Figure 1 – St. Vincent’s Hospital (Ephemeral New York)

St. Vincent’s Hospital was founded in 1849 by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and served over the next century and half as the third oldest, and first Catholic, hospital in the City of New York. The hospital was originally located at West 13^th Street and Seventh Avenue before moving to its longtime location on Seventh Avenue between West 11^th and West 12^th Streets.

The location at Seventh Avenue prior to the arrival of the hospital was notably different, as the earlier development of the blocks had seen the construction of modestly scaled rowhouses and commercial buildings with the later replacement of several of them by apartment buildings, a trend that had started on Fifth Avenue.  By the turn of the century, as can be seen on the Sanborn Map of 1904, St. Vincent’s Hospital had constructed a grouping of buildings on both West 11^th and West 12^th Streets that would later be expanded to the west and front on Seventh Avenue.

Figure 2 – Sanborn Map, 1904 (The New York Public Library)

The growth of the St. Vincent’s Hospital campus occurred over several decades, and is notable for how its architecture sought to originally be both clearly identifiable as an institution and compatible with the built environment of Greenwich Village.  This can clearly be seen in the period of development of the campus in the twentieth century during which new buildings were constructed to be in keeping with the look of the apartment buildings that had begun to help define the character of the neighborhood.

“There is a sameness in the design of the large hospital buildings and yet, in their use of brick and individual window openings, they harmonize, as a group, remarkably well with their neighbors.” (Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report, 1969)

Figure 3 – Spelman Building, 1941 (The New York Times)

St. Vincent’s Hospital declared bankruptcy in 2005. They emerged from bankruptcy with a plan to demolish all nine buildings of the hospital and replace it with a billion dollar new hospital replacing one of the buildings, and a sprawling luxury condo development replacing eight of them, each including a huge tower of unprecedented scale in the neighborhood. The economics of the plan faced considerable skepticism, and Village Preservation pushed for alternatives that would preserve the hospital’s historic buildings, allowing for conversion to housing, while also allowing the construction of a new hospital spread over a larger footprint that would be more contextual in scale. The hospital again went into bankruptcy, and substantial financial mismanagement was alleged and investigations began. The hospital ceased operations in 2010, and their real estate partner, Rudin Management, took possession of the entire portfolio of the hospital and proceeded to seek to redevelop it as luxury condominiums.

The impact of the hospital on the built environment of this area of Greenwich Village is evident in the collection of nine buildings that formed the heart of the campus for the institution, prior to the construction of a larger replacement building in 1983 on Seventh Avenue.

Figure 4 – Aerial View with buildings labeled, 1979 (Library of Congress)

Figure 5 – St. Vincent’s Hospital – 7-15 Seventh Avenue, after 1933 (Library of Congress)

Here’s a building by building tour of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital campus, both extant and demolished.

No. 7-15 Seventh Avenue, known as the Leon Lowenstein Clinic / Outpatient Pavillion, was a six-story masonry (brick) building, with stone base, and center entrance door with decorative stone surround, built in 1930-31.  The construction of the building reflected the growing needs of New York City during a time of increasing economic hardship as the nation entered the Great Depression.  The building was demolished in the 1980’s to allow for the construction of a modern hospital building known as the Coleman Pavillion (1983), that in turn was demolished in 2013 as part of the redevelopment of the hospital site.

Figure 6 – Loew’s Sheridan Theater (The New York Historical Society)

The Triangle Block, bounded by Seventh Avenue, Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street and now known as St. Vincent Park, was previously the location of a c.1980 masonry (brick) service building for the hospital that included a gas storage and materials handling facility.  As part of the larger redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013, the building was demolished and in its place St. Vincent’s Park as established as a public green space.  Notably, nearly a century earlier the site had been the location of the Loew’s Sheriden Theater, constructed in 1920-1921, which served as a neighborhood landmark.

Figure 7 – AIDS Memorial, 2019 (NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project)

Located in St. Vincent’s Park, the AIDS Memorial was completed in 2016, and consisted of a steel canopy design, composed of triangles.  St. Vincent’s Hospital was the epicenter of the City of New York’s response to the AIDS epidemic and was notable for the care that it provided to thousands.  The hospital took the lead in combating the epidemic through the establishment of an AIDS ward in 1984 and later in the O’Toole Building to the north on Seventh Avenue established the Comprehensive HIV Center.

Figure 9 – St. Vincent’s Hospital, c.1940 (NYC Municipal Archives)

No. 157 West 11^th Street, known as the Elizabeth Seton Building, was a seven-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with rusticated stonework, arched windows, projecting center section with notable pediment topping it, bands of stone and brick at the second floor, and punched openings with stone trim work. It was constructed in 1897-1899.  This distinctive building was demolished in the 1980’s to allow for the construction of a modern hospital building including a new emergency room (ER) known as the Coleman Pavillion (1983) and the Link Pavillion (1987), that in turn were demolished in 2013 as part of the redevelopment of the hospital site.

Figure 10 – Spellman Building, 2023 (NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project)

No. 143-147 West 11^th Street, known as the Spellman Building, is a nine-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with rusticated stone base, punched openings with stone details, and center entrance with broken pediment, constructed in 1940-1941.  The building was retained and incorporated into the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013; Village Preservation lead the effort to help ensure these and other buildings of the hospital were preserved.

