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Tag: Umbrella House

Rooftop Farms in Our Neighborhoods: It is Officially “A Movement”

We at Village Preservation keep tabs on all different types of preservation, including environmental sustainability.  So we’ve been really interested to learn about the expanding opportunities in our neighborhoods for urban agriculture and beekeeping. Urban agriculture is becoming a big thing in New York City. If you are interested, start looking up! Rooftop farms are […]

A Building Blocks Tour of the Squats of the East Village

This is part of a series of curated tours to help the public explore the buildings and history shared on our recently-launched East Village Building Blocks site — see it here. During the 1970s and 80s, many century-old buildings in Alphabet City were severely neglected or even abandoned by landlord or city government.  Squatters, some of whom […]

    15 things you didn’t know about the East Village

    Earlier this month, GVSHP launched its East Village Preservation effort, releasing its new website “East Village Building Blocks,” which contains historic information and images for every one of the neighborhood’s 2,200 buildings. Of course, any neighborhood spanning five centuries of history and nearly 100 blocks will reveal some surprises when you scratch the surface. But the East Village’s story has […]

    Umbrella, Umbrella!

    No, we’re not referencing the catchy pop song of a similar title (although it’s now stuck in our heads!).  We’re talking about the Umbrella House, 21-23 Avenue C, between East 2nd and 3rd Streets- the building with the lively umbrellas suspended from its facade.  Built in 1899 as an Old Law Tenement by prominent East […]