The New York City Landmarks Law was signed into law on April 19, 1965 by Mayor Robert Wagner. Since then, about 38,000 NYC properties have been protected under the law. Many of the landmarks designated in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo were highlighted as part of our celebration of Landmarks50, the 50th anniversary […]
The New York City Landmarks Law was signed into law on April 19, 1965 by Mayor Robert Wagner. Since then, about 38,000 NYC properties have been protected under the law. Many of the landmarks designated in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo were highlighted as part of our celebration of Landmarks50, the 50th anniversary […]
Stonewall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 1999, following a nomination process that included Village Preservation (then known as the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation) and the now-defunct Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers. The following year, the site, which comprises the Stonewall Inn, the adjacent […]
In June 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village was met with a resistance that launched the modern Gay Liberation Movement. Following decades of mostly discreet and targeted gay rights activism led by the Mattachine Society, the events set forth at Stonewall launched the movement into the popular consciousness. There was no […]
It is the first National Monument designated to mark LGBTQIA+ history. President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument on June 24, 2016, becoming official on June 27, 2016. The road to designation was a long one. In the 1990s Village Preservation, then known as Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), along with the now-defunct […]
In the early 1800s, the area around modern-day Christopher Street was suffering from overcrowding, following the migration of residents from lower Manhattan after the yellow fever outbreak of 1822 that helped to create Greenwich Village. A devastating fire in 1835 led to residents calling for open space, and on April 5, 1837, they got their […]
After the Supreme Court Decision DOBBS v.JACKSON WOMEN’S HEALTH ORGANIZATION overturning Roe v. Wade was released on Friday, June 24, people took to the streets. It was no surprise that people hoping to make their voices heard looked to our neighborhoods as a gathering place. Two of the many protests and rallies that took place in New York City were held in Washington Square Park and Union Square. These protests were organized by intersectional advocacy groups across Labor, Defund the Police, Housing, Immigration, and LGBTQIA+ movements.
As with any revolution, there was a spark, which lit the fire fed by years of quieter work and struggle which preceded it. Such is certainly the case with the LGBTQ rights movement, which burst into prominence in our neighborhood on June 28, 1969 with the Stonewall Riots, leading to a new, much more aggressive […]
Dr. Bruce Raymond Voeller, a pioneer of AIDS research and a significant early gay rights activist, was born on May 12, 1934 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s no household name, and his early biography would provide few hints as to why he should be. He graduated from Reed College in 1956, was awarded a five-year fellowship […]
The Women’s House of Detention, an eleven-story prison in the center of Greenwich Village, closed on June 13th, 1971.
A collective supportive response to health disasters or other struggles is not new to our neighborhoods. “Mutual aid” as it’s often called and mutual aid societies have been a hallmark of the communities we work in for over a century, mostly responding to the needs of recently-arrived immigrant communities. Today we take a look at […]
On January 16th, 2013, Village Preservation sent a letter to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) requesting that it landmark key sites of significance to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history we had identified. At this time, no buildings in the city were explicitly recognized or protected by the LPC primarily for […]
Every year millions of tourists make their way to New York City. While many of them may bypass the Village to flock to Times Square or the Statue of Liberty for a photo, there are many spots here that have gained popularity as a top spot to Instagram. Many of the popular spots draw tourists […]
Millions converge in New York City each year in late June to celebrate events which took place in and outside of a Greenwich Village bar in 1969. The Stonewall Riots are not only be memorialized here in New York City, but those events have come to take on international significance. There are celebrations and marches in countries across the globe, […]
On June 27th, 2016, President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument, the 412th National Park site, and the first U.S. National Monument chosen specifically for its LGBT history. This milestone moment brought national attention to the Village site that transformed LGBT lives forever.
Six sites were recently designated landmarks by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission based on their LGBT history and association, two of which were part of a five-year campaign by Village Preservation: the LGBT Community Center and the former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse. This comes four years after the first and until recently only NYC individual landmark […]
This June is LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) Pride month as well as the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, and among the many events and announcements was the grand opening of the New York State WorldPride Welcome Center. Where? Greenwich Village, of course. Located at 112 Christopher Street, the new […]
To honor and recognize LGBT Pride Month, each year the St. Marks Church-In-The-Bowery produces an art installation along 2nd Avenue between 10th and 11th Street, the Pride Ribbon Project. The installation will be up through the end of June, and we highly encourage you to come to see this in person and read through and […]
On June 12th, 2019 we will be celebrating seven outstanding awardees at our Annual Village Awards — RSVP here. Read blog posts about each of our 2019 Village Awardees here. Each year, Village Preservation presents one special Village Awardee with the Regina Kellerman Award. Regina Kellerman was Village Preservation’s first Executive Director, and a passionate advocate for historic preservation. […]
Christopher Park has been a community gathering place and green oasis in the urban landscape of Greenwich Village for 180 years. In recent decades it has also become a hub and focal point for the LGBTQ community. When the park was neglected, the volunteer organization Christopher Park Alliance (CPA) stepped into the breach. Since its […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Click here to check out our year-long activities and celebrations. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. One of the city’s oldest and largest landmark districts, […]
On January 16, 2014, GVSHP sent a letter to the then-chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Robert Tierney calling for landmark designation of the Stonewall Inn.
