The historic Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments, 133-139 MacDougal Street, with area NYU has proposed to preserve highlighted

PRESERVATION UPDATE
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 
June 25, 2008
www.gvshp.org

GVSHP has received a tremendous outpouring of sadness and concern in response to the news of approval of NYU's plan to demolish the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments at 133-139 MacDougal Street.   While this is indeed an occasion for sadness, it is worth noting that the determination GVSHP was able to secure that the entire building qualified for the State and National Register of Historic Places means that no State or Federal funds (which are often used for projects like these) can be used in this case without a further historic preservation review.  GVSHP has also shared the State's determination regarding the important history of this site and considerable historic research we have compiled about the building with the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, and asked them to protect the site by either reconsidering individual landmark designation or moving ahead with GVSHP's proposed South Village Historic District, which includes this site. 

 

Many have compared NYU's plan to save the facade of the entry to the small theater section of the building and the four interior walls to its promise in 2001 to "preserve" the Poe House just around the corner of West 3rd Street.  It is worth noting that the Historic Districts Council, a strong ally in the effort to preserve the South Village and the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments, testified strongly AGAINST approval of the current NYU plan, based upon their own experience having negotiated the Poe House agreement with NYU in 2001 and seeing the results.  It is also worth contrasting the high hopes which many had for the Poe House deal with NYU in 2001 with the great disappointment which greeted the final results. 

 

We are very grateful to the Historic Districts Council for their strong support for preserving the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments, and for sharing their determination not to allow NYU to repeat the mistakes of the past.

To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, go to www.gvshp.org/membership.htm

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PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 
June 20, 2008
www.gvshp.org

Last night Community Board #2 voted to approve NYU's plan for demolition of 133-139 MacDougal Street, the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments; with this approval, it is expected that NYU will move ahead with its plan. 

Several weeks ago, after an enormous public outcry led by GVSHP, NYU did agree to preserve the four walls and entry facade of the theater portion of the building, although NYU originally claimed there was nothing worth preserving about the theater.  But NYU has continued to refuse to preserve  the remainder of the building, which has been called "the cornerstone of bohemia," "the heart of cultural life of the Village," and "the center of much of the resurgence and renaissance associated with Greenwich Village"  by scholars and historians.  Because of the historic significance of the building, and because NYU pledged to community groups, the Community Board, and elected officials to "prioritize re-use before new development" as part of the "planning principles" it agreed to, GVSHP felt it was critical that NYU be called upon to re-use rather than demolish this building.  Many community groups, preservationists, theater advocates, historians and neighbors joined GVSHP in this call.

PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 
May 27, 2008
www.gvshp.org

Background:  After initially proposing to demolish the entire building at 133-139 MacDougal Street, NYU has since modified their plans to demolish the building while retaining the four walls and entryway facade of the Provicnetown Playhouse theater, which consists of the first floor of the southern fourth of the building.  Thus NYUs current commitment is to preserve about 1/16th, or 6%, of the facade and volume of the existing building. This is an important step in the right direction, and GVSHP is pleased that NYU has now recognized that the Provincetown Playhouse Theater is a remarkably important part of our city and country's history, and must be preserved.  This change in plans is an important victory for efforts to preserve our neighborhood and our city's history and cultural legacy. However, NYU's latest plan not only leaves many important questions unanswered, but still entails demolition of the remainder of the building, which is also of exceptional cultural and historic significance.  Therefore GVSHP has urged NYU to make clear, concrete commitments as to how the theater will be physically preserved, and how the permanent use of the space as a theater will be guaranteed.  We have also urged that NYU try to preserve and re-use as much of the existing building as possible. Why is the rest of the building important?  The buildings comprising the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments at 133-139 MacDougal Street have been called "the cornerstone of bohemia," "the heart of cultural life of the Village," and "the center of much of the resurgence and renaissance associated with Greenwich Village"  by scholars and historians.  In addition to the current Provincetown Playhouse theater occupying the ground floor of #133 MacDougal since 1918, the original Provincetown Playhouse was located at #139 at the north end of the building, the apartments above attracted cultural icons such as Bernice Abbott, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Dorothy Gillespie as residents, and #135 and 137 housed the Liberal Club, the Washington Square Bookstore, the Heterodoxy Club, and Polly's Restaurant -- which collectively formed the epicenter of Village's cultural, political, and intellectual renaissance of the early 20th century that transformed the world.   Additionally, NYU has agreed to a set of "planning principles" that are supposed to guide NYU development over the next 25 years, and which call upon the university to "prioritize re-use before new development."  If this interpreted to allow NYU to demolish one of the most important historic and cultural sites in our neighborhood, we are concerned that this hard-fought-for provision will have little or no efficacy.  Also, NYU has pledged to support designation of the proposed South Village Historic District, of which this building and its history is a critical part.

