Greenwich Village

How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. via Wiki Commons

April 4, 2018

How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an African American. That successful quest began with and was spearheaded by a native son of Greenwich Village, Howard Bennett. Bennett was one of the last residents of a Greenwich Village community known as “Little Africa,” a predominantly African-American section of the neighborhood which was, for much of New York’s history through the 19th century, the largest and most important African-American community in the city. That neighborhood centered around present-day Minetta, Thompson, Cornelia, and Gay Streets.
Learn more here

History

Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

Photo from an event test run last night, courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photo Office

April 3, 2018

Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

By Dana Schulz

Today, April 3rd, marks the 50th anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," in Memphis, Tennessee. In response to the Memphis Sanitation Strike, he called for unity, economic action, and nonviolent protests. He also, eerily, alluded to an untimely death. The following day, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. To commemorate this final speech, the city will tonight replay it in its entirety throughout Washington Square Park while Mayor de Blasio and First Lady McCray light the arch in MLK's honor.
Event details ahead

Events & Things To Do

March 16, 2018

Restaurateur Keith McNally gets $10M for his French-country Greenwich Village townhouse

By Emily Nonko

After a long run on the market--renting at $25,000/month, $19,000/month, then listed for $13.95 million--restaurateur Keith McNally‘s 4,600 square-foot Greek Revival townhouse has sold. According to The Real Deal, an unknown buyer paid $10.3 million. McNally, behind buzzy establishments like Balthazar, Cherche Midi, Odeon, Café Luxembourg, Schiller’s and Minetta Tavern, bought the 1842 townhouse at 105 West 11th Street in 2000. The design is fit for a restaurateur, with a stunning kitchen, walk-in wine cellar and rustic French-country interiors.
Take one last look inside

March 1, 2018

15 female trailblazers of the Village: From the first woman doctor to the ‘godmother of punk’

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and '70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, from the first female candidate for President, to America’s first woman doctor, to the "mother of birth control." This Women’s History Month, here are just a few of those trailblazing women, and the sites associated with them.
Learn all about these amazing women

History

Black history in Greenwich Village: 15 sites related to pioneering African-Americans

Image via Wikimedia

February 16, 2018

Black history in Greenwich Village: 15 sites related to pioneering African-Americans

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Greenwich Village has been known throughout its existence for breaking new ground and embracing outsiders. One often-forgotten but important element of that trailblazing narrative is the extraordinary role the Village played in relation to African American history. The neighborhood was home to North America’s earliest free Black settlement in the 17th century, to some of America’s first black churches in the 19th century, and many pioneering African-American artists, civil rights leaders, and organizations in the 20th century. This Black History Month, here are just a few of the exceptional Greenwich Village sites connected to African-American history.
Learn about all 15 sites here

History

February 14, 2018

Fall in love with this elegant two-bedroom co-op, asking $1.85M in the Village

By Emily Nonko

In New York we don't just fall madly in love with people--we fall just as hard for real estate. So here's a charming two-bedroom apartment to love from the Greenwich Village cooperative 171 West 12th Street. The listing boasts plenty of pre-war elegance in the form of original casement windows with double-paned glass, a wood-burning fireplace surrounded by exposed brick, and built-in bookshelves. And exposures to the south, west, and north--plus access to a balcony--bring in plenty of light. It's just been listed for $1.85 million.
Take a look

Distinctive Homes

February 8, 2018

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner house hunt in Annabelle Selldorf’s Bowlmor Lanes-replacing condo

By Michelle Cohen

DNCE singer Joe Jonas and fiancee Sophie Turner, star of "Game of Thrones," were recently spotted having a look at a Greenwich Village home in the newly-minted Annabelle Selldorf-designed condos that notoriously replaced the former Bowlmor Lanes at 21 East 12th Street. The New York Post reports that the pair checked out a unit in the building's C-line, where two-bedroom homes span 2,028 square feet, priced between $5 and $6 million.
Get a closer look

January 17, 2018

‘Parisian style’ short-term rental in Greenwich Village asks $5,000/month

By Emily Nonko

For a short-term rental option, this one-bedroom apartment with some Parisian style in Greenwich Village is up for rent. What's so French-feeling about the space? 12-foot ceilings, beautiful crown moldings, large arched framed windows and some classy decor and art. The $5,000/month pad is available for between one and six months, according to the listing. It's on the second floor of the walk-up building at 2 East 12th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue.
Check it out inside

