By Frank Collerius For 50 years, the Jefferson Market Library has been a staple of the Greenwich Village community, offering traditional library services and innovative programs such as Jefferson Market University, popular storytime programs, and exhibitions that celebrate the history of our neighborhood. The building—originally a courthouse well known for its role in notable criminal
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The Vessel Arrives
West Village Images by Joel Gordon The $200 million centerpiece of Hudson Yards, The Vessel comes from British designer Thomas Heatherwick and is an inverted honeycomb-like structure of platforms and stairways. There are 75 pieces in total, each piece weighing about 93,000 pounds. It has 2,500 stairs and is 150 feet tall. Other examples can be
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Restoration Hardware Transforms Historic Market District Wagon Shed
By Martica Sawin No doubt many West Villagers received, along with the Saturday, March 16th, New York Times, a glossy 360-page publication whose cover featured the former wagon shed in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. This was once the location of Pastis—across from the Gansevoort Hotel—and more recently, an empty site fronted by a thin brick facade
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Remembrances of the Lost Village: Judson Memorial Church
By Roger Paradiso On a cold and brisk October day in the Village, I made my way through Washington Square Park passing many fellow strangers. I wondered if they knew? I wondered if they knew that Judson Church and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) were going back in time to celebrate the greatest cultural
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City Council Takes Legal Action Against Two Bridges Proposal
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, a collection of five new residential towers are planned to include over 3,000 apartments, with retail stores at the base of each project, with 700 affordable units in the mix. However, in December 2018, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan
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Then&Now: Washington Square Park Fountain
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP In support of the many events taking place in April—Jane’s Walk, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation house tours, the 50th anniversary of the landmarking of most of the Greenwich Village District on April 29, 1969—we return to our beautiful Washington Square Park (WSP). The changes here, when considered
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Congestion Pricing & Access-a-Ride: Tech Breakthroughs
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Have you adjusted to the “Sharing Economy” yet? In NYC, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) is supposed to control the ride-hail world, but what has happened? Well, this has been a year, or decade, of turmoil in the ride-hail/ride-share world. The TLC oversaw 143,674 for-hire vehicles in 2015,
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Jackson Square Park Reopens After Extensive Renovation
By Michael D. Minichiello On April 2nd at 11:00 a.m., City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and others will preside over a newly renovated Jackson Square Park, the triangle formed by Horatio Street and Eighth and Greenwich Avenues. Among other events at the ceremony, three new pin oaks will be planted to join the older ones
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All We Can Afford Is Memories
By George Capsis Perhaps nothing has so suddenly dramatized the loss of the “old” Village as the sale of the building in which the beloved White Horse Tavern has sat unchanged since 1880. Generations and generations of young and not so young people have eased their way into a chair or booth there to sip
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Death By Architecture
By Ananth Sampathkumar Partner NDNY Architecture + Design New York is going through an architectural renaissance right now. The most famous architects from around the world are designing bespoke buildings and infrastructure for the city. The new designs range from museums to skyscrapers and even waterfront piers. The West Village has benefited from the signature
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City Council Announces Legal Action for Public Review of Two Bridges Proposal
By Brian J. Pape, AIA In the Two Bridges area of the Lower East Side, on the East River just north of the Manhattan Bridge, JDS, Extell, CIM, L+M, and the Starrett Group are planning five new residential towers. The collection of towers will include over 3,000 units, with retail spreading across the base of
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The Motivation for Political Paintings
By Phil Levine When I turned 40 years old (34 years ago) and living in Denver, I had this conversation with myself. “Philip, you think you’ve been given the gifts of music and art but you haven’t yet opened those gifts.” From that day on I committed myself to doing just that and began taking
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West Village Images by Joel Gordon: Art Illusions and Fantasies
Photographic series of digital computer art, illusions or fantasy featuring close up details taken from architecture and design elements of buildings. Other examples can be found on my website www.joelgordon.com. Photo credit © Joel Gordon 2019—All rights reserved.
