This is the second part of our series on Margaret “Pi” Gardiner. Click here to read Part 1. Our new oral history explores the legacy of Margaret “Pi” Gardiner, Greenwich Village native and long-time executive director of the Merchant’s House Museum. Published this past October, Pi’s interview with our oral historian, Josie Naron, illuminates how […]
Our new oral history published in October of 2024 celebrates the legacy of Margaret “Pi” Gardiner, Greenwich Village native and long-time executive director of the Merchant’s House Museum. Published this past October, Pi’s interview with our oral historian, Josie Naron, illuminates how her family’s deep history in New York City and Long Island inspired her […]
The Women’s House of Detention, which once stood where we can now enjoy the beautiful Jefferson Market Garden, was more than just a prison. Opened in 1932, the Art Deco-style building was a prominent, though controversial, landmark in the area for nearly four decades. It was the only women’s prison in Manhattan, housing inmates ranging […]
May is coming just around the proverbial corner on our calendars. Those 31 days bring us Preservation Month, when we celebrate historic sites across the country as well as highlight the social, cultural, and economic benefits of their preservation. It’s also a good time to reflect on the noteworthy places and histories that organizations like […]
On Village Preservation’s Resources for Neighborhood Research page, we’ve assembled links to online directories, photo archives, maps, and more from city, state, library, educational, and other organizations — including our own — all for your research endeavors. However, navigating through numerous links, maps, and archives can be daunting, especially for those new to the process. […]
One of Village Preservation’s most beloved traditions is our Annual Meeting and Village Awards, in which we celebrate our achievements of the past year, and honor invaluable local leaders, institutions, businesses, places, and organizations in our neighborhoods. Fondly referred to as the “Oscars of the Village,” these awards showcase the remarkable people and places that […]
“South of Union Square, the Birthplace of American Modernism” is a series that explores how the area south of Union Square shaped some of the most influential American artists of the 20th century. This area, which Village Preservation has proposed be designated an historic district, has attracted painters, writers, publishers, and radical social organizations throughout […]
Village Preservation has developed online resources for students from our acclaimed children’s education program, History and Historic Preservation. These videos and activities are designed for children ages 5-7. During this time of remote learning, these are a great resource and a way to keep children engaged and expand their horizons from home. Today we introduce Part […]
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 […]
Today is a rare day on Off the Grid as we are able to combine two of our ongoing series: Many Layers of History and Beyond the Village and Back. Unlike some of our other ‘Many Layers of History’ dates, August 31st or 8/31 does not correspond with any Village intersection. But it does correspond with […]
There were many moments to celebrate along the arc of fighting for the protection of the Gansevoort Historic District, also known as the Meatpacking District. One such milestone took place on July 17, 2002, when the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation determined, in response to an application by GVSHP, that […]
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.
My colleague, Director of Research and Preservation Sarah Bean Apmann (she tells me that “Exalted Majesty Tour Guide” also works as a title), led the first GVSHP walking tour that I attended – our Bleecker Street walking tour – and I was so lucky to have been there. I have walked up and down Bleecker Street countless times, […]
Having recently completed my undergraduate degree in architectural and urban history, I have been exploring options for further education in the discipline. During my research in the academic backgrounds of notable persons in the profession, I was particularly struck by Jane Jacobs’s lack of qualified training in city planning. This revelation sparked a curiosity in […]
On April 19, 1965 that the New York City Landmarks Law went into effect. GVSHP and many other organizations are celebrating this 50th anniversary all year long. Visit the website of NYC Landmarks 50 to see more. We have written in the past here on Off the Grid about the demolition of the original Penn […]
As a student of architectural history at NYU and having lived in New York for the past four years, it is still such a delight to be able to walk around and see such an eclectic mix of buildings in the same neighborhood; to see the old and the new nestled together either in congruent […]
Next Tuesday there will be a panel discussion moderated by GVSHP’s Executive Director Andrew Berman addressing affordable housing and how it relates to — or doesn’t relate to — historic preservation. This is a subject that is of real concern to anyone who is interested in Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo, but also […]
On Tuesday evening, Village Preservation presented a program with architect, preservationist, and author Françoise Bollack about her new book, Old Buildings, New Forms: New Directions in Architectural Transformations, published by the Monicelli Press. It was a wonderful presentation, with images from her book of places all over the world where old buildings were saved instead […]
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 […]
We are all becoming increasingly “green” minded – we recycle, reuse and buy local. Yet, when it comes to the built environment many believe that building new is a better alternative than the adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of historic buildings. So, which building is greenest? A new documentary, “The Greenest Building,” seeks to answer that […]