Distinctive Homes

The Greenwich Village church that threw a presidential election

The Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in 1902, courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection

January 11, 2018

The Greenwich Village church that threw a presidential election

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The stately church building at 141-145 West 13th Street in the West Village is the picture of serene elegance. Built in 1846-47 in the Greek Revival style, the classical balance and symmetry of the façade mask a history full of controversy, including the birth of a notorious slur in American politics, which arguably changed the outcome of a pivotal presidential election.
Find out about the scandalous story

History

January 10, 2018

LPC sends glassy addition to Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square loft back to the drawing board

By Michelle Cohen

Back in November, the developer/owner of a pair of newly-landmarked buildings at 827-831 Broadway--noted for their cast-iron architecture and a rich cultural history that includes serving as home to artist Willem de Kooning--submitted a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace that architects DXA Studio say was influenced by de Kooning's work. Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission received the proposal with mixed reviews, feeling skeptical about whether or not cultural events should influence a building's architecture. After hearing testimony from a slew of local residents and preservationists who feel the glass topper is too large, the LPC decided to take no action on the plan, instead sending the team back to the drawing board to better detail the restoration aspects and reconsider the addition as perhaps shorter and further setback.
More details and renderings ahead

Fire Patrol House #2: From Benjamin Franklin’s fire prevention ideas to Anderson Cooper’s stylish home

Fire Patrol #2 in 2009, via Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Image Archive

January 4, 2018

Fire Patrol House #2: From Benjamin Franklin’s fire prevention ideas to Anderson Cooper’s stylish home

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The former firehouse located at 84 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village is often noted for being the renovated and restored home of TV personality and journalist Anderson Cooper. But it’s just as noteworthy for an unusual history connected to Benjamin Franklin and insurance underwriters, and for not being the kind of firehouse you think it is at all.
The whole history and current use

History

The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

Abandoned buildings along the Christopher Street Pier. Ca. 1974. © Jack Dowling Collection for GVSHP.

December 29, 2017

The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

By Hannah Frishberg

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation shares a collection of archival images by Jack Dowling that documents the crumbling piers of Greenwich Village in the 1970s. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at tips@6sqft.com. The fetid smell of rotted wood and the Hudson River nearly rises from these photos of the sorry state of Greenwich Village's collapsing piers in the 1970s. The contrast is stark between the neighborhood's disinvested, abandonment, pictured here, and its current culture of high rents and pricey coffee shops. Among New York City's main concerns when photographer Jack Dowling created, "Decay and Rebirth Along the Greenwich Village Waterfront in the 1970s," were its murder rate and the looming threat of bankruptcy when these photos have taken; the city as a whole has changed drastically in the decades since.
The visible difference from the present is astounding

What lies below: NYC’s forgotten and hidden graveyards

Zoom of the 1852 Dripps map of Manhattan, showing the proximity of downtown cemeteries, via David Rumsey Map Collection

December 21, 2017

What lies below: NYC’s forgotten and hidden graveyards

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Most New Yorkers spend some time underground every day as part of their daily commute, but some spend eternity beneath our streets, and in a few cases occupy some pretty surprising real estate. Manhattan cemeteries are tougher to get into than Minetta Tavern without a reservation on a Saturday night because as far back as 1823, New York forbade new burials south of Canal Street. In 1851 that prohibition was extended to new burials south of 86th Street, and the creation of new cemeteries anywhere on the island was banned. But thousands of people were buried in Manhattan before those restrictions went into effect. And while some gravesites remain carefully maintained and hallowed ground, such as the those at St. Mark’s in the Bowery Church on Stuyvesant Street, Trinity Church on Wall Street, and St Paul’s Church at Fulton and Broadway, others have been forgotten and overlaid with some pretty surprising new uses, including playgrounds, swimming pools, luxury condos, and even a hotel named for the current occupant of the White House.
READ MORE

History

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

The Ninth Avenue El near 14th Street c. 1914. Via Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

December 14, 2017

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while little known, the Village was in fact home to the first elevated rail line, and the first streetcar.
The whole history right this way