Figure 11 – Harold R. Cronin Research Building, 1969 (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission) No. 133-141 West 11^th Street, known as the Harold R. Cronin Research Building, was a ten-story glass curtain wall building, constructed in 1961. It was a departure both in terms of its design and materiality from the earlier hospital buildings.  The building was demolished as part of the redevelopment of the site in 2013, that included its replacement by a modern row of townhouses.

Figure 12 – 130-132 West 12th Street, 2026 (Compass Real Estate)

No.130-132 West 12^th Street, known as the Martin Payne Building, was and is a twelve-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with a distinctive stone base and punched openings with stone sills and metal casement windows, constructed in 1941 originally as an apartment building before the hospital acquired it as housing for staff.  Prior to the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013, the building was sold off and converted to condominiums.

Figure 13 – 140 West 12th Street, 2026 (Compass Real Estate)

No. 134-146 (140) West 12^th Street. known as the Jacob L. Reiss Memorial Building, was and is a six-story masonry (stone) building, with smooth stone base, punched openings with awning type windows, and notably little to no ornamentation, constructed in 1953-1954.  As with the Spellman building, it was retained and incorporated into the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013. Village Preservation lead the effort to help ensure these and other buildings of the hospital were preserved.

Figure 14 – 148-158 West 12th Street, 2026 (Global Holdings)

No. 148-158 West 12^th Street, known as the Student Nurse’s Residence, is a twelve-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with two-story base, recessed upper floors, stone and terra cotta details, and punched openings with stone details, constructed in 1924.  As with the Spellman and Jacob L. Reiss Memorial Buildings, the building was retained and incorporated into the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013. Village Preservation lead the effort to help ensure these and other buildings of the hospital were preserved.

Figure 15 – 160-168 West 12^th Street, 1951 (Museum of the City of New York)

No. 160-168 West 12^th Street, known as the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Building, this ten-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with stone base, punched openings with casement windows, and a façade with simple detailing, was constructed in 1946.  As with the Spellman, Jacob L. Reiss Memorial, and Nurse’s Residence Buildings, the building was retained and incorporated into the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013. Village Preservation lead the effort to help ensure these and other buildings of the hospital were preserved.

Figure 16 – 170 West 12^th Street, After 1933 (Library of Congress)

No. 170-178 West 12^th Street, known as the John J Rascob Memorial Building, is a fourteen-story masonry (stone and brick) building, with stone base that bleeds into the second floor, punched openings with casement windows, and a façade with simple detailing similar to that found on the adjacent 160-168 West 12^th Street, constructed in 1946.  As with the Spellman, Jacob L. Reiss Memorial, Nurse’s Residence and Alfred E. Smith Memorial Buildings, the building was retained and incorporated into the redevelopment of the hospital site in 2013. Village Preservation lead the effort to help ensure these and other buildings of the hospital were preserved.

The story of St. Vincent’s Hospital is reflective of the rich history of Greenwich Village that can be further explored in the numerous posts (see below) on our website and as well in our Greenwich Village Historic District Map and Tours and Landmark Designation Reports.

Unrecognizable: Former Village Institutions and what has taken their place – Village Preservation

Lost Saints of the Village – Village Preservation

Small But Important Changes from the AIDS Memorial Team – Village Preservation

Many Layers of History at 7th Avenue and 12th Street: St. Vincent’s Hospital – Village Preservation

Visitor Looks at the Names and Photos on the Wall of Hope and Remembrance at St. Vincent’s Hospital – Village Preservation

The Loew-Down – Village Preservation

Edward Hopper’s Greenwich Village Historic District – Village Preservation

The post St. Vincent’s Hospital: Architecture & History in the Greenwich Village Historic District first appeared on Village Preservation.

The Stuyvesant Family’s prominence east of the Atlantic began with Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland. During the Revolutionary War period, the family was led by a descendant of Stuyvesant also named Peter, who had married into another prominent New York family, the Livingstons.

Village Preservation’s newest StoryMap, “The Revolutionary War in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo”, highlights the prominence of the Stuyvesant family during the 18th and 19th centuries. The family’s deep connections are present in each of the map’s three sections: “The neighborhood in 1776”, “Founding Fathers”, and “Revolutionary War Figures”. 

Beyond the Stuyvesants, this incredible resource details the many connections our neighborhoods have to the Revolution. You can explore the entire map here. 

The neighborhood in 1776: Stuyvesant Farm

The original Stuyvesant farm (or Bouwerie, as the farms were called in Dutch) was purchased by Director-General Peter Stuyvesant from the Dutch West India Company in 1651. The land purchased encompassed a large tract between Fourth Avenue and the East River, and between East 5th Street and East 20th Street.

The Stuyvesant family house, built on the farm, was similar to most of the homes of affluent residents of the time. It sat on an elevated site with surrounding views, in this case of the East River, and consisted of a two-story gambrel roof design with a covered front porch, all set within the large landscaped area.

The Stuyvesant Family managed to maintain an uneasy balance during the Revolutionary War period. At a time when allegiances dictated who could keep their land, the Stuyvesants appeased the British occupation while staying generally neutral about the possibility of a new nation. This resulted in the family’s ability to retain their large estate in the East Village and continue to climb in social prominence.

Founding Fathers: St. Marks Church-in-the-Bowery

Located on East 10th Street, St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery is notable for being the oldest site of continuous religious practice in New York. Founding father Alexander Hamilton assisted with the incorporation of the independent parish, the first in the United States from Trinity Church.

This Episcopal church was constructed in 1799 on land owned by the Stuyvesant family. It replaced a Dutch Reformed chapel, which had been constructed by the Stuyvesant family in 1660. 

