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Following GVSHP’s successful nomination of Westbeth for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places (funded by the J.M. Kaplan Fund), today the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission finally acted upon a promise made in 2004 to consider Westbeth and seven other sites along with two small districts in the Far West Village for landmark designation. The Commission voted unanimously to ‘calendar’ Westbeth, meaning it is now formally being considered for landmark designation, with a hearing date to follow, and some preliminary protections now in place.

GVSHP’s successful nomination of Westbeth for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places will help qualify the artists’ development for grants and loans for preservation work which it would not have otherwise qualified for. It also requires the State and Federal government to consider Westbeth’s historic significance as a groundbreaking home for artists in any actions they might take involving the site. However, NYC landmark designation, now being considered, goes beyond this to actually prevent demolition or inappropriate changes to the physical fabric of the exterior of the complex.

In 2004, in response to a campaign to save the Far West Village led by GVSHP, the city promised to ‘downzone’ much of the Far West Village, extend the Greenwich Village Historic District and create a new Weehawken Street Historic District, and landmark eight individual sites in the Far West Village including Westbeth. While the downzoning and historic district designations were done, the individual landmark designations lagged, and GVSHP pushed the city to maintain its commitment. Four of the sites have been landmarked over the last five years, and especially with the recent successful State and National Register nomination, GVSHP pushed for fulfillment of the promise to consider Westbeth for landmark designation. Today’s action brings the city one step closer to fulfilling that promise, though they have still not acted upon three sites which were promised for landmark designation — Charles Lane, and 370 and 372 West 11th Street.

FIND OUT MORE:

Come to GVSHP’s program on Westbeth this Thursday, Oct. 22 at Westbeth Community room, 155 Bank Street (Washington/West Streets). NEW: At 6:30 P.M. GVSHP Exec. Dir. Andrew Berman will discuss what effect landmarking and State and National Register listing could have on Westbeth, and at 7 P.M. Prof. Andrew Dolkart, author of GVSHP’s nomination of Westbeth for the State and National Register of Historic Places, will conduct a lecture on the history of Westbeth’s conversion from abandoned Bell Telephone Labs to first-of-its-kind artists’ housing.
Read or listen to GVSHP’s Oral History interviews with key figures in the birth of Westbeth as artists’ housing, including Richard Meier and Merce Cunningham.
See GVSHP’s nomination of Westbeth to the State and National Register of Historic Places, including history and photos.