December 7, 2017

The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Perhaps no single photographer could be said to have captured the energy, the cultural ferment, the reverberating social change emanating from New York City in the second half of the 20th century as vividly as Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah got his start covering the downtown beat of the Village Voice in the 1950s and '60s, as that publication was defining a newly-emerged breed of independent journalism. McDarrah penetrated the lofts and coffeehouses of Lower Manhattan to shed light upon a new movement known as "The Beats" and went on to capture on film the New York artists, activists, politicians, and poets who changed the way everyone else thought and lived. Through the generosity of the Estate of Fred W. McDarrah and the McDarrah family, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation was fortunate enough to add to its digital archive a dozen of the most epochal of Fred McDarrah’s images of downtown icons, including Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Jane Jacobs, and Allen Ginsberg. And just in time for the holidays, you can purchase your own copy (with all proceeds benefitting GVSHP!).
Learn the story behind all the photos

The long cultural and musical history of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village

Jimi Hendrix, via Wiki Commons

November 30, 2017

The long cultural and musical history of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Jimi Hendrix would have turned 75 this week. In his brief 27 years and even briefer musical career, Hendrix left an indelible mark upon guitar playing and rock music, permanently transforming both art forms. But perhaps in some ways his most lasting impact came from a project completed just three weeks before his death--the opening of Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village. On August 26th, 1970, the studio opened, the only recording artist-owned studio at the time. It provided Hendrix with affordable studio space that would also meet his personal technical and aesthetic specifications. Kicked off by an opening party near summer’s end, Electric Lady Studios was the location of Hendrix's last-ever studio recording--an instrumental known as "Slow Blues"--before his untimely passing on September 18, 1970. Fortunately, this was only the beginning of the studio’s incredible run recording some of the greatest rock, hip hop, and pop albums of the last nearly half-century and only the latest incarnation of one of the Village’s most unusual and storied structures.
The whole history here

History

November 22, 2017

$980K Village co-op maximizes space with smart storage and a bonus outdoor patio

By Emily Nonko

This Greenwich Village apartment, at the cooperative 175 Bleecker Street, is within cozy quarters. But the ground-floor, one-bedroom unit is more than meets the eye post-renovation. It's packed with some ingenious storage, a lofted second bedroom space, and a dreamy private patio. After last selling in 2015 for $849,000, it's back on the market with a steeper ask of $980,000. Will someone be willing to spend close to $1 million on a well-designed but modest apartment, right in the heart of the Village?
Take a look around

Distinctive Homes

Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

Artist’s studios on Bleecker Street, via GVSHP

November 9, 2017

Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

With fall’s arrival and the turning back of the clocks, sunlight becomes an ever more precious commodity. Perhaps no New York living space is more centered around capturing and maximizing that prized amenity than the artist’s studio, with its large casement windows and tall ceilings. So with sunlight at a premium, let’s conduct a brief survey of some of the most iconic artist’s studio windows in the Village and East Village.
But first, a little history

November 8, 2017

DXA Studio proposes prismatic glass addition for Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square home

By Dana Schulz

Just a week after the pair of buildings at 827-831 Broadway was landmarked, not only for their cast-iron architecture but for their long cultural history that most notably includes serving as home to world-famous artist Willem de Kooning, the developer/owner has put forth a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace. Though the architects at DXA Studio say the modern topper's reflectivity is representative of two phases of de Kooning's work--his 1960s rural and pastoral landscapes as seen through the reflection of surrounding plantings and his late 1950s urban landscapes through the building reflections--local groups are not so convinced.
All the details ahead

‘Good Wife’ star Josh Charles buys Devonshire House pad in the Village for $6.3M

Image courtesy of the Stein Team of Sotheby’s Downtown. Credit: Scott Wintrow/Gamut Photos.
Josh Charles image: Wikipedia.

November 2, 2017

‘Good Wife’ star Josh Charles buys Devonshire House pad in the Village for $6.3M

By Annie Doge

Alec Baldwin and Amanda Seyfried just got a new celebrity neighbor at the venerable Greenwich Village condo Devonshire House at 28 East 10th Street. According to the Post, "The Good Wife" star Josh Charles just purchased a three-bedroom home at the celebrity-loved building for $6.3 million. According to records, the actor recently sold a two-bedroom condo at 42 East 12th Street for $3.75 million.
Take a look