The church was designed by the noted architect John McComb Jr, who had a profound impact on the built environment of New York in the later part of the 18th and first part of the 19th centuries, including the design of such notable buildings as City Hall in Lower Manhattan.

St. Mark’s was designed in the Georgian style, and consists of mass stone masonry walls, punched openings with arched multi-light windows and stucco surrounds, and a front gable slate roof. Notable later additions include the Greek Revival–style tower that was added in 1807, with the steeple completed in 1828, and the cast iron portion on the front elevation designed in the Italianate style.

Revolutionary War Figures: Stuyvesant Fish House

Nicholas Fish served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and saw action at several notable engagements, including at Saratoga. During the war, he served with Alexander Hamilton, and following the war, he had several government appointments, including as the Adjutant General of New York.

Fish married into the Stuyvesant Family. He and his wife Elizabeth (née Stuyvesant) built a house at 21 Stuyvesant Street in 1804. Their son Hamilton Fish (named after Alexander Hamilton) was raised in the house, and would go on to serve as both the Governor and as a Senator for New York State. 

The house was designed in the Federal style and consists of a high stone foundation, Flemish Bond brick, punched openings with six-over-six windows, and eight-panel wood entrance door with fanlight and sidelights.

These entries highlighting the Stuyvesant family are just a few of the among more than 40 entries on our Revolutionary War Map. Explore it and more mapping resources here. 

The post The Stuyvesant Family’s Revolutionary Legacy first appeared on Village Preservation.

An old wives’ tale suggests the two homes were built by a sea captain, in a futile attempt to reunite his feuding daughters who refused to share a home. So the story goes, the devoted father built identical houses side by side, connected by a garden, in hopes that living in such proximity would mend their fractured relationship. Though charming and a touch heartwarming, the truth behind the two houses is far less romantic, but incredibly fascinating nonetheless. 

Rather than a seaman, the twins were built in 1831-32 for Peter Huyler, a milkman of Hackensack, New Jersey. Huyler never lived in the Village, instead renting out the homes as the neighborhood became an increasingly desirable place to settle. 

Greenwich Village saw a major population surge in the 1820s as an especially virulent yellow fever epidemic in 1822 plagued much of Manhattan. Consequently, many who had intended to remain in the area only temporarily chose to settle there permanently, quadrupling the neighborhood’s population between 1825 and 1840, and thereby spurring the development of markets and businesses. Like many other savvy businessmen, Huyler built the twins as a long-term investment. The first identifiable tenant of 41 Commerce Street was Peter Burdett, who moved there in 1842; for 39 Commerce Street, it was William Halsey, described in directories as a “captain,” who moved there in 1848.

The homes were originally just two and a half stories tall, joined by a shared garden. They are an interesting combination of late Federal style, in which they were originally built, as seen in the Flemish-bond brickwork and the fine paneled window lintels, uncovered only recently, and the French Second Empire style, in which they were later remade. That occurred in 1873, when the Huyler heirs hired architect Daniel T. Atwood to alter the roofs of 39 and 41 Commerce, expanding what had been a peaked roof with dormers (the 1/2 story) to a full third story beneath slate mansard roofs. It’s both thanks to luck and landmark protections (in place since the 1969 designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District that includes these houses) that the open space between them has not been built upon. 

While the exterior of the homes has not changed much beyond the 1873 makeover, their interiors most certainly have. In the early 20th century, both buildings were converted into multi-family homes, each with four apartments. No. 39 Commerce remains a multi-family home, whereas no. 41 was converted back to its original state as a single private home. Behind these two low structures is the rear wall of the tall six-story apartment house which faces on Barrow Street.

Today, the twins on Commerce Street remain one of the most photographed spots in all our neighborhoods. While the legend of the sea captain and his stubborn daughters is quite entertaining, the true story of milkman Peter Huyler is just as intriguing. The twins came about as Greenwich Village was undergoing a transformation from a pastoral suburb into the urban neighborhood we know it as today.

And the twins are just one of countless architectural gems documented in our neighborhoods’ Landmark Designation Reports, as well as in our Greenwich Village Historic District Map and Tours, including its “Most Charming Sites” Tour, which includes the Twins among many other beloved and iconic sites in the neighborhood. Explore them all to uncover the rich histories behind even more of the history and irreplaceable architecture of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.

The post The Historic Twins of Commerce Street first appeared on Village Preservation.

“The Revolutionary War in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo” is the latest addition to the 24 cartographic resources now available on our website. Starting with General George Washington reading the five-day-old Declaration of Independence to his troops near present-day City Hall Park on July 9, 1776, the map branches off into three main categories: The Neighborhood in 1776, looking at the estates and farms that stood here in the late 18th century; Founding Fathers, not just Washington, Adams, and Burr but Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine, and more; and Revolutionary War Figures, who were connected to or are memorialized in our neighborhoods.

The aforementioned mansion, called Richmond Hill, falls neatly into two of those categories. Built for British Major Abraham Mortier in 1767 in the Palladian style, the house was located near the present intersection of Varick and Charlton Streets at the border of today’s Hudson Square and the Charlton-King-VanDam Historic District. The mansion sat on 26 acres of land in the countryside, with outstanding views of the Hudson River to its west. Early in its history, Richmond Hill served as military headquarters for the British in the waning days of the French and Indian War.