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Villagers Speak as Cornelia Street Café Curtain Comes Down
Gone But Not Forgotten: A Tearful Farewell to a Venerated West Village Institution Bittersweet though it was, I’m deeply grateful for the experience of participating in one of the two final shows at Cornelia Street Café, whose legacy includes 41 years of presenting world class songwriters, spoken word, poetry, theatrical readings, storytelling, adventurous jazz, contemporary
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The Strand Bookstore Landmarking Debate
By Carol Yost There has been a proposal to landmark some buildings near where the 14th Street Tech Hub is going to be. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) would actually like to include far, far more buildings than the ones now under consideration. In any case, the threat of gentrification arising from the imminent
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L Train Not Shutting Down—But Will 14th Street?
By Arthur Z. Schwartz Back in 2016 the MTA did an Environmental Assessment of its now abandoned plan to shut the L Train down for 15 months, so that it could do electrical repairs in the Canarsie Tunnel. That 200-page report had a half page about mitigation. It said to add some more trains going
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L Train—14th Street Project Update and Aftermath
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP After months of valiant and sustained efforts to save their neighborhoods from an ill-advised MTA/DOT scheme for an L Train shutdown planned to start April 2019, local citizens persuaded Governor Cuomo to seek a 3rd opinion from engineers. Engineers recommended alternate plans, which do not require full shut-downs. Since
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Changes Coming to West 8th Street and MacDougal Street Buildings
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP The public was treated to presentations for new building proposals at recent LPC and CB2 meetings. This first offering seems to be a welcomed addition to a rather neglected spot on the once thriving “Positively 8th Street” section near Jimi Hendrix’s former Electric Lady recording studios. This corner in
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Elizabeth Street Gardens: A Classic Double-Cross?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Neighbors of the Elizabeth Street Garden (ESG), in the NOHO and Special Little Italy District (SLID), have expressed their concern that years of promises and being ignored have brought about a fiasco of controversy. CB2 joined in recapping the disingenuous way the city has mistreated this district at its
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Then&Now: The Last One Left
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP Greenwich Village has been challenged on many fronts, but the car-centric culture has been one of the biggest. You may already be aware that when the early civic leaders decided Manhattan needed a simple, logical street layout for the city to grow north of Chambers Street, The Village
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Why Do Google and Hi-Tech Firms Expand in the Lower Westside?
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP For those who have lived or worked in our area, the answer is obvious; we love the charm, character, mish-mosh of building styles and sizes, and the crazy streets, like nowhere else in the city. But are we loving it to death? Landmarked properties and districts help some areas,
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27 Christopher Street’s Private Makeover
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design 27 Christopher Street has been home to some illustrious residents. The beautiful Neo-classical building was built in 1911. Designed by Joseph Duke Harrison for the Switzer Institute and Home, the structure was a Catholic school till the New York Foundling took it over and named it the
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What to Expect When You are Renovating
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner—NDNY Architecture + Design Your first renovation project can either be a wonderful adventure, an expensive endeavor or a slow burn through hell. Preparing yourself before taking on such a task can save time, money and even reverse the accelerated aging process that construction projects tend to inflict. Here are a
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From XS to Excess
By Ananth Robert Sampathkumar, Partner—NDNY Architecture + Design In July 2012, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) launched adAPT NYC, a novel competition to design a new model for micro-apartments (under 400 square feet) in Kips Bay, Manhattan. The competition was won by Monadnock Development LLC, Actors Fund Housing Development
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The West Village’s Historic Lintels
Lintels, did you ever notice our West Village Lintels? You might ask, what are lintels? Well they should not be confused with lentils as in your soup. No, they are, according to Webster’s Dictionary, “the horizontal piece over a door or window”. Well, I never really did notice these lintels until our historic 1853 co-op
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A New Middle School for the West Village
