Despite all the challenges of the year, Village Preservation proudly hosted 76 programs (most of which were virtual), reaching over 9,000 people in 2020. How does one choose favorites? It’s nearly impossible, especially given that each program represents, at minimum, someone’s research, passion, skill, life’s work, book, or all of the above. So, in wrap-up […]
In the second half of the twentieth century, particularly during the city’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s, the East Village experienced high rates of crime and drug use, and a number of its buildings were abandoned by private property owners and the city government. During this period, cultural and arts organizations began to repopulate these […]
On August 12th, 1882, the very first Yiddish theatrical performance in New York City was held in a building which still stands at 66 East 4th Street, between the Bowery and Second Avenue. Over the next four decades, the Yiddish theater would become a focal point and social outlet for the 3.5 million Jews that […]
May the 4th be with you! While today is a special day for many Star Wars fans, for us in the Village today’s date is a reminder of that the low-number streets of the NYC grid plan are encompassed by within our neighborhoods. May is also Lower East Side history month and it is important […]
Many Gotham dwellers just about have their spirit broken from all the eclectic, only-in-New-York kinds of places that have been “developed” into achingly boring, everywhere-on-the-globe kinds of places. Unique theaters, gardens, community centers, shops, restaurants: Now they’re chain banks and drugstores and luxury dwellings. It’s enough to make a heartbroken New Yorker give up. Not […]
On this day one year ago, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission officially designated the East Village/LES Historic District. Encompassing 325 buildings and 15 blocks, centering along Second Avenue and stretching between East 2nd Street and St. Mark’s Place, it is by far the largest historic district designation in the neighborhood, and encompasses much of the […]
The Fourth Arts Block will present its tenth annual FAB! Festival on Saturday, September 28, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Festivities take place on East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery and are free and open to the public. FAB received a 2011 Village Award from GVSHP for its work to preserve the […]
We recently learned that the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District has been scheduled for a vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 9. Since the district was announced nearly a year and a half ago, GVSHP and other preservation advocacy and community groups have pressed for the LPC to designate the proposed historic district […]
Last week the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced that Duo Multicultural Arts Center (DMAC) was one of the 40 sites in New York City selected to compete for grants for preservation projects for the Partners in Preservation program. We are so excited that Duo is one of three sites selected in […]
There’s lots to love about the culture, architecture, and history of the East Village, and the Fourth Arts Block (East 4th Street between the Bowery and Seond Avenue) is a microcosm of the neighborhood’s layered history, distinctive architecture, and cultural innovation. The Fourth Arts Block, a 2011 Village Award Winner, is one of only two recognized […]
If you’ve gotten our program email or flyer you know that Time and Space on the Lower East Side is the title of one of our upcoming events. But it’s also a wonderful book of photographs that looks backward and forward, positing the idea that places are not simply “then and now,” but exist in […]
This weekend, tour guide Lawrence Frommer and Fourth Arts Block executive director Tamara Greenfield led a tour of East 4th Street between the Bowery and 2nd Avenue for GVSHP. (Want to hear in advance about GVSHP’s free lecture and tour series? Sign up for our monthly event emails.) The tour provided an overview of Fourth […]
One facet of the streetscapes that we encounter each day but may not give much thought to are the fire escapes that weave their way up the facades of so many neighborhood buildings. If you just look up throughout the Village, you’ll be treated to both dainty floral flourishes and rusting utilitarian forms. Whether intricate […]
Readers who have been involved in our efforts to support the City’s two proposed East Village Historic Districts know that a small but vocal group is looking to halt the plan in its tracks. Those in opposition believe that owners should be trusted to preserve their own properties without governmental interference. While this is a […]
Did you know that Manhattan’s only designated cultural district is right here in the East Village? The Fourth Arts Block (FAB) will be one of eight recipients of a 2011 Village Award, which will be presented at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’s Annual Meeting on Monday, June 13th. FAB is being given the […]
