The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to extend landmark designation to a 235-building, 11 block section of the South Village, the first phase and approximately one-third of the South Village Historic District proposed by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP).
In spite of the efforts of 1960's preservation advocates like Jane Jacobs, the South Village was excluded from the Greenwich Village Historic District designated in 1969.
The GVSHP first approached the LPC in 2002 about designating the South Village, and in late 2006 submitted a 95-page report to the LPC arguing for designation of the area, as well as the history of each of the 750 buildings in the neighborhood.
The South Village is the formerly largely Italian-immigrant section of Greenwich Village south of Washington Square Park and West 4th Street, which has perhaps the largest intact collection of housing and social, cultural, religious, educational, and charitable institutions connected to late-19th and early-20th century immigrant life in New York. The South Village was also the scene of many of the most important sites of the great American counter-cultural movements of the late-19th through the mid-20th centuries, including the Beats of the 1950's, the folk-revival of the 1960's, and the invention of modern American theater in the 1910's. Today's designation is the largest expansion of landmark protections in Greenwich Village since 1969.
However, advocates remain concerned that the slow pace and piecemeal nature of the city's approach to landmark designation of the South Village has already allowed many of its most important historic sites to be demolished, with more losses likely under the city's current lengthy and fractured timetable for considering the remaining two-thirds of the neighborhood.
GVSHP sent a letter to LPC Chair Robert Tierney directly following today's vote urging him to consider the remaining two-thirds of the South Village for landmark designation as soon as possible, rather than continuing to divide the neighborhood into thirds and taking at least two years to consider each third.
"We are thrilled that the first piece of this neighborhood which we have been fighting for nearly a decade to protect has finally been granted landmark status," said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "However, we are equally distressed that so much of the neighborhood has been lost while we have been waiting for action from the city, and we fear that much more will be lost while we wait for the remaining two-thirds of the neighborhood to be considered. The South Village is one of New York and the nation's most historic neighborhoods, and its rich immigrant and counter-cultural heritage deserve protection. The Landmarks Preservation Commission should act immediately to consider the remaining section of the South Village we have proposed for landmark designation," added Mr. Berman.
In spite of the efforts of 1960's preservation advocates like Jane Jacobs, the South Village was excluded from the Greenwich Village Historic District designated in 1969.
The GVSHP first approached the LPC in 2002 about designating the South Village, and in late 2006 submitted a 95-page report to the LPC arguing for designation of the area, as well as the history of each of the 750 buildings in the neighborhood.
The South Village is the formerly largely Italian-immigrant section of Greenwich Village south of Washington Square Park and West 4th Street, which has perhaps the largest intact collection of housing and social, cultural, religious, educational, and charitable institutions connected to late-19th and early-20th century immigrant life in New York. The South Village was also the scene of many of the most important sites of the great American counter-cultural movements of the late-19th through the mid-20th centuries, including the Beats of the 1950's, the folk-revival of the 1960's, and the invention of modern American theater in the 1910's. Today's designation is the largest expansion of landmark protections in Greenwich Village since 1969.
However, advocates remain concerned that the slow pace and piecemeal nature of the city's approach to landmark designation of the South Village has already allowed many of its most important historic sites to be demolished, with more losses likely under the city's current lengthy and fractured timetable for considering the remaining two-thirds of the neighborhood.
GVSHP sent a letter to LPC Chair Robert Tierney directly following today's vote urging him to consider the remaining two-thirds of the South Village for landmark designation as soon as possible, rather than continuing to divide the neighborhood into thirds and taking at least two years to consider each third.
"We are thrilled that the first piece of this neighborhood which we have been fighting for nearly a decade to protect has finally been granted landmark status," said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "However, we are equally distressed that so much of the neighborhood has been lost while we have been waiting for action from the city, and we fear that much more will be lost while we wait for the remaining two-thirds of the neighborhood to be considered. The South Village is one of New York and the nation's most historic neighborhoods, and its rich immigrant and counter-cultural heritage deserve protection. The Landmarks Preservation Commission should act immediately to consider the remaining section of the South Village we have proposed for landmark designation," added Mr. Berman.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
6sqft delivers the latest on real estate, architecture, and design, straight from New York City.
