On Thanksgiving Day, 1902, Greenwich House opened its doors at 26 Jones Street. Founded by Mary K. Simkhovitch, this settlement house would soon become a pillar of social and cultural enrichment in Greenwich Village. Greenwich House offered its service to thousands of immigrants in the following years. Today we’re reflecting on the history of the house and […]
The East Village is one of New York City’s most historically dynamic neighborhoods, as evidenced by its rich and diverse built environment. The neighborhood displays excellent examples of so many types of dense urban housing present in New York City, from single-family rowhouses to tenements of the “pre,” “old,” and “new” law typologies, to public […]
On February 2, 1860, a terrible fire broke out in a tenement at 142 Elm Street (today Lafayette Street, just north of Howard Street in SoHo). The building was occupied by 24 families, according to The New York Times account at the time, and the fire started in a bakery in the basement. Ten women […]
Whenever a building is demolished, something is lost, even if the planned replacement is a worthy one. In the case of 268-272 East 2nd Street, currently a nondescript four-story building, one might never guess the outstanding century-and-a-half history of the property serving those in need in some pretty extraordinary ways from 1867 until today, with […]
With its parallel octagonal towers rising above the beach, the sprawling Art Deco bathhouse complex at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways has, since opening in 1932, served as a monument to Art Deco design, grand public works, and popular beach-time fun.
As a historian and researcher who frequently relies on census data for information, nothing frustrates me more than the fact that nearly all of the 1890 Federal Census records were lost. For those who don’t know the story, the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1921 in the basement of the Department of […]
In commemoration of Jacob Riis’s birthday on May 3rd, we’re re-posting an earlier piece by Ted Mineau about Riis’ life and work. Interested in reading more about the famous photojournalist? Check out all our past posts on Riis and his legacy. On May 3, 1849, Jacob August Riis was born in Denmark. At age 21, he immigrated […]
Off the Grid has previously taken a look at African American history in the South Village, which was home to almost a quarter of the city’s African-American population during the mid-19th century and known as “Little Africa.” The newly designated Sullivan-Thompson Historic District included part of “Little Africa,” and in looking at the recently published designation report for […]
April 12, 1901 marks the date when the New York State Legislature passed the Tenement House Act of 1901, more commonly known as the “New Law” or “New Tenement Law.” This significant moment in New York City housing history resulted from intense pressure by housing reform groups, leading to Governor Theodore Roosevelt appointing a commission to […]
The New York Marble Cemetery and the New York City Marble Cemetery (yes, it’s confusing) both turn 45 tomorrow. Well, they’re actually a lot older than that (over 180 years and counting), but on March 4, 1969 they were designated city landmarks by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. They can be found one block away from […]
Mills House Number 1 at 160 Bleecker Street (at Thompson Street) in the South Village was a large experimental ‘reform housing’ project built by noted architect Ernest Flagg from 1896 to1897 and financed by banker and philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills. The two ten story wings of the hotel for single men were composed of 1,500 small 5 […]
Jonathan Kuhn, a long-time Village resident who is also the Director of Art & Antiquities at the Department of Parks and Recreation, has curated an exhibition at Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery. Parkcentric: Photographs from the Museum of the City of New York, 1890-1940, features 68 images of 24 parks by the likes of Berenice Abbott, […]
For historic preservationists, who often use the built environment as a major source of information about a community’s past, the hardest stories to capture are those where the physical trace no longer remains. We can find evidence of the many communities that have called the Village home over the years in the built fabric of […]
