PRESERVATION UPDATE

from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

November 20, 2008

www.gvshp.org



Preserve NY Grant for East Village Preservation

Today GVSHP received a $13,000 grant from Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of NY State and the NY State Council on the Arts, for our East Village Preservation Project.  The grant will allow GVSHP to complete research and documentation of the history of  approximately 2,400 buildings in a 75-block area between 14th Street and Houston Street, Fourth Avenue/the Bowery and Avenue D.   GVSHP will then use this information to propose landmark protections for the area.  All the information generated by this research will also be made available to the public through our website and through a published report about the history of the East Village made possible by the grant. 

The building-by-building research GVSHP has been doing on the East Village for the last three years(which this grant will allow us to complete and turn into a comprehensive report on the history of the East Village and landmarking proposls for the neighborhood) has already had an impact on five critical buildings in the East Village:

1) Webster Hall — GVSHP's research on this building was used as pat of our successful nomintion of the building for landmark designation -- see here and here.

2) Russian Orthodox Cathedral at 59 East 2nd Street — GVSHP's research was used as part of our nomination of this building for landmark status when we became aware of a plan to erect an 8-story condo on top of the cathedral.  The LPC intervened, the condo plan has been scuttled, and the building is currently being considered for landmark status.  See here and here.

3) 101 Avenue A — GVSHP's research was the basis for our nomination of this building for landmark status — see here and here.

4) Congregation Mezrtich Synagogue at 415 East 6th Street — see here.  GVSHP's research was the basis for our emergency nomination of this, the East Village's last operating 'tenement synagogue,' for landmark status when plans to demolish the building were revealed.  The demolition plans have now been shelved, and the LPC is reviewing the request for landmark status.  See also here.

5) 128 East 13th Street — GVSHP's research on this building revealed not only that it was the studio of artist Frank Stella for many years, but that it was the last remaining horse auction mart building in New York City (frequented by the Belmonts and Vanderbilts) and had served as a traning center for female assembly-line workers during World War II.  The research was also used as the basis for an emergency request for landmark designation when we uncovered plans to demolish the building.  The demolition plans were blocked by the LPC, and landmark designation appears imminent — see here.

GVSHP is incredibly grateful to the Preserve NY program, which funded similar successful efforts by GVSHP to document and advocate for the preservation of Federal-era (1790-1835) houses in Lower Manhattan, the Meatpacking District, and the South Village. 

CLICK HERE for pictures from today's announcement; CLICK HERE for the Preservation League of NY State's press release announcing the grant award, CLICK HERE for a Metro NY report, and CLICK HERE for a Villager article.

To join GVSHP or support our preservation efforts, CLICK HERE.