“Its entrance was broad and imposing, with balconies fronting the rooms on the second floor. Inside were spacious, high rooms, with a broad staircase distinguished by fine mahogany woodwork,” according to a 1945 article in The Villager. “The whole place [reflected] an atmosphere of richness, restfulness, and refinement. It was truly a colonial mansion built in the grand manner, with nothing spared for the comfort of its tenants.”

Washington arrived in Manhattan on April 13, 1776, to mount a defense of the island and surrounding communities, and ensure the British would not establish control of the Hudson River and sever the colonies. His wife Martha arrived a few days later, and they set up their country residence and headquarters at Richmond Hill. They remained in the mansion until after the general’s defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn in late August, forcing American troops to leave the island entirely some two months later. British officers then occupied the site through Evacuation Day in 1783, after which Richmond Hill briefly became home for the first British ambassador to the United States.

Richmond Hill returned to serve the American cause in 1789, when New York was the young nation’s first capital, as the residence for the vice president, John Adams. “In natural beauty it might vie with the most delicious spot I ever saw,” wrote Adams’ wife Abigail. “It is a mile and a half from the city of New York. The house stands upon an eminence: at an agreeable distance flows the noble Hudson, bearing upon its bosom innumerable small vessels laden with the fruitful productions of the adjacent country. Upon my right hand are fields beautifully variegated with grass and grain, to a great extent like the valley of the Honiton in Devonshire.”

The mansion’s next historic occupant was Aaron Burr. Burr gained renown for his heroic actions during the Revolutionary War, becoming an aide to Washington at Richmond Hill and later a lieutenant colonel. “It is believed that it was during this period of his association with it that Burr became attached to the place,” noted The Villager in 1945, “deciding perhaps then and there, that some day he would make it his home.”

Burr did indeed purchase the house in 1794, and maintained it even as he drew an Electoral College tie with Thomas Jefferson (also featured in our Revolutionary Map) in the 1800 presidential election; the House of Representatives selected Jefferson as president and Burr as the country’s third vice president. On the morning of July 11, 1804, Burr left Richmond Hill to cross the Hudson River for his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton, who after being shot was brought to the Bayard House in today’s West Village. The nation’s first treasury secretary ultimately succumbed to his wounds there and died. (The Bayard estate is also featured on our map, as are several noteworthy sites for Hamilton.)

After Burr fled New York following the duel, the property was acquired by John Jacob Astor.  Astor developed the land, which today forms much of the Charlton-King-VanDam Historic District plus the southernmost block of MacDougal Street.

These are just a few of the highlights among more than 40 entries on our Revolutionary Map. Explore it and more mapping resources here.

The post The Revolutionary War in Our Midst first appeared on Village Preservation.

From a country estate called Richmond Hill, Washington commanded the Continental Army and prepared New York for the arrival of British forces. The future first president of the United States was trying to defend a country that did not fully exist yet.

It is easy to look back at the American Revolution and see inevitability. The Declaration of Independence. Washington crossing the Delaware. Victory. A new nation rising.

History becomes cleaner with distance. But nothing about the summer of 1776 was inevitable. And for several critical months, part of that uncertain story unfolded right here in what we now know as Greenwich Village.

Before the Village Was the Village
To understand Richmond Hill, we first have to erase the neighborhood we know today.
There were no rows of brownstones. No traffic moving up Varick Street. The city was concentrated farther south, and beyond it stretched farms, streams, orchards, roads, and large country estates.
Village Preservation’s Revolutionary War StoryMap allows us to step into that lost landscape.
One of its most important sites was Richmond Hill.

Built in 1767 on part of the former King’s Farm, the estate stood southeast of today’s Varick and Charlton Streets. On April 17, 1776, George Washington moved his headquarters there.
From Richmond Hill, Washington faced a problem almost too large to imagine.
He had to prepare an inexperienced army to defend New York against the greatest military power of the age. The British were coming.

Defending a Country That Had Just Been Born
Washington understood New York’s importance. Its harbor and position along the Hudson made it essential to both sides of the conflict. From Richmond Hill, he communicated with generals and political leaders, worked on the city’s defenses, and prepared for an enemy he knew was coming.

Then, on July 4, 1776, everything changed. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The colonies were no longer simply fighting British rule. They were declaring themselves a new country. We know where the story eventually goes. Washington did not.
From Richmond Hill, the commander of the Continental Army was suddenly responsible for defending something that had never existed before.

The United States of America. That is what makes the Village’s Revolutionary War history so powerful as we mark the country’s 250th anniversary. The United States was not founded in one room, on one battlefield, or in one city. It was built across a landscape. Ideas were written in one place and defended in another.

Soldiers crossed fields that later became city streets. Country homes became military headquarters.
The Revolutionary War StoryMap lets us see those connections together.
Richmond Hill is only one point on the map.
Follow it outward, and a larger world begins to appear.

The Revolution Was Not Inevitable
By August 1776, the British threat was no longer distant. British forces crossed onto Long Island, leading to the first major battle after independence was declared. Washington’s army was badly defeated at the Battle of Brooklyn and narrowly escaped destruction. Within weeks, the Americans were pushed out of New York.

The city would remain under British occupation for seven years. Again, we know the ending. Washington did not. The Revolution almost failed. That matters, because the story of the United States at 250 is not only the story of what was built. It is also the story of how uncertain its survival once was.

The Village was part of that uncertainty. These streets and landscapes witnessed a moment when independence was still only an idea, and the country we know today could have disappeared before it truly began.

