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Tag: Stuyvesant

A Tilted Little Street with a Big History: Stuyvesant Street

It is sometimes hard to imagine that the East Village was once farmland, but so was nearly everything in Manhattan at one time or another that lay north of the city that was once concentrated on the far southern tip of the island. What makes the East Village special is that it was once all […]

    Lewis Morris Rutherfurd: The Stargazer on Second Avenue

    Lewis Morris Rutherfurd (November 25, 1816 – May 30, 1892) was born in Morrisania, New York to a family who was already a familiar presence in American political history. His grandfather was U.S. Senator John Rutherfurd of New Jersey, whose own father, Lewis Morris, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. By all accounts, […]

    Beyond the Village and Back: Ukrainian Institute of America

    On the corner of East 79th Street and 5th Avenue stands a 19th-century chateau that wouldn’t be out of place in the Loire Valley, yet seems just as comfortable on the Upper East Side. It’s been home to the Ukrainian Institute of America for nearly seven decades, but thanks to its previous inhabitants, this historic structure also holds an interesting connection with the early days of Greenwich Village and New York City.

    Cemeteries of The East Village, Part III

    Continuing our Cemeteries of the Village series, today we look at two historic cemeteries that predate the modern street grid: The St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery Vaults and the nearby but long gone St. Mark’s Cemetery. These two cemeteries both belonged to St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. The vaults beneath the Church still exist and remain the final […]

    A Marriage Leads to Construction of Manhattan’s Oldest Residence

    On January 31, 1795, Nicholas William Stuyvesant, descendent of Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant, married Catherine Livingston Reade, herself a descendant of New York royalty of sorts (the family name can be found on streets in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn). While clearly this was a significant date for these two early New Yorkers, why should we care […]

    The St. Mark’s Historic District: Tiny, But Packed With History

    One of New York City’s most charming and distinctive corners, the St. Mark’s Historic District was landmarked by the City of New York on January 14, 1969. Containing fewer than 40 buildings on parts of just three blocks, this extraordinary East Village enclave contains several notable superlatives, including Manhattan’s oldest house still in use as a residence, […]

    Remember The Alamo? The Cube is Back

    One of the most beloved public works of art was reinstalled in our community yesterday, after a two year hiatus. According to the NYC Department of Design and Construction, The Alamo Sculpture was originally installed in 1967 as part of  “Sculpture and the Environment”.  The Cube by Bernard “Tony” Rosenthal was one of 25 temporary art […]

      Progress on Astor Place Mosaic Lightpoles and Reconstruction

      Have you heard about the exciting progress on the restoration of the beautiful mosaic-covered lamp poles as part of the Astor Place Reconstruction?  Maybe you’ve even seen one of the poles installed, now wrapped like a fig tree in the winter awaiting the official unveiling in September.   The progress has been tracked by The Villager newspaper, and […]

      Happy 47th Birthday, St. Mark’s Historic District

      Forty-seven years ago, on January 14th 1969, the Landmarks Preservation Commission concluded that, “On the basis of a careful consideration of the history, the architecture and other features of this area, the Landmarks Preservation Commission finds that the St. Mark’s Historic District contains buildings and other improvements which have a special character and special historical […]

      On this day in history…

      GVSHP is marking March, Women’s History Month, with some great public programs. But today I am going to focus on two men who helped to shape the history, geography, and culture of Greenwich Village and the East Village. On March 12, 1922, in Lowell, Massachusetts, Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known to us as Jack Kerouac, […]

      Map It! Finding the Lost Stuyvesant Alley

      Recently, someone contacted us asking about the location of Stuyvesant Alley, which no longer exists. As it turns out, historic maps were able to help shine some light. This long-gone alley could once be found on the block between Second and Third Avenues, and East 11th and 12th Streets not too far away from GVSHP’s […]

      When Greenwich Village was farmland

      Here in Greenwich Village, we are surrounded by history.  So sometimes when I walk the streets, I try to imagine what life was like at different times in the past. When I see modest Federal style houses, I imagine a time in the early 1800’s when fresh water didn’t come from a faucet, but was […]

      Then & Now: 3rd Avenue & 10th Street

      We are very fortunate that photographer Berenice Abbott captured images of New York City in the 1930s and  1940s (Abbott, by the way, lived off and on in Greenwich Village, including in the  Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments, recently demolished by NYU).  With an almost singular focus on streetscapes and architecture, her images, like the one below, provide unparalleled […]