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 […]
On September 22, 1994, the TV show ‘Friends’ premiered on NBC. Airing ten seasons, it was consistently one of the most popular shows on television, and after decades of syndication, one of the most popular in history. And for a generation of young twenty- (and eventually thirty-) somethings, it shaped their views of, and in […]
The recently landmarked Sullivan-Thompson Historic District is one of the first historic districts in New York City so designated almost exclusively based upon its immigrant history and working-class architecture. As stated by the LPC research staff in their presentation before the Commissioners’ vote, “The architecture in the proposed district reflects the waves of immigration that […]
As mentioned in the GVSHP testimony at the designation hearing for the Sullivan-Thompson historic district, the majority of the historic fabric in this district is its tenements. Here is a laboratory and cross-section of tenement types which served as the homes for much of NYC’s African American community in the 19th century as well as many […]
I recently spent my vacation visiting the European cities of Barcelona, Rome, and Trieste. During my time there, dutifully and happily playing the role of tourist, I was reminded of the depth of European history versus American history. Here our history is preserved and reflected in buildings that are at most a few hundred years […]
Today we take for granted that every building has an architect behind it. You need an architect to create a blueprint, right? Then an array of engineers, craftsmen and laborers follow the plans, and voilà, you have a building. In New York City, it wasn’t always so. Today “starchitects” are having their moment, but it […]
An Off the Grid reader asks: “Why is there a set of stone markers embedded between the third and fourth floors of the building at 128 Charles Street saying ‘Greenwich Street’ and ‘Charles Street’? It’s so high up you can barely see it — what good would it have possibly done?” Good (and timely) question, […]