One House, Several Chapters of the New Nation
Richmond Hill’s connection to the founding of the country did not end with Washington.

After independence, the house became the official residence of Vice President John Adams. Aaron Burr later lived there as well. The same estate that had served as Washington’s wartime headquarters remained connected to some of the most important figures in the early United States.

Think about that transformation.

A house built by a British military paymaster became the headquarters of the general leading a revolution against Britain, then the home of the Vice President of the new nation that emerged from that fight. The mansion is gone today. So is the hill. But the story remains.

Find the Revolution Beneath Your Feet
There is a particular power in discovering that history happened somewhere you already know. A street you walk down. A corner you pass.

A place where you have waited for the light to change without knowing that, 250 years ago, the future of the country was being prepared for nearby. That is what makes Village Preservation’s Revolutionary War StoryMap so exciting.

Richmond Hill is only the beginning. The map allows you to explore George Washington’s headquarters, estates divided between Patriots and Loyalists, military routes, and places connected to the people whose decisions, rivalries, and sacrifices helped shape the new nation.

America’s founding can feel distant when it is reduced to portraits, monuments, and dates.

The map brings it closer. It reminds us that before the Village became known for artistic revolutions, political movements, music, literature, and protest, it had already witnessed a revolution in the most literal sense. Two hundred and fifty years later, the streets have changed almost beyond recognition.

But the ground remembers.

Explore Village Preservation’s Revolutionary War StoryMap and discover how the fight to create the United States unfolded right here in our neighborhoods.

The post The Summer America Could Have Been Lost: George Washington’s Village Headquarters in 1776 first appeared on Village Preservation.

7B aka Horseshoe Bar aka Vazacs, 108 Avenue B

Located on Avenue B and 7th Street, 7B is also known as Vazacs or Horsehoe Bar. It features a wraparound (horseshoe-shaped) bar dating back almost 100 years to the Polish catering hall that opened in 1935 that the bar replaced about forty years ago. The bar has been featured in many films television shows, including Crocodile Dundee, Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Rent, Sex and the City, and countless episodes of Law & Order. The bar features over 30 beers on tap; musicians who have frequented the bar include Iggy Pop and members of the Strokes when they lived nearby.

Sophies, 507 East 5th Street

Originally owned by Sophie Polney, the bar was taken over by current owners Bob Corton and Kirk Marcoe in 2008. The space has been a bar for over 100 years. Beloved by locals for generations, it was featured in Anthony Bourdain’s 2009 “Disappearing Manhattan” episode of his No Reservations, in which he states “Sophie’s, in the East Village, remains a good place to stop time.” and “Is there any place left in New York where an old guy can have a drink in the afternoon and, you know, be a little depressed?” While a newer crowd has discovered Sophie’s, it still retains the dive bar atmosphere beloved by the old locals

Lucy’s, 135 Avenue A

Run since the 1980 by its iconic Polish namesake, Ludwika “Lucy” Mickevicius, this legendary bar known for its string lights, cold beers, and total lack of frills survived decades of neighborhood changes as a comforting, dimly lit hideaway. It was almost lost in 2024 after a steep rent hike and COVID-closure-related arrears. But thankfully, former neighbor and regular (and hospitality group Golden Age founder) Jon Neidich stepped in take over the lease, renovate (minimally) and run the bar.

Mars Bar, 25 East 1st Street (closed)

Closed in 2011 following 27 gritty years, this bar located on the corner of 1st Street and Second Avenue was a direct link to the East Village’s punk rock past but did not survive redevelopment of the block. Recalled by the NY Post as “a dingy saloon famous for cheap brew, punk rock and its lack of toilet paper” Mars Bar survived longer than many would have expected as generations passed. It would not reopen, and its closure was a symbolic end of an era.

Read more about its history and closure here.

Did reading make you thirsty? Check out some more East Village drinking options here.

The post Dive Bars of The East Village first appeared on Village Preservation.

It’s a good question. Set aside for a moment that often these buildings also are either of great architectural significance or have unique and irreplaceable historic features, and that tearing down and replacing a building rather than preserving or adapting it is dramatically worse for the environment, producing vastly greater amounts of carbon pollution. There are also still  good reasons to preserve a significant building related to this question of use. 

For starters, even if preservation doesn’t require that the historically significant use continue on in the building, it allows for the possibility that it may, or that it may return. A perfect example is the Stonewall Inn, now not only a New York City landmark, but a National Historic Monument — the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a site by the U.S. government for its historic significance. The riots and protests which took place in connection to the raid on the gay bar located in this building in June of 1969 are now commemorated throughout the world as the spark that helped ignite a dramatically transformative civil rights movement. 

But some may forget that just a few weeks after those protests, the gay bar located here closed. The space the original Stonewall Inn occupied, two conjoined buildings at 51 and 53 Christopher Street, was then home to a series of entirely unrelated uses, including a bagel store and a nail salon. But due to landmark designation of much of Greenwich Village, including this site, which took effect just two months after the riots, these buildings were preserved. And over the decades that followed, they became symbols of an ever-growing social and political movement, and the focus of an annual march and festival that would come to draw hundreds of thousands of spectators and participants. It wasn’t until two decades later that a gay bar, called “New Jimmy’s,” would finally reoccupy half the original Stonewall space, at 53 Christopher Street. Years after that, the bar would rebrand itself the Stonewall Inn, in homage to the long-gone, iconic bar that had once occupied the space. And it wasn’t until a full fifty six years after the riots that the other half of the original space came to be used again for a purpose connected to the Stonewall Riots, when the Stonewall National Monument Visitors Center opened in 51 Christopher Street.  Without landmark designation and the preservation it required, none of this might have been possible, and the buildings which were the site of these incredibly historically significant events might have been lost. 

