St. Mark's Church in the Bowery

This weekend, the New York Landmarks Conservancy is again organizing the state-wide Sacred Sites Open House Weekend. This free event offers a unique opportunity to explore the interiors of more than 30 historic religious sites in New York City and 70 sites throughout New York State – and two right here in our neighborhoods!

Church of the Ascension
Fifth Avenue at 10th Street
Open Saturday, May 19th, 1-5 P.M.
The Church of the Ascension is a National Historic Landmark designed by Upjohn in 1841 that features a magnificent 1880’s interior designed by Stanford White. You can read the all about the history of the church in the State & National Register report.

St. Mark’s Church-In-The-Bowery
131 East 10th Street
Open Sunday, May 20th, 12:30-2:30 P.M.
St. Mark’s in the Bowery was constructed in 1795-99 on the site of the chapel originally built by Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Amsterdam in 1660, making it the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City! More information can be found on the Landmarks Preservation’s Commission’s designation report.

For a full list of participating sites around the city and state, click here.

GVSHP has long recognized and advocated for the preservation of the unique architectural contributions religious institutions have made to the character of our communities. Just some of the building sites we’ve researched and advocated for the preservation of include:

The Congregation Mezritch Synagogue

Congregation Mezritch Synagogue at 415 East 6th Street — the East Village’s last remaining operating “tenement synagogue,” so named because they filled narrow lots sandwiched between tenements and served the poor immigrants who populated the surrounding buildings

St. Nicholas of Myra Orthodox Church at Avenue A and East 10^th Street, which GVSHP helped get landmarked in 2008

St. Veronica’s Roman Catholic church at 153 Christopher Street in the Far West Village, which was included in the landmarking of the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension I in 2006

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection on East 2^nd Street which is set to be heard as part of the larger public hearing on the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District this coming June 26^th – we hope you can make it to show your support for the preservation of this vulnerable area

Henry Collins Brown, Valentine's City of New York Guidebook (New York: Valentine's Manual, Inc, 1920)

Recently, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced 40 preservation projects in the running for grants through their annual Partners in Preservation program.  This program seeks to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of historic preservation, and this year it’s focusing on preservation in New York City. From April 26 through May 21, 2012, local residents and people across the country are encouraged to vote for their favorite of 40 historic places throughout the five boroughs of New York City to receive preservation funding. While we encourage you to take a look at all the projects being considered this year, we here at Off The Grid wanted to spotlight the three projects within our neighborhoods.  Today we’re looking at the Portico of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery.

James Borgardus, the father of cast-iron architecture. The portico at St. Mark's is attributed to him.

St. Mark’s Church stands on the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City and is the city’s second-oldest public building.  The site was part of a farm (or “bouwerie”) purchased in 1651 by Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch Director-General of the New Netherland colony.  The historic campus of St. Mark’s Church is formally oriented to face true south (skewed from the City’s grid), reflecting the original rural lane that once crossed in front of it and is still in evidence as Stuyvesant Street across from the church. On the exact site of the present day church, Stuyvesant built his personal Dutch Reform Chapel and, in 1672, was buried in a vault beneath the church. A great description of the historic grounds and buildings of St. Mark’s Church can be found at the St. Mark’s Historic Landmark Fund website.

The Portico, which fronts Stuyvesant Street, was built circa 1858 and attributed to James Bogardus, a noted early pioneer of cast iron architecture. According to Christopher Gray, Bogardus did not consider himself an architect, but an inventor in the 19th-century tradition, patenting cotton-spinning machinery, clocks, grinding mills, gas meters and printing apparatus. The portico, however, is in need of repair and St. Mark’s welcomes your help. CLICK HERE to cast your vote for the St. Mark’s Portico!

NYU’s massive, out-of-scale plan to construct 2 million square feet of new buildings within the Washington Square Village and Silver Towers superblocks is touted by the University as being desperately needed to accommodate its growth.  NYU President John Sexton in particular called out the need for more faculty housing.

We have to call this in to question given what we uncovered about an alarmingly large number of vacant apartments and  units lost to apartment combinations at Washington Square Village in our report, Disappearing Before Our Eyes.

There were 1296 apartments in the buildings at Washington Square Village when they were constructed in 1960.  As of 2011 there were only 1121 apartments.

What accounts for that loss?  Why has the number of apartments declined by 14% when NYU is claiming such great need for faculty housing?

NYU has been warehousing apartments for decades to combine them to create large “super apartments.”  Our report includes the certificates of occupancies for the buildings as well as more than 40 permits filed by NYU with the Department of Buildings for apartment combinations of warehoused  units.

