Explore the Fascinating Hidden History South of Union Square

Explore the Fascinating Hidden History South of Union Square

Photos courtesy of  Village Preservation

Village Preservation’s longtime Executive Director Andrew Berman will take you on a fascinating tour of this area his organization is crusading to document and save.

Among the surprising finds you’ll encounter here:

  • How the neighborhood played a defining role in the launch of the modern African American and LGBTQ+ civil rights movements, the Women’s suffrage movement, anti-fascist organizing and labor and leftist movements.
  • How the neighborhood was home to many of the greatest artists of the mid-20th century, who radically transformed the art world and moved its center from Paris to New York.
  • How the neighborhood is home to the single largest concentration of works by one of America’s greatest architects, James Renwick Jr., who also called the neighborhood home.
  • How as a center of commerce and culture, the neighborhood produced both some of the great works of literature and great musical recordings of the last century and a half.

About the event:

The neighborhood bounded by Fifth and Third Avenues, 14th and 9th Streets is a special corner of New York City. It’s where Greenwich Village meets the East Village; where commerce meets residential life; where over the years, activism, artistry, and business collided and combined. It’s also the hole between the landmark protections which cover most of Greenwich Village and the zoning protections which cover most of the East Village, and the recent arrival of “Silicon Alley” is threatening to destroy two hundred years of incredible history.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of the fascinating history of this often overlooked neighborhood, recently ruled eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places and named one of “Seven to Save” — the seven most important endangered historic sites in New York State — by the Preservation League of NYS. We’ll explore not only it’s rich, multi-layered history, but the dangers it faces and the efforts to preserve it. 

Attendees will receive a link to join the webinar after completing the registration.

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