October 27, 2017

First look at proposed Greenwich Village tower by Robert A.M. Stern

By Dana Schulz

If there's one neighborhood in NYC where new developments face the most challenges it's Greenwich Village. One of the city's first historic districts and once home to preservation godmother Jane Jacobs, the low-scale community is arguably the most vocal and steadfast in the city. But it looks like Madison Realty Capital didn't get the memo, as they've tapped starchitect Robert A.M. Stern to design a hulking, 27-story condo tower at 14 Fifth Avenue, just a block north of Washington Square Park, according to NY Yimby. And while Stern's signature classy, limestone design fits in well with the stretch's other apartment buildings, the proposed 367-foot height will likely not sit well with locals. However, at this point, the tower is merely conceptual and will still require a public review need Landmarks Preservation Commission approvals.
More looks and details

October 19, 2017

Off the grid: The little Flatiron Buildings of the Village

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

The Flatiron Building is one of the city’s most iconic and beloved landmarks. Since 1902 it’s been a symbol of New York, though ironically its acute angle formed by the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue makes it an unusual sight in our otherwise orthogonal city on a grid. But while the Flatiron Building may be the most famous product of quirky street angles, it’s far from the only one. In fact, the "off-the-grid" streets of Greenwich Village and the East Village contain scores of them, most of which pre-date the 23rd Street landmark.
Take a tour of the little Flatirons

Lorraine Hansberry’s Greenwich Village: From ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ to civil rights

Google Street View of 337 Bleecker Street

October 12, 2017

Lorraine Hansberry’s Greenwich Village: From ‘A Raisin in the Sun’ to civil rights

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Lorraine Hansberry, the trailblazing playwright, activist, and Nina Simone song inspiration was perhaps most closely associated with Chicago. But in fact she lived, went to school, and spent much of her life in Greenwich Village, even writing her best known play "A Raisin in the Sun" while living on Bleecker Street. And shortly a historic plaque will mark the site of her home on Waverly Place.
Learn the full history here

Stonewall Inn to get NYC’s first permanent LGBT pride flag

Stonewall Inn, photo via Wikimedia

October 10, 2017

Stonewall Inn to get NYC’s first permanent LGBT pride flag

By Devin Gannon

LGBT activists will unveil a rainbow flag outside the historic gay bar Stonewall Inn on Wednesday, marking the 30th anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The Greenwich Village bar at 53 Christopher Street is often credited with launching the gay rights movement after multiple violent police raids in the summer of 1969. President Barack Obama designated Stonewall as a national monument last year, the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the gay rights movement (h/t DNA info). Stonewall's rainbow flag will be the first permanent LGBT pride flag in New York City.
More this way

October 5, 2017

Rock royal Ann Dexter-Jones lists glam Village duplex for $5M

By Michelle Cohen

Ann Dexter-Jones, British-born socialite, jewelry designer, mom to the Ronson clan, and once-again wife of Foreigner’s Mick Jones (the pair married 32 years ago, divorced in 2007 and recently remarried) just put her chic three-bedroom Village co-op on the market (h/t New York Post). The 2,075-square-foot home at 42 West 9th Street in the coveted "Gold Coast" neighborhood off lower Fifth Avenue, asking $4.995 million, has a townhouse vibe and plenty of character. Four wood-burning fireplaces, 11-foot ceilings, and pre-war details can be found throughout, in a building with more amenities than a townhouse.
Take the tour

Uncovering the sites of the South Village’s secret ‘Little Italy’

Caffe Reggio, via Prayitno/Flickr

October 5, 2017

Uncovering the sites of the South Village’s secret ‘Little Italy’

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Many think of Little Italy’s Mulberry Street or the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue as the centers of Italian-American life and culture in New York. But some of the most historically significant sites relating to the Italian-American experience in New York can be found in the Greenwich Village blocks known as the South Village--from the first church in America built specifically for an Italian-American congregation to the cafe where cappuccino was first introduced to the country, to the birthplace of Fiorello LaGuardia, NYC's first Italian-American mayor.
All the historic sites right this way

History

September 28, 2017

Iconic album covers of Greenwich Village and the East Village: Then and now

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

There’s no shortage of sites in the Village and East Village where great makers of popular music lived or performed. Less well known, however, are the multitude of sites that were the backdrop for iconic album covers, sometimes sources of inspiration for the artists or just familiar stomping grounds. Today, many are hiding in plain sight, waiting to perform an encore for any passersby discerning enough to notice. Ahead, we round up some of the most notable examples, from "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" to the Ramones' self-titled debut album.
Learn about the covers and see what the locations look like today

History

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