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner NDNY Architecture + Design Middle School 297 NYC moved into its new location at 75 Morton Street this fall. The school officially opened in 2017 and had been sharing space with The Clinton School near Union Square for a year, while the building was under construction. In the mid 2000’s, parent
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St. John’s Gets Another Do-Over: The Saga of 550 Washington Street
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP If you don’t have your scorecard handy, you’re going to miss some plays with this development along West Street across from Pier 40 and the Hudson River Park Trust (HRPT) headquarters. More than four years ago the developers of St John’s Terminal were considering an office/commercial scheme that would
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First Class
By Keith Michael I feed my first of the month stamped envelopes of bills into the big blue mouth of the mail box on the corner and, of course, jiggle its jaw (as my mother taught me) to be sure that my envelopes haven’t gotten stuck in its craw. Yes, I still pay bills with
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Christine Blasey Ford and the Power of Memorable Architecture
By Ananth Sampathkumar, Partner, NDNY Architecture + Design Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27th, 2018. Her testimony about the assault on her was both riveting and painful to watch. What made her statements so compelling to me was the clarity of architectural detail in her account. Her recollection included
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Graffiti Art and HipHop Architecture
By Brian J. Pape, AIA There is a keenly watched legal battle being waged over creative expression, as noted in WestView News March and April 2018 articles by Catherine Revland, The 5Pointz Decision. The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA) has been litigated in a jury trial for the first time, ending February 2018 with
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Then&Now: The Greenwich Village Theater
By Brian J. Pape, AIA Greenwich Village and the area of Sheridan Square was a popular tourist destination during the 1910s and 1920s, helped by the development of the West Side subway line in 1918. The Greenwich Village Theatre was originally built for the Greenwich Village Players, who, like the Washington Square Players, were amateur
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Documenting the Village and Beyond
A Review of Berenice Abbot: A Life in Photography. WW Norton, 2018. Author, Julia Van Haaften. By Lisa E Davis, PhD Browsing the shelves of that Left Bank bookstore, in sight of the Seine and Notre Dame, which preserves the name of expatriate American Sylvia Beach’s original Shakespeare and Company (1919-1941), I found a real
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Flamenco and More at the Creative Cultural Center at St. Veronica
By Caroline Benveniste All too often, we report sad real estate stories—buildings being torn down and replaced with condos or offices, local shops closing because of steep rent increases, and other changes that make the Village less unique. Finally, we have a story that starts like all the others but ends happily. The Church of
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The Next Concert Could Be Yours
In my now 90 years, I found myself doing something I have never done before—sponsoring a classical music concert. It was easier than I thought. My kids don’t have to get all the money, and watching those rapt faces open to the familiar sound of great music in live performance was a reward I had
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Soccer with a View
By Barry Benepe In the September 2017 issue of WestView, we saw a lose-lose proposal to replace the current, income-earning parking garage at Pier 40 with a towering stadium (“The Happy Marriage of Pier 40 and Pier 55” by Michael Sorkin). This structure would block views of the park and the harbor and introduce loud,
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Barry Diller Asks Me to Print His Words
By George Capsis Below, I have included my (slightly revised) email exchanges with Valerie Combs—the Senior Vice President and Head of Communications at IAC—between October 25th and 27th. These emails conveyed my attempts to meet Barry Diller in person. Hi George, I run communications for IAC, and wanted to get this to you on
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Cage-Free in Washington Square Park
By Stanley Wlodyka The larger-than-life silver birdcage would block the path through the Washington Square Arch if not for the two refugees cut out from the frame. It’s no wonder that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei made the Washington Square Arch—an iconic symbol of New York City—a centerpiece of his Good Fences Make Good Neighbors installation
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A Stroll Around the Neighborhood: The Meatpacking District
By Brian J. Pape, AIA, LEED-AP On our last stroll, in the October 2017 issue of WestView, we ventured up to West 12th Street and 6th Avenue and over to the Hudson River. It’s pretty quiet between 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue, but once you cross into the Meatpacking District, things really heat up.