The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 28, 1868, played an important role in setting legal precedents for equality after the Civil War. The most radically worded of the Reconstruction Amendments, it was intended by its post–Civil War Radical Republican sponsors to stop the efforts by the former Confederate states to nullify emancipation. Its language promotes “liberty” […]
Our Beyond the Village and Back series takes a look at great landmarks in New York City outside of our neighborhoods, finding the sometimes hidden connection to the Village. Today we take a slightly unorthodox approach of looking back at a groundbreaking exhibit which took place on June 18, 1994 at one of our city’s most beloved […]
Christopher Park has come a long way; beginning its life as a condemned parcel of land on April 5, 1837, the park was born, transformed, and eventually born again as a National Monument. The park is public space, historic space, and adored by Village residents and visitors alike. In many ways, Christopher Park reflects everything […]
On December 5, 2012, GVSHP asked the New York State Office of Historic Preservation to find Julius’ Bar (a Village Award winner) eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places based upon research and documentation we provided (click HERE to see the letter), citing its critically important place not just in New York […]
In the wake of the Stonewall anniversary last month, it’s a good time to look back at some of the inspiring figures that were involved with the uprising that helped cement Greenwich Village as the birthplace of the modern Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) right’s movement. Marsha P. Johnson, a black transwoman, is iconic […]
Happy Pride Week! Each June during the week leading up to the Gay Pride March, NYC celebrates Pride Week. Throughout the week, different groups and organizations will host events, throw parties, and do general outreach and advocacy to promote the history and visibility of the LGBTQ community. Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has always worked […]
On this day in 1837, the City condemned a parcel of land between Christopher, Grove, and West 4th Streets, which eventually became Christopher Park.
That’s the name of Tim McDarrah’s new walking tours. The tours are based on the photographs his late father, Village Voice photojournalist Fred W. McDarrah, took of people and places in the Village starting in the mid-1950s. I joined Tim and a group of 8 others recently for an amazing 90-minute journey through the neighborhood […]
Stonewall was designated an individual landmark on June 23, 2015. Since then, people have asked us why, if the building was already located in a designated historic district, was the “double landmarking” necessary?
Following on some groundbreaking events last week – the LPC designation of the Stonewall Inn as the city’s first LGBT individual landmark and then the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality – we thought we’d feature some historic images taken by photographer Diana Davies. Yesterday, we also celebrated the 46th anniversary of the June 28, […]
On June 23, 2015, The Stonewall Inn, the place where the modern lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights movement was born, was officially designated a city landmark, becoming the first landmark designated by New York City soleyor primarily based upon its significance to LGBT history (GVSHP proposed and led a year and a half […]
In June of 1969, a not uncommon police raid of the gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, was met with a spontaneous resistance that launched the modern Gay Liberation Movement here in Greenwich Village. Ellen Shumsky, a young photographer, joined the movement as an activist and documentarian. As an insider, she captured images of the people, […]
This year’s Gay Pride Month certainly got off to an auspicious start with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission finally agreeing to consider the Stonewall Inn for individual landmark designation — a proposal GVSHP has been spearheading for the last year and a half — which would make it New York City’s first LGBT […]
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has recently begun creating on-line slide shows to showcase various history months as represented by some of the city’s roughly 31,000 landmarked properties. In March, they highlighted Women’s History Month, and in February, Black History Month. Now for the first time, the LPC has also created a “Gay Pride Month” slide […]
As one-time Villager Bob Dylan famously called it, the Times, They Are A-Changing. This Sunday New York State will begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and apparently the New York City Clerk’s office is expecting a flood of marriage license applicants that first day. The occasion presents a good opportunity to wonder how many […]
View A Guide to Lesbian & Gay New York Historical Landmarks in a larger map The Village erupted in riotous celebrations this past weekend at the news of passage of marriage equality legislation, which carried over into the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride March that ends in Greenwich Village. Of course the Village […]
