the Giants won the Superbowl! But perhaps most notably, on June 10, 1991, Village Preservation held its first Annual Village Awards! Since 1991, we have […]
Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo are not known for having the large structures that can be found in Midtown (and thanks to last week’s rejection of a plan in the state budget to remove the limit on size of residential development in the city, our communities hopefully won’t be getting any supertall buildings […]
The Asian-American and Pacific Islander community has a more than 150-year-long history in the United States, dating back to the first wave of Chinese and Japanese immigrants settling on the West Coast. And while nearby neighborhoods like Chinatown or the Lower East Side may have been much more prominent hubs for Asian-Americans, Greenwich Village and […]
Our neighborhoods have been the home of many of history’s most important civil rights and social justice leaders, as documented in Village Preservation’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Map. Three of our lesser-known map locations, however, highlight the under-recognized stories of 19th century Chinese American immigrant-rights activists. Some of these influential individuals, families, and organizations […]
In 2007 the Chrysler Building was ranked ninth on the list of America’s Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. Built in 1928-30 and designed by William Van Allen, it is a beacon in our rapidly changing New York City skyline, and in many ways the embodiment of the Art Deco style and the Roaring 20s’ exuberant building boom before the Depression.
In the years before the abolition of slavery in New York State in 1827 and the Civil War, New York was a hotbed of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery sentiment. The latter group consisted of both prominent African-American institutions and individuals (mostly associated with churches) who organized economically, politically, and socially against slavery, and whites who […]
Part of our blog series Why Isn’t This Landmarked?, where we look at buildings in our area we’re fighting to protect that are worthy of landmark designation but somehow aren’t. Women have not always had the right to vote in New York State. In fact, the battle to grant suffrage to women took decades, and faced much […]
As we do every month, we just added some new historic images to the Village Preservation historic image archive from the latest Landmarks Permit Applications which we have reviewed. This round had an intriguing one of Astor Place/Cooper Square from 1925 which shows how many of the striking historic buildings remain from that time (largely […]
Milton Glaser’s “I ♥ NY” logo is one of the most iconic and most replicated logos of the late 20th century, filling the storefronts of our city’s souvenir markets and found on road signs, magazine advertisements, key chains, t-shirts, and much more. But it’s just one of many achievements and successes in the field of […]
New York City publishes a very useful map-based website with one very big flaw. NYCityMap offers users a tremendous amount of information on all properties in New York City. Some of the information that may be seen for each property includes zoning, owner, block and lot, lot size and lot frontage. Overlays may be added identifying […]
The Bowery is Manhattan’s oldest street, predating European settlement. We don’t know exactly when native Americans first began to use this path. We do know that in those early days it was called the Wickquasgeck Road because it led to a settlement of people bearing that name. Following European settlement, the Dutch established a set […]
The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum at 2 East 91st Street is a renowned museum and institution, the only of its kind in the United States, born of a long history and connection between philanthropy and industry.
On April 3rd, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered what would become both his last and one of his most powerful speeches, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” In it, he called for unity and non-violent protests while challenging the United States to live up to its promise and ideas, saying he could see the day […]
Happy President’s Day! Though the Village is only one neighborhood in our great, big country (though ask any resident and they will say the Village should be its own country!), it has some distinct connections to several few of our nation’s past presidents. To celebrate the day, we are doing a roundup of our presidential […]
Born on February 12, 1791, Peter Cooper left his mark on the world as a pioneering industrialist and inventor, and his mark on the Village as a great philanthropist. Cooper began his career as a coachmaker’s apprentice, although he had only one year of formal schooling. He also worked as a cabinet maker, hatmaker, brewer, and grocer. From these humble […]
On November 22, 1909, a frail 23-year-old woman, who’d been brutally beaten by strike-breakers, was helped up onto the stage of the Great Hall at the Cooper Union. Leaders of the labor movement – all men – had been speaking for hours to a crowd of thousands, speaking out against poor garment factory working conditions […]
June is Pride Month, an especially exciting time in our neighborhoods. LGBT history is closely tied with the Village and environs, and this month we’re highlighting the LGBT history of the West Village, East Village, South Village, and NoHo. Many of these sites can be found on our GVSHP Civil Rights and Social Justice Map, and we […]
The following is an updated re-posting originally authored by Dana Schulz. As May is Lower East Side History Month, we at GVSHP thought it would be nice to revisit a post from 2012 which gives a nod to ‘A History of the World in 100 Objects,’ the British Museum’s BBC radio series and book.” We […]
If you are one of the over 100,000 people a day that make your way through Astor Place or Cooper Square, you cannot help but notice the amazing amount of progress that is evident by the workers on the long awaited reconstruction. The cement is still drying in some parts, but more of the major components of […]
Your input is needed! Today we feature our latest Business of the Month — and we need your help selecting the next. Tell us which independent store you love in Greenwich Village, the East Village or NoHo: just click here to vote for your favorite. Want to help support small businesses? Share this post with […]
East Village activists were surprised to learn recently that the city’s Department of Buildings had issued new work permits for 605 E. 9th Street, the former public school that served as the CHARAS-El Bohio community center for two decades, until it was sold by the Giuliani administration to a private developer in 1998. Since 2001, […]
A neighbor was having a sale last Saturday to clear out bric-a-brac. My trusty companion and I arrived looking for the advertised guitar, which was already sold, so we left with an armful of books for $6 instead. Among the lode were two Greenwich Village Guides, published by The Villager newspaper. The years 1947 and […]
Today we introduce a new feature, Places We Love, focusing on architectural and cultural favorites that local folks feel are worth preserving, particularly in the East Village. If you have one you want to talk about, write to kloew@gvshp.org. “Although I don’t know where my career will take me, I would like to live in […]
With the recent news that things are finally beginning to move with the city’s redevelopment of Astor Place, including pedestrianizing sections of Astor Place between Lafayette Street and Cooper Square and surrounding Tony Rosenthal’s Alamo cube sculpture with a plaza, we thought we’d take a look at the site of other big recent change to the […]
March is Women’s History Month; the month-long celebration highlights the accomplishments of women in various fields throughout our history. With so much to choose from in New York City alone, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has put together a slideshow of designated landmarks with 19th and 20th century connections to women in the field of […]
On this 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 preserved the Union through the Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation […]
As I was considering a topic for last week’s Presidents’ Day post, I came across a great find from our nation’s past that took place right here in present-day NoHo. To my delight, the anniversary of this historic event was right around the corner, today in fact! Yes, on February 27, 1860, relatively unknown presidential […]
Walking East 7th Street is a collaboration between GVSHP and the students in NYU’s Fall 2011 Intro to Public History course. Each pair of students was tasked with researching the cultural history of one particular block of East 7th Street and sharing with us something fascinating they discovered along the way. All posts below were […]
Recent press has spotlighted a lease negotiation between St. Mark’s Bookshop, the independent bookstore on Third Avenue between 8th and 9th Streets and its lease holder, the Cooper Union. St. Mark’s Bookshop won a 2007 Village Award for providing specialized titles in a community-friendly atmosphere for over thirty years. As one of our truly special […]