But that’s just one example of how a historically significant site can be preserved in ways that matter, even when preservation doesn’t require the historically significant use to remain. Another is the Jefferson Market Library. It serves a profoundly important public purpose, both for preserving its uniquely whimsical Victorian Gothic architecture, and by providing an invaluable and much-needed public amenity as the neighborhood branch library and an unofficial community center of sorts. But this defining landmark of Greenwich Village wasn’t ever intended to be a Library, as it was actually built as a courthouse, which it served as for three quarters of a century, during which time it saw an incredible amount of New York City history, and was the site a remarkable number of significant figures being arraigned or put on trial. But when that courthouse use came to an end, the building’s future became murky, and local residents began to organize to ensure its preservation. In the ensuing years, its was used by the Police and Fire departments before it was finally abandoned, but neighbors and preservationists were determined to see the building survive. Landmark designation ensured it would be preserved, and a plan to turn it into a much-needed expanded local branch of the New York Public Library gave it an enduring purpose that continues to this day. The building’s history as a courthouse is honored, and given new life, by the library that now occupies the space. 

In another example, the historic building to be saved started out as a library, rather than ending up as one. The former Astor Library at 425 Lafayette Street was one of the city’s earliest great civic landmarks; it served as the city’s first real public library, and when the Astor Library merged with the Lenox Library and the Tilden Foundation to form the New York Public Library, it became the NYPL’s first main building. When the new, more modern main branch library was built at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue in 1911, the former Astor Library was taken over by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), serving as a processing and service center for thousands of refugees and immigrants for a half century. When the structure no longer served HIAS’ purposes, they moved on, and the abandoned, outdated building looked likely to succumb to the wrecking ball. But a young theater pioneer named Joseph Papp, who thought Shakespeare and all theater should be readily available to the masses, saw a historic building that could once again serve a new but great public purpose, not the white elephant no longer suited for prior uses that some saw. For the last sixty years, that building — one of our city’s very first designated landmarks — has housed The Public Theatre, one of New York’s and the world’s great cultural institutions, fulfilling its mission of bringing theater to everyone from every walk of life.

The number of other great examples in our neighborhoods are almost boundless. The former Bell Telephone Laboratories at West and Bethune Streets, where great innovations in sound technology took place, became unprecedented affordable housing and workspace for artists, now known as Westbeth. Nearby in the West Village, an abandoned school became the city’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center, while a former maritime union building next door has become a valued health center. In the East Village, abandoned schools have become performing arts spaces and cultural institutions, and in NoHo a former orphanage serves as the home of the foundation dedicated to the life of great 20th century artist Robert Rauschenberg.  Examples of this virtuous cycle continue almost endlessly. 

There typically is no governmental regulation that can require a private building continue to be used for its original purpose (and sometimes that original use just can’t survive), though there is such a mechanism — landmarking — that can require that the building survive. Landmark designation and other forms of preservation may not guarantee that the purpose to which a building was originally put may continue in perpetuity. But it does create the conditions which can allow that to happen, and when it doesn’t, it can open the door to wonderful new uses taking its place and adding a great new chapter to the already rich history of the building. And that’s why preservation matters, even when it doesn’t preserve use. 

The post Why Preservation Matters, Even When It Doesn’t Preserve Use first appeared on Village Preservation.

As the United States commemorates the 250th anniversary of its founding, Village Preservation invites you to step back into that world with our new Revolutionary War StoryMap, an interactive resource exploring the many connections between Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo and the fight for American independence.

When most people think about the Revolutionary War, they picture Lexington and Concord, Valley Forge, or Yorktown. Few realize that the fight for American independence also unfolded right here in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.

In 1776, as British forces prepared to seize New York, George Washington established his headquarters at Richmond Hill, a country estate that was located near the intersection of Varick and Charlton Streets at the border of today’s Hudson Square neighborhood and the  Charlton-King-VanDam Historic District. At the time, the area lay just beyond the city’s settled boundaries, with farms, streams, orchards, and country estates stretching north from Lower Manhattan. From here, Washington planned the defense of New York as the Continental Army prepared for one of the most consequential campaigns of the Revolutionary War.

The Revolution also played out in the lives of the people who called these neighborhoods home. Prominent colonial families found themselves divided by their loyalties, with some supporting independence and others remaining faithful to the British Crown. Many of the nation’s Founding Fathers had connections to these neighborhoods, including John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and Thomas Paine. Their ideas, alliances, and rivalries helped define both the Revolution and the country that emerged from it.

Village Preservation’s new StoryMap brings these stories together through historic maps, images, and carefully researched narratives. Explore the locations of Washington’s headquarters, country estates that witnessed the conflict, roads traveled by soldiers, and sites connected to the political leaders who shaped the Revolution. Along the way, you’ll discover how reminders of this extraordinary chapter in American history still exist throughout Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.

The StoryMap is part of Village Preservation’s yearlong Revolutionary Village initiative, which commemorates the nation’s semiquincentennial by exploring not only the Revolutionary War, but also the many political, social, artistic, and cultural revolutions that have taken place in these neighborhoods over the last 250 years. Time and again, Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo have served as places where new ideas challenged old assumptions and helped move the nation forward.

