Photo by Spencer Means on Flickr
A 200-year-old landmarked property in Greenwich Village once home to author Ruth McKenney could soon be demolished. The city’s Department of Buildings last week ordered the immediate demolition of the rowhouse at 14 Gay Street after learning unpermitted work on the building has left it at risk of collapsing. According to The Village Sun, adjacent 16 Gay Street, also constructed in 1827, has also been compromised.
All images courtesy of the Village Preservation
The site of a monumental event in the LGBTQ community’s fight against anti-gay discrimination was honored last week with a historic plaque. The Village Preservation and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project on Thursday unveiled the plaque at Julius’ Bar at 159 West 10th Street. The bar was the site of the first “Sip-In,” an act of defiance in which members of gay rights groups entered the bar and asked to be served drinks while announcing they were homosexuals, going against the discriminatory regulations of the New York State Liquor Authority which at the time prohibited bars from serving gay or lesbian patrons. See more here
Rendering courtesy of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, Acheson Doyle Partners, Hill West Architects
Two five-story apartment buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District will be demolished to make way for a 213-foot-tall luxury condo tower. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved plans from Madison Realty Capital and City Urban Realty to raze 14-16 Fifth Avenue, an apartment building that sits just north of Washington Square Park. Preservationists campaigned against the demolition of the building since the project was first announced in 2017, citing the history of the 170-year-old structure as significant enough for protection.
Screenshot of Women’s History Tour map; Courtesy of Village Preservation
On the first day of Women’s History Month, a preservation group is renewing calls to landmark nearly two dozen sites related to women’s history in New York City. Village Preservation on Monday kicked off a campaign effort urging the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate several buildings located south of Union Square that have a connection to trailblazing women, organizations, or historic events. It’s part of the group’s broader effort to protect nearly 200 buildings in the area which is slated for new development.
Courtesy of Village Preservation
The former New York City home of author and organizer Jane Jacobs was honored this week with a historic plaque. The Village Preservation on Thursday unveiled the plaque at 555 Hudson Street in Greenwich Village during a virtual event. The 1842-constructed row house is where Jacobs, who died in 2006, wrote “Death and Life of Great American Cities,” a critique of urban planning of the 1950s and a call for more safe, walkable city streets and mixed-use development.
Non-profit Village Preservation has launched a new online platform called Virtual Village, which is part of their larger efforts seeking landmarks protections for the “South of Union Square” area, where Greenwich Village meets the East Village. The interactive online tool offers 36 free, guided walking tours of the neighborhood, ranging from architectural topics like the Cast Iron Tour to cultural topics like the German History Tour to social topics like the Women’s History and LGBTQ Tours.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landmark designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District on April 29, 1969, Village Preservation has released an online map and tour of the district. The online tour shows each and every one of the over 2,200 buildings in the district as they looked in 1969 and today.
Find buildings on the interactive historic district map and more
Photo courtesy of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Deemed by historians as the “single most important document in New York City’s development,” the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, which planned Manhattan’s famous grid system, turns 211 years old this month. As the Village Preservation tells us, the chief surveyor of the plan, John Randel Jr., and city officials signed the final contract on March 22, 1811. The plan, completed at the end of the 19th century, produced 11 major avenues and 155 cross-town streets still used today.
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