City Votes to Calendar Final Phase
of GVSHP’s Proposed South Village Historic District;
Area Now Formally Under Consideration
For Landmark Designation;
Hearing on November 29
 |
Map of the proposed new district (l.); map of progress on South Village landmarking up to this point (r.). |
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to ‘calendar,’ or begin formal consideration of, landmarking the third and final phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District. GVSHP has been fighting to get this historic, ten block, one hundred sixty building area landmarked for over ten years (most of the first phase of GVSHP’s proposed South Village Historic District was landmarked in 2010 and the second phase in 2013). Thanks to the indefatigable efforts of Councilmember Corey Johnson, after the City resisted landmarking this area for years, they have now agreed to consider it, and the formal review process has now begun.
 |
St. Anthony of Padua Church in Phase III of the proposed historic district – see more images. |
The move does not come a moment too soon, as this part of the South Village has seen intensifying development pressure in recent years, loss of historic buildings, and increasingly out of scale development. The proposed rezoning of the St. John’s Terminal site a few blocks away would only increase that development pressure. Without landmark protections, current zoning for the area could allow towers of up to 300 feet in height.
Adding to the concern, in recent years developers like Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner has bought properties in the neighborhood such as 156 Sullivan Street, formerly the home of beloved neighborhood institution Joe’s Dairy.
 |
156 Sullivan Street |
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. The South Village contains an unrivalled collection of early 19th century rowhouses and late 19th/early 20th century tenements of every configuration and style that tell the story of the last great wave of immigration to New York City (see images of buildings in the proposed district).
The next step in the process is a public hearing for the proposed district on November 29 (time TBD), and then the Commission can vote on the proposed designation. GVSHP has urged that the City Council not grant any approvals for the proposed new development at the St. John’s Terminal site before this final phase of the South Village is landmarked.
 |
A 300 ft. tall tower as would be allowed under current zoning at Sullivan and Houston Streets in the proposed South Village Historic District. |
The final phase of the proposed South Village Historic District will bring to over 1,300 the number of buildings GVSHP has helped get landmarked since 2003. This includes ten historic districts and historic district extensions, and more than a dozen sites designated as individual landmarks.
Learn more about GVSHP’s preservation efforts in the South Village here.
Next: 11/07/16
Previous: 10/21/16
|