What do we mean by “super apartments?”  The floor plans below are for the combination of two nicely sized apartments into one very large 4 bedroom, 3 bath apartment.

And, if you don’t want to take our word for it correspondence from NYU to the Department of Buildings, also included in our report, supports this.  Here’s an excerpt below:

To learn more about GVSHP’s advocacy against the NYU 2031 Plan please visit www.gvshp.org/nyu where you can read our testimony from the April 25 City Planning Commission hearing, sign an online petition and find contact information to write and call your local elected officials to tell them to Vote No on NYU 2031!

2012 Village Award Winners will be presented at GVSHP's Annual Meeting on June 7th

On Thursday, June 7^th, eight Village businesses, people, and institutions will be presented a Village Award by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.We received hundreds of nominations, and the winners are ….

Arturo's (left) and the Bleecker Street Sitting Area (right).

6^th Street and Avenue B Garden

Marilyn Appleberg

Arturo’s

Foods of New York Tours

Little Red School House/Elisabeth Irwin High School

Lower East Side History Project

City Councilmember Rosie Mendez

The Regina Kellerman Award: Bleecker Street Sitting Area Renovation

We hope you can join us during this special evening as we look back on GVSHP’s work over the last year and honor our awardees, in a ceremony presented by village author Calvin Trillin. All are welcome to join the ceremony at the New School’s Tishman Auditorium, a beautiful interior landmark.  Reservations must be made by June 4. E-mail or call  (212) 475-9585 x 35.

And, stay tuned for in-depth profiles of all our Village Awardees here at OFF THE GRID.

The Tompkins Square Library

Since it opened in 1904, the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library has served as an important community resource.

Situated on East 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B, the building itself was designated an individual landmark by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission 1999. We are happy to report that the entire block of East 10th Street was just recently designated  by the city as a historic district as well.

The history of the Tompkins Square Branch goes back to 1901, when steel magnate Andrew Carnegie donated$5.2 million to the city to help build a network of branch libraries across the five boroughs. The Tompkins Square Branch was the ninth Carnegie Library built in the city and was designed in a restrained Classical Revival style by Charles McKim of the well-known firm of McKim, Mead, & White.

The library’s designation report notes that the nearby institutional buildings helped influence the siting of the library – these include the then planned P.S. 64 to the east, the (now landmarked) public baths a block north on 11th Street, and the Boys Club Building on Avenue A and 10th Street.

The library reached out to the local community from its beginning — at the time the large German population was giving way to new immigrant groups like Italians, Eastern-European Jews, and Poles. The library held one of the most extensive Polish book collections in the city, and used its specially-built community rooms for meetings and classes for the public.

The New York Public Library Digital Gallery houses a great collection of English language course posters from 1920 (see below) that show the diverse communities that the library sought to serve. Today the Tompkins Square Branch continues the tradition of community education and offers programs like picture book readings for toddlers, yoga classes, and manga drawing workshops.

In English

In Polish

In Yiddish

In Italian

L: Historic view in 1963, courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Gallery; R: Today

Designed by architects Frederick Clarke Withers and Calvert Vaux, the Jefferson Market Courthouse (as it was originally known) was constructed between 1874 and 1877.  Withers and Vaux drew inspiration from Ruskinian Gothic models, and the inclusion of the clock at the tower for use by the public recalls the civic-minded designs of piazza buildings in Renaissance Italy.

As per the Partners in Preservation website: “The Jefferson Market Branch of The New York Public Library has served the Greenwich Village community for more than forty years. The building served initially as a courthouse and then as a home for various city agencies. Community members rallied to save the building from the wrecking ball, and it was preserved and converted into a public library, opening for business in 1967.”  Preeminent preservationist Margot Gayle led the grassroots effort to save the building and the library conversion was led by pioneering preservation architect Giorgio Cavaglieri (read more about him HERE), an appropriate choice given his northern Italian roots and the building’s European-inspired design.   To learn more about the history of this building, check out our other blog post on its recent rehabilitation and read the State & National Register Report!

The Jefferson Market Library is hoping to receive grant money from the Partners in Preservation program to greatly increase accessibility to the library and create an entryway that is more in harmony with the historic architecture.  This grant will work in conjunction with an already proposed project to install a bathroom in the lobby and enhance handicapped access to the library.  CLICK HERE to cast your vote for the Jefferson Market Library!

the current entranceway is in much need of new doors

The past mixed with the present as visitors were able to see firsthand how today’s families live in and care for these historic homes. We thought we’d share some of the highlights with you here at Off the Grid.

Andrew Berman, GVSHP's Executive Director, hands out house tour tickets at the New York Studio School on Sunday, May 6th.