Whether you are planning a neighborhood walk, researching local history, or simply curious about the places you pass every day, the Revolutionary War StoryMap offers a new way to experience the streets around you. The history of America’s founding is not confined to distant battlefields. It is woven into the neighborhoods Village Preservation has worked for decades to protect.

As we celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary, we invite you to explore the Revolutionary War StoryMap and discover how the fight for independence unfolded right here at home, and how the memory of it lives on in the streets and buildings around us.

The post Walk Through the Revolution: Explore Village Preservation’s New Revolutionary War StoryMap first appeared on Village Preservation.

Rather than focusing solely on the Revolutionary War era, our “Revolutionary Village” theme highlights 250 years of ongoing revolution in politics, culture, the arts, and society that have unfolded in our communities.

From abolitionism and women’s suffrage to labor organizing, LGBTQ+ rights, free speech, and artistic experimentation, these neighborhoods have consistently served as laboratories for American democracy. Revolutionary Village recognizes the spirit that animated the struggle for independence also fueled later movements that expanded and challenged the meaning of freedom and equality in the United States.

Many of our July programs explore themes of the Revolutionary Village, from Federal-era innovations to LGBTQ+ activism. Also this month, we continue conversations on housing with our “Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus” series, as well as our Broker’s continuing education program. Today, we will look at these exciting events in more detail.

Staging over 80 programs annually, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, Village Preservation programming brings the architectural and cultural history of our neighborhoods to life through tours, lectures, conversations, webinars, and much more. You can revisit many of these programs on Village Preservation’s YouTube channel.

“Revolutionary Village” Series

July 1 – American Independence in Brick and Stone: Federal Style Architecture in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo

Join Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman as he takes us on a virtual tour of Federal Style architecture in our neighborhoods and Lower Manhattan, and offers insights into what it shows about life in late 18th and early 19th century New York, and efforts over three decades to help document and preserve them.

Our neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo are rich in Federal Style architecture, the earliest architectural expression of an independent America. Since the 1990s, Village Preservation has worked tirelessly to document and help preserve Federal Style architecture in our neighborhoods and throughout Lower Manhattan.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to register

July 16 – Craig Rodwell: Space, Culture, and Conscience in the Gay Liberation Movement

Join us for this special webinar that will examine Craig Rodwell’s long presence in Greenwich Village, his influence in the events that shaped an emerging culture, and the values he helped to cultivate in the movement.

Craig Rodwell is an unheralded yet pivotal figure in the militant gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Founder of the first bookstore of its kind dedicated to gay and lesbian literature – the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop – Rodwell played a crucial role in the early protests for gay rights, the Stonewall Riots, and the inaugural pride march of 1970. 

In this event, award-winning journalist John Van Hoesen explores cities grappling with social change, while highlighting Craig Rodwell’s transformative impact in his new book Insist That They Love You.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to register

July 23 – Exhibition Tour at Seaport Museum: ”The Promise of Liberty”

Join us for an exclusive tour of the Seaport Museum’s special exhibition marking America’s 250th birthday, “The Promise of Liberty.” This exhibition tour is a journey through the nation’s founding ideas—tracing how they have evolved through rare defining documents and pivotal moments in history.

Throughout the gallery, you encounter some of the nation’s most iconic 18th-century documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Alongside these are exceptional handwritten pages from an undelivered inaugural address by George Washington, as well as remarkable 19th and 20th-century treasures such as the Emancipation Proclamation and an advance copy of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington speech. We’ll also see documents with direct links to our neighborhoods, such as Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” and “The American Crisis.”

We’ll also have a chance to explore parts of the Museum’s ongoing exhibition, “Maritime City,” which highlights how New York City, as we know it today, arose from the sea. 

CLICK HERE to learn more and to join the waitlist

July 30 – The History of Jazz in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo, Part 2

Join us for part two of our conversation about the history of jazz in our neighborhoods, using our new, first-of-its-kind map resource, the Village Preservation Jazz Map of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.

For this conversation, we will use the map to help us illustrate the evolution of jazz from the late 1950s through the 1980s. Come hear how the music changed and see how the local jazz scene changed along with it, from dive-bar post bop to artist-loft avant-garde. This event will deepen your appreciation for the extraordinary legacy of jazz in our community. 

We will be joined by Keller Coker, Dean of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Hank O’Neal, music producer, photographer, and founder of Chiaroscuro Records/Downtown Sounds, and Juan Rivero, Special Projects Director at Village Preservation.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to register

Conversations on Housing

July 22 – Free 3-Hour Course: Intro to the History and Architecture of Greenwich Village, The East Village, & NoHo

Our new, three-hour course will teach you how to stay ahead of proposed neighborhood zoning changes and development trends, how to conduct research via maps and other tools, and how to use architectural and cultural history for marketing purposes.

Course speakers include Village Preservation Executive Director Andrew Berman and NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Deputy Director of Research Dena Tasse-Winter.

This course is completely free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE to learn more and to register

July 22 – Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus Part 3 – Reframing the Affordability Debate: Housing as the Foundation of Community

This event is part three in the ongoing program series: Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus. 
This series is co-sponsored by the City Club of New York. 

In Part 3 of Cracks in the YIMBY Consensus, we turn to this fundamental question with longtime planner and activist Ron Shiffman, who argues that housing policy should primarily be judged by whether it builds strong, stable, and democratically governed communities, and not by whether it meets production targets. The guiding policy questions should be: Does it protect long-term affordability and prevent displacement? Does it make neighborhoods and the city more livable? And is someone accountable if it fails to achieve those goals or undermines them? 

