LATEST NEWS

Landmark Applications 100-110 Bleecker Street Silver Towers (University Village)

Thank you for all of your support! The Silver Towers complex was designated a New York City landmark on Novmber 18, 2008. Display your support with a variety of Silver Towers shirts from GVSHP		West Village Patch 5/17/19 Villager 09/16/09 Globe & Mail 04/16/09 11/18/08 Landmarking covered in: Crains NY NY Times NY Post New York Observer New York Magazine The Real Deal City Realty Washington Square News Preservation Magazine AIA e-Oculus NY1 NY1 06/25/08 Metro NY 06/25/08 NY Times 6/24/08		Silver Towers (University Village) LPC Designation Report Determination of Eligibility for listing on State and National Register of Historic Places
Silver Towers Photo Set on Flickr		Silver Towers Landmark Designation Proposal		Letters of Support from Elected Officials Testimony in Support of Silver Towers Seeking superblock zoning clarification from NYU and its response Washington Square Southeast Urban Renewal Plan (4th Amended)

The Silver Towers complex consists of three 30-story towers built 40 years ago as part of an urban renewal project; two towers house NYU faculty, while the third, 505 LaGuardia Place, is an affordable residential co-op for local residents which NYU was required to build as a giveback to the community to replace housing they destroyed to make way for the complex.

The Silver Towers superblock complex was assembled in the early 1960s by Robert Moses and given to NYU for “slum clearance” and expansion of their campus. However, due to the outcry over the loss of housing on the site, NYU was required to erect an affordable residential co-op within the development to offset the loss to the community. Up-and-coming architect I. M. Pei was chosen to design the complex, which ended up being a watershed design in his career and a boldly innovative work with cutting edge applications of technology and materials, utilizing innovative thinking about urban planning, use of space, and sculptural form. The complex also included a striking 36 ft.-tall version of Picasso’s sculpture “Portrait of Sylvette,” built especially for the site, one of only two public outdoor Picasso sculptures in the Western Hemisphere.