Greenwich Village Historic District
50th Anniversary Celebrations #GVHD50 Continue –
Upcoming Programs on the District’s
Changes & Growth Since 1969,
and Additions to Map+Tour

Our year-long celebration of everything Greenwich Village Historic District continues with some great new additions to our GVHD50 Map+Tour.  We’ve just added a new Jewish History tour, containing both Greenwich Village’s oldest and its narrowest house, the cemetery of the very first Jewish congregation in America, the birthplace of a baseball legend, the homes of two New York City mayors, a “university in exile” for academics fleeing Nazism, and the homes of Bella Abzug and Barbra Streisand, among many others.  We’ve also added the sites of ‘Romany Marie’s Café,’ the quintessential bohemian Greenwich Village hangout of the early 20th century; four new spots on our “Most Charming” tour including a “half-house,” “the most Indian house in America,” and a charming hideaway that inspired an H.P. Lovecraft story; and five new additions to our “Daytonian in Manhattan” tour.  Check it all out here.

And we have our two final GVHD50 programs of the year which promise to be exciting – focused on the fights of the last fifty years and today to expand the Greenwich Village Historic District, and taking a look at how the Greenwich Village Historic District has changed over the last fifty years —what has the Landmarks Preservation Commission allowed to be destroyed, what have they allowed to be built, what have they ensured stayed the same, and what would Greenwich Village look like if the district had never been designated?  See below for details and to RSVP while seats are still available.

Continuing the Fight: Expanding Landmark Protections Since the Greenwich Village Historic District Designation

When Village activists succeeded in getting the Greenwich Village Historic District (GVHD) designated in 1969, they did what no one had ever done before – securing landmark protections for over 2,200 buildings and nearly 100 blocks.  As expansive and impressive as that victory was, much of Greenwich Village was left without protections. In the intervening fifty years, four new historic districts, two extensions of the GVHD, and a few dozen individual landmarks have been added, some only after long and bitter battles. Much still needs to be done.
Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman will review the battles of the last fifty years – what was won and how, what was lost, and what still needs doing. He’ll also look at Jane Jacobs’ original plea for comprehensive landmark protections for Greenwich Village, and see how much of that vision has been fulfilled.

Wednesday, October 30, 6:30pm
United Methodist Church of the Village, at 201 West 13th Street

Register Here!

50 Years of the Greenwich Village Historic District: How Landmarking Has Shaped and Preserved A Neighborhood

In 1969, Greenwich Village preservationists, activists, and neighbors celebrated the victory of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. In our final in a series of panel discussions marking the 50th anniversary of this milestone, we’ll consider what has changed over the last half-century, what might have changed had it not been for landmarking, and what this all tells us about what the district’s future might look like. What has landmarking allowed?  What has it prevented? How has that process of making decisions about the shape of this neighborhood changed over the last fifty years?
Our panel will include:
 * Andrew Berman, Village Preservation Executive Director
 * Kent Barwick, former Chair, Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC); President, Municipal Arts Society (MAS); co-founder Historic Districts Council
 * Ronda Wist, President at Wist Preservation Associates, former LPC Executive Director, and MAS Vice President
 * Frank Sanchis, Programs Director at the World Monuments Fund, former Senior Advisor to MAS and Vice President for Stewardship of Historic Sites for the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Monday, November 4, 6:30pm
First Presbyterian Church, enter at 12 West 12th Street

Register Here!