Sheryl Woodruff, GVSHP's Senior Director of Operations, shows GVSHP volunteer Ted Mineau a map of the house tour.

Visitors line up outside one townhouse while others decide which house to see next.

Windows were open on a beautiful spring day.

The day ended with a reception at a private residence to celebrate another successful house tour!

To see more photos from our 2012 house tour please visit our Flickr page. Thanks to everyone who made this day a huge success by coming out to see these homes in support of GVSHP and the work we do to help preserve and educate about the Village, NoHo and the East Village. We hope to see you next year!

1895, photograph by Adolph Wittemann (courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York Digital Archives)

On this day in 1895 (that’s 117 years ago if you’re counting), Washington Square Arch was dedicated. The above image shows what the arch looked like that year. Designed by Stanford White of McKim, Meade & White, the arch has become one of the most prominent symbols of Greenwich Village. Off the Grid went into detail about the history of the arch in a post a few months ago.

To celebrate the history of this renowned monument, we thought we’d share a few historic photos from the GVSHP archives.

Labor Day Parade, 1912. GVSHP Archives, New York Bound Bookshop Collection.

"Washington Arch at night with Christmas tree" by Nat Kaufman, c. 1950. GVSHP Archives, Nat Kaufman Collection.

Photograph by Claire Tankel, November 1, 1958. Stanley Tankel drives a car through Washington Square on the date the Square was closed to cars. The sign on Tankel's car reads: "Last Car Thru Washington Square". GVSHP Archives, Claire Tankel Collection.

The weather this weekend is supposed to be beautiful so, if you have time, stop by Washington Square Park and visit the arch. We also hope to see you at GVSHP’s 14th annual House Tour Benefit this Sunday! Tickets can be purchased in advance on our website or at the door (priced at a higher rate).

Last week the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express announced that Duo Multicultural Arts Center (DMAC) was one of the 40 sites in New York City selected to compete for grants for preservation projects for the Partners in Preservation program. We are so excited that Duo is one of three sites selected in the Village along with St. Marks Church-in- the Bowery and the Jefferson Market Library. Earlier this week we posted about the sites and today we take a look at the interior of the Duo Multicultural Arts Center at 64 East 4th Street and see where those grant funds may be used.

DMAC, a founding member of the Fourth Arts Block and a Village Award Winner, is housed in a former German social hall built in 1889.  Many recognize the building for its unique exterior spiral staircase.  Executive/Artisitc Director Michelangelo Alasa’ first visited the building in the 1960′s when it was Andy Warhol’s Fortune Theater. Today he considers himself a steward for the building which over the years hosted John Phillip Sousa and early meetings of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.  It’s been quite a month for Michelangelo and DMAC, as last week they received a Lucy G. Moses Award for their restoration of the buildings facade from the New York Landmarks Conservancy (before and after pictured at left).

They are now seeking funding to restore the interior of the building which retains much of its original features including murals from the late 19th century and decorative ceilings. As striking as the exterior, the second floor ballroom that is now used as performance space has elaborate plaster ceilings and a series of murals depicting classic romantic themes.

Michelangelo was kind enough to give us a tour and we wanted to share the pictures of the interiors that will be restored.

 Please remember to cast your vote for your favorite place in New York City to receive preservation grants from Partners in Preservation.  You can vote once a day and voting is open until May 21.  If you want to see the fabulous interiors of the Duo Multicultural Arts Center, you’re in for a treat.  This weekend the building will be open for tours as part of the Municipal Arts Society’s Jane’s Walk program.  You can find information about scheduling and other events at DMAC here.

Speaking of Jane Jacobs and walking tours don’t forget this Sunday is GVSHP’s Annual House Tour of seven unique homes and sites.  If you haven’t already please make your reservations now as space is limited.  You can purchase tickets and get more information here.

It’s not too late to purchase tickets for our Spring House Tour Benefit, taking place this Sunday, May 6th from 1:00 to 5:30 P.M. Your ticket will give you exclusive access to view six remarkable private homes in Greenwich Village, plus the former studio of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney on 8th Street at your own pace throughout the afternoon.

Those who support us at the Sponsor level and above will be invited to a special cocktail reception after the tour at a stunning private residence.

Click here to purchase your tickets now!

The House Tour Benefit is held to raise funds in support of GVSHP’s work to educate about and advocate for the distinctive character and irreplaceable architecture of our neighborhoods.

If you would like to purchase tickets on the day of the tour, you can do so at our ticket pick-up site at the New York Studio School at 8 West 8th Street beginning at 12:30 P.M. Tickets purchased on the day of the House Tour will be priced at a higher rate than advance tickets.