CLICK HERE to learn more and to register

The post July at Village Preservation: The Revolutionary Village and More first appeared on Village Preservation.

Figure 1 – The Church of the Ascension, c.1940 (NYC Municipal Archives)

The Church – 36-38 Fifth Avenue

The story of the church begins in 1827 at its founding, and its physical journey over the following years is a story that is not uncommon for houses of worship in New York.  At the outset, this new parish did not have a home to meet in, and as such they accepted the offer to be hosted by a French Huguenot parish (The L’Eglise Francais du Saint-Esprit) that was located downtown at the northeast corner of present-day Pine and Nassau Streets. 

In 1827 the church secured a site for the parish located on the north side of Canal Street, a bit east of Broadway, where they completed the new building in 1829.  The church would be located at this site for the next twelve years until that Greek-Revival style building was destroyed in 1839 in a fire that started in the carpenter’s shop.  As had occurred over a decade earlier, the church once again relied on the kindness of other houses of worship and took refuge at the Dutch Reformed Church located at Astor Place and East 9^th Street.

Figure 2 – The Church of the Ascension – Canal Street, c.1831

As the city continued its unending march north on the island of Manhattan, the church sought a location further uptown, and identified a prime site located on the developing Fifth Avenue corridor at the corner of West 10^th Street.  The church purchased the site for the considerable sum of $32,000.  Wanting to make a statement that both the church and the developing neighborhood had arrived, they sought out the noted New York architect Richard Upjohn to design the new building.

Figure 3 – Richard Upjohn (Architectural Research Centers Consortium)

Upjohn had established his place in New York with the design of the third Trinity Church downtown.  He had become an architect of choice for prominent members of society along the East Coast designing many prominent homes in locations such as Newport, Rhode Island that would come to be the primary summer retreat for the elite of the period. 

For the church, Upjohn’s vision for the design was strongly influenced by the European Gothic style, and he chose to design it in a Low-Gothic style.  While the design employed Gothic style influences, it was notably understated and largely free of decoration.  This lack of ornamentation carried over to the windows that were free of any imagery.

Figure 4 – The Church of the Ascension – Interior, c.2009 (Evergreene Architectural Arts)

The present-day church is the work of not one, but two notable New York architects, with later alterations to the interior overseen by Stanford White.  White was responsible for the removal of the galleries on both the north and south sides of the nave in 1885, and in 1894 for the installation of a new organ and related work.

The interior saw several additional significant alterations, including the mural added in 1888 by noted artist John La Farge of “The Ascension,” and the installation of a stained-glass window by Tiffany and Company in 1894.  A more recent alteration in 2011 saw the installation of a new organ that is said to be the first in New York built in France.

From its opening in 1841, the church played an important role in the life of Greenwich Village.  In 1842, they established a parish school to serve the poor residents of the neighborhood (the school would later occupy a new building at 12 West 11^th Street that was completed in 1844). In 1907, the church established the Public Forum program that would see notable speakers including Booker T. Washington and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.  The church’s food pantry was established in 1982.

Noted members of the church over the years have included Mark Twain, the celebrated writer and author of such works as the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); James Renwick, Jr., the noted architect of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (1879) and a host of landmarks throughout Greenwich Village and East Village; and members of the New York society that shaped the development of the city such as the Astors and Belmonts.

Figure 5 – The Church of the Ascension – Rectory, c.1940 (NYC Municipal Archives)

The Rectory – 7 West 10^th Street

“Despite its humble background as an inexpensive local substitute for marble or limestone, brownstone came to epitomize luxury and architectural sophistication.”[1]

The Rectory was constructed in coordination with the church, in 1841, though it’s unclear who the building’s architect was.  For the Rectory, the Gothic Revival style is used, much as for the church, with a three bay wide composition with punched openings, hooded lintels, and a central pointed dormer that projects out from the cornice supported by brackets. 

In addition to its design, the material palette for the Rectory is notable as quite possibly the first residential building in Manhattan to use brownstone for its façade, in this case with the rough finish for the blocks.     

Figure 6 – The Church of the Ascension – Parish House, c.1940 (NYC Municipal Archives)

The Parish House – 12 West 11^th Street

The distinctive Parish House was constructed in 1888 by the notable New York architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. It’s notable for its asymmetrical façade with distinctive features, including a three-story projecting bay, varied fenestration including single and ganged windows of varying types, and a mansard roof with paired dormer windows.  The façade is clad in Roman brick and limestone, and was designed in the Northern Renaissance Revival style, adding to the varied architectural styles found along this block.  The careful design of the building carried over into the interior, including the notable main gathering space of the parish hall. 

The Parish House occupies what had been the location of the church’s four-story school building, which itself had been constructed in 1844. 

To learn more about the history of buildings like the Church of the Ascencion on Lower Fifth Avenue, explore our Fifth Avenue: 1824 to Today Map. To explore the history of more buildings like the church within the Greenwich Village Historic District, explore our  Greenwich Village Historic District Map , and take the tour of the Greenwich Village Historic District churches .  To learn more about the history and architecture of the Church of the Ascension, read its National Register of Historic Places report on our website.

[1] Charles Lockwood & Patrick W. Ciccone with Jonathan D. Taylor, Bricks & Brownstone (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 2019), 129.

The post The Church of the Ascension, Parish House and Rectory – Greenwich Village Historic District first appeared on Village Preservation.