CITY AGREES TO MOVE AHEAD
WITH FINAL PHASE OF GVSHP’S PROPOSED
SOUTH VILLAGE HISTORIC DISTRICT –
Culmination of Ten Year Landmarking Campaign
To Protect Historic, Endangered Area
 The City has finally agreed to move ahead with the final phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District, a roughly ten-block, one hundred sixty building area south of Houston Street between Sixth Avenue and West Broadway. This is wonderful news, and the culmination of a more than ten year campaign to seek designation of our entire proposed South Village Historic District, the first phase of which waslandmarked in 2010 and the second phase of which was landmarked in 2013. This low-rise, historic, residential area has been increasingly endangered and threatened with out-of-scale new construction. Working closely with City Councilmember Corey Johnson, who has been a staunch and longtime advocate of designation of the South Village, we were able to get the City to move ahead and begin formal consideration of the proposed district.
The first official step is the proposed district will be ‘calendared’ by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which would then be followed by a public hearing and a vote. GVSHP has demanded that no rezoning of the nearby St. John’s Terminal site be considered until and unless the final phase of the proposed South Village Historic District is designated. We will still need to turn out for public hearings and show strong support for the designation in order to ensure that landmark designation takes place.
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St. Anthony of Padua Church and Sullivan Street in the final phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District. |
The South Village contains an irreplaceable record of our city and country’s history, particularly its history of immigrants and innovators. In 2013 GVSHP got the entire South Village listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and in 2012, we got the Preservation League of New York State to name the South Village one of its ‘Seven to Save’ – one of the seven most important endangered historic sites in New York State. GVSHP’s original proposal for designation of the South Village Historic District was funded by a grant from Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts. GVSHP’s report ‘The Italians of the South Village’ was funded by the JM Kaplan Fund.
GVSHP wishes to extend its gratitude to City Councilmember Corey Johnson, without whose staunch advocacy this tremendous victory would not be possible. We also want to thank Community Board #2 for supporting this effort, all the other elected officials who have supported South Village landmark designation, and the thousands of neighbors, residents, and preservationists who wrote letters, attended rallies, and testified at hearings to help make this possible.
Next: 10/31/16
Previous: 08/1/16
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