Imagine a time before independent film. Just about no one makes them. If more did, no one would show them. And if someone showed them, few would watch them and certainly no one would write about them, because they just aren’t something worthy of serious discussion. If all that changed, it was, to no small […]
Imagine that at a dinner party, you turn to the person to your right, ask him about his background in the city, and he leads with this: He moved to New York during the late ‘60s with a freshly minted degree in architecture. At the time, many in the profession shared a faith in the […]
We’re proud to share our latest oral history with writer, humorist, and longtime Greenwich Village resident Calvin Trillin. Trillin has lived on and off in Greenwich Village for over 50 years, and speaks extensively in his oral history about his time here from first arrival to present day. He also looks back at his Midwestern […]
Village Preservation shares our oral history collection with the public, highlighting some of the people and stories that make Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo such unique and vibrant neighborhoods. Each includes the experiences and insights of leaders or long-time participants in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life. Ayo Harrington has been […]
We recently added a new collection to our historic image archive, Noah Greenberg’s “Manhattan Promenade” Proposal. This collection dates from 1979, and includes shots of what we now know as the High Line, at a unique moment in its history. Scroll down to see a sample of the collection, or click here to see all […]
The battle between Village preservation icon Jane Jacobs and Robert “put a highway through every park” Moses is quite storied and well-documented. But for us, understanding it and preserving its memory — including how decisions were made, tactics used, plans that were formulated and scrapped — has special meaning, and important lessons that should not […]
What makes New York the greatest city in the world? There are many ways to answer that question, but I think one reason rises to the top – New Yorkers themselves. The city’s teeming, diverse population is perhaps its greatest asset and resource. Our most celebrated neighborhoods are, for good reason, havens of immigration, innovation, […]
GVSHP is excited to share our oral history collection with the public, and hope they will shed more light on what makes Greenwich Village and the East Village such unique and vibrant areas. Each of these histories highlights the experiences and insights of long-time residents, usually active in the arts, culture, preservation, business, or civic life […]
Today marks the 11th year and anniversary of the Art in Odd Places (AiOP) festival. AiOP is a visual and performing arts festival that strives to present works outside the confines of traditional public space and stretch the boundaries of communication in the public realm. The festival itself runs along 14th Street, all the way […]
On August 7th, 1967, the J.M. Kaplan Fund and the newly-constituted National Endowment for the Arts announced plans for a project that would help transform Greenwich Village, New York, housing for artists, industrial buildings, and older industrial cities across the world. The project was the conversion of the disused former Bell Telephone Labs on the […]
Shirley Hayes is a pioneering figure in the preservation of the Village and the fight against Robert Moses’ planned Lower Manhattan Expressway through Washington Square Park. She was born on June 15, 1912 and would have been 103 today. Back in the year 2000, GVSHP had the honor of interviewing Mrs. Hayes as part of […]
This past fall, GVSHP launched a new oral history project. This ongoing project was developed in order to add to our understanding of the South and East Villages, areas in which we are advocating for new protections such as landmarking and rezonings. While we have spent considerable time documenting the architectural history of these neighborhoods, […]
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Archive and Oral History Project was begun in 1995, a project to document over sixty-five years of grassroots advocacy to “Save the Village.” The collection contains oral history interviews, clippings, and photographs that illuminate this preservation history. Today we’ll be spotlighting the oral history interview of Edith […]
This image from the GVSHP Archive features an idyllic view of people gathering on the sidewalk outside of First Presbyterian Church in winter. The image is taken at 12th Street and Fifth Avenue, looking south. Indeed, the Church of the Ascension, at 10th Street, is visible as well.