 

• Come to the hearing on the 28th and let NYU and the Community Board know that you want to see concrete agreements regarding the preservation and restoration of the Provincetown Playhouse Theater space and the theater use, and that you believe that as much as possible of the existing building should be preserved.

After a protracted campaign to save the Provincetown Playhouse theater from demolition, last Friday NYU announced through Borough President Stringer's NYU Community Task Force that they were revising their plans to now include preservation of the theater space, and promised to retain the four walls of the theater and its facade, and to restore historic details and conditions to the theater which the university had destroyed or eliminated in its 1998 renovation of the space.  This is an enormously important step in the right direction, and a victory for our efforts and the hundreds of people who wrote, called, and e-mailed NYU urging them to change their plans.  A special thank you goes to the 100 leaders in the community and in the world of preservation, theater, and the arts who joined us in urging NYU President John Sexon to reconsider the university's demolition plans.  THANK YOU TO ALL WHO MADE THIS POSSIBLE.

Dear friend,  

The effort to save the Provincetown Playhouse is gaining growing support, and is clearly having an impact.  Please join us in the fight!  Here is the latest:

Letter-writing Campaign:  Literally hundreds and hundreds of people from across the city, country, and globe have written to NYU urging them to reconsider plans to demolish the Provincetown Playhouse (we got several letters from China and Japan today).  GVSHP has sent a sign-on letter to NYU President Sexton urging him to drop plans to demolish the Provincetown Playhouse, signed by dozens of prominent preservationists, community leaders, theater producers and academics, and artists and entertainers.  New names are being added to the letter every day.   If you haven't already written NYU urging them to drop their plans to demolish the Playhouse, please do; if you have, please forward this e-mail and the link to our sample letters and ask a friend, neighbor, or family member to write.  

Media Attention: NYU's plan to demolish the Provincetown Playhouse and the campaign to save the building has received an increasing amount of media attention, including from the Associated Press (which has been picked up widely) and the New York Times today.   

NYU Response:  In response to the avalanche of letters and criticism it has received regarding its plans to demolish the Playhouse building, today NYU issued a document entitled "Rebuilding the Provincetown Playhouse and Honoring a Cultural Institution" -- their rationale for their plan to raze the building to the ground.  The basic premise is that because the Provincetown Playhouse was altered 70 years ago, the building has little or no cultural significance, and a better way of "honoring" it would be to demolish the building and constructing a new one.  See GVSHP's reponse.   

Public Hearing on May 28th: GVSHP is enlisting help to publicize the public hearing on May 28th at which NYU will be presenting their plans for demolition of the Provincetown Playhouse, and the public will have an opportunity to respond.  Please download the flyer we created and circulate it to your friends, family, and neighbors, and encourage them to attend the hearing on May 28th at 6:30 pm at the NYU Law School, Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South, Greenburg Lounge.

GVSHP and a broad coalition of neighbors, preservationists, and theater and arts advocates are working hard to prevent demolition of the Provincetown Playhouse from taking place; for more information, see www.gvshp.org/PTown.htm, and to get more involved, contact us at gvshp@gvshp.org.  

Andrew Berman, Executive Director
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
212/475-9585 x38
232 East 11th Street
New York, NY 10003     

To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, go to www.gvshp.org/membership.htm
 

PRESERVATION ALERT
from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 

April 25, 2008
www.gvshp.org