Greenwich Village

Actress Lauren Graham unloads Greenwich Village crash pad for $825K
May 16, 2018

Actress Lauren Graham unloads Greenwich Village crash pad for $825K

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Though she's spent most of her career in LaLa Land filming "Gilmore Girls" and "Parenthood," actress Lauren Graham has also kept a NYC crash pad for years. Unsurprisingly, the laid-back Graham chose to set up Downtown, buying a one-bedroom co-op at 24 Fifth Avenue, just two blocks north of Washington Square Park, for $570,000 in 2014. She's now unloaded the lovely little place for $825,000, according to city records.
See the whole place
Landmarks approves three-story glass addition to Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square studio

Revised rendering via DXA Studio

May 15, 2018

Landmarks approves three-story glass addition to Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square studio

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Last November, the owner of newly-landmarked buildings at 827-831 Broadway, noted for their cast-iron architecture and as the home of artist Willem de Kooning, submitted a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace that architects DXA Studio say was influenced by de Kooning's work. After sending the plan back to the drawing board twice, the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Monday finally approved the revised design, which reduces the height of the addition to three stories and places it more setback from the street. LPC recommends that DXA use a darker cladding material over 47 East 12th Street to give it a totally matte finish.
Find out more
‘Sex’-y NYC cupcake shop Magnolia Bakery to open 200 franchise locations across the U.S.

Image: Shiny Things via Flickr

May 7, 2018

‘Sex’-y NYC cupcake shop Magnolia Bakery to open 200 franchise locations across the U.S.

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We know “Sex and the City” did wonders for pink martinis, Manolos and Cynthia Nixon’s political career. And we’re pretty sure the cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery have the NYC-centric series to thank for its ability to expand worldwide. The popular pastries are, we're told, gobbling up the market in Dubai, Kuwait, Tokyo, Mexico City and Seoul, and closer to home in (besides New York City) Los Angeles, Chicago and now Boston. But like Ms. Nixon, the company isn't content to rest on its laurels. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Bleecker Street original will be plying its sweet treats in as many as 200 new franchises in the U.S. in the next five years
How many cupcakes is too many?
Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

Washington Square Park via Wiki Commons; Jane Jacobs via Wiki Commons

May 4, 2018

Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

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Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city -- its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is hosting 200+ free walks throughout the city from today through Sunday). But there’s no place better to appreciate all things Jane Jacobs than Greenwich Village, the neighborhood in which she lived and which so informed and inspired her writings and activism, in turn helping to save it from destruction.
Tour Jane Jacobs' NYC
Edward Hopper’s Greenwich Village: The real-life inspirations behind his paintings
April 20, 2018

Edward Hopper’s Greenwich Village: The real-life inspirations behind his paintings

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There’s no lack of artists deeply associated with New York. But among the many painters who’ve been inspired by our city, perhaps none has had a more enduring and deeper relationship than Edward Hopper, particularly with Greenwich Village. Hopper lived and worked in Greenwich Village during nearly his entire adult life, and drew much inspiration from his surroundings. He rarely painted scenes exactly as they were, but focused on elements that conveyed a mood or a feeling. Hopper also liked to capture scenes which were anachronistic, even in the early 20th century. Fortunately due to the Village’s enduring passion for historic preservation, many, if not all, of the places which inspired Hopper nearly a century ago can still be seen today – or at least evidence of them.
Learn more
Office building in the Village’s ‘Silicon Alley’ gets a new design

Current side via Wikimedia; 799 Broadway Rendering via Perkins+Will

April 17, 2018

Office building in the Village’s ‘Silicon Alley’ gets a new design

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Plans for the office development proposed on the site of the former St. Denis Hotel in the East Village progressed last week, after Normandy Real Estate Partners filed new permit applications. Located at 799 Broadway, the 165-year-old hotel will be demolished and later replaced with a 12-story office building. New permits reveal a change in architects, from CetraRuddy to Perkins+Will as well as a slight shrinkage of space, from 190,000 to 183,000 square feet (h/t The Real Deal).
Find out more
How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. via Wiki Commons

April 4, 2018

How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

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Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an African American. That successful quest began with and was spearheaded by a native son of Greenwich Village, Howard Bennett. Bennett was one of the last residents of a Greenwich Village community known as “Little Africa,” a predominantly African-American section of the neighborhood which was, for much of New York’s history through the 19th century, the largest and most important African-American community in the city. That neighborhood centered around present-day Minetta, Thompson, Cornelia, and Gay Streets.
Learn more here
Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

Photo from an event test run last night, courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photo Office

April 3, 2018

Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

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Today, April 3rd, marks the 50th anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," in Memphis, Tennessee. In response to the Memphis Sanitation Strike, he called for unity, economic action, and nonviolent protests. He also, eerily, alluded to an untimely death. The following day, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. To commemorate this final speech, the city will tonight replay it in its entirety throughout Washington Square Park while Mayor de Blasio and First Lady McCray light the arch in MLK's honor.
Event details ahead
Restaurateur Keith McNally gets $10M for his French-country Greenwich Village townhouse
March 16, 2018

Restaurateur Keith McNally gets $10M for his French-country Greenwich Village townhouse

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After a long run on the market--renting at $25,000/month, $19,000/month, then listed for $13.95 million--restaurateur Keith McNally‘s 4,600 square-foot Greek Revival townhouse has sold. According to The Real Deal, an unknown buyer paid $10.3 million. McNally, behind buzzy establishments like Balthazar, Cherche Midi, Odeon, Café Luxembourg, Schiller’s and Minetta Tavern, bought the 1842 townhouse at 105 West 11th Street in 2000. The design is fit for a restaurateur, with a stunning kitchen, walk-in wine cellar and rustic French-country interiors.
Take one last look inside
15 female trailblazers of the Village: From the first woman doctor to the ‘godmother of punk’
March 1, 2018

15 female trailblazers of the Village: From the first woman doctor to the ‘godmother of punk’

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Greenwich Village is well known as the home to libertines in the 1920s and feminists in the 1960s and '70s. But going back to at least the 19th century, the neighborhoods now known as Greenwich Village, the East Village, and Noho were home to pioneering women who defied convention and changed the course of history, from the first female candidate for President, to America’s first woman doctor, to the "mother of birth control." This Women’s History Month, here are just a few of those trailblazing women, and the sites associated with them.
Learn all about these amazing women
Black history in Greenwich Village: 15 sites related to pioneering African-Americans

Image via Wikimedia

February 16, 2018

Black history in Greenwich Village: 15 sites related to pioneering African-Americans

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Greenwich Village has been known throughout its existence for breaking new ground and embracing outsiders. One often-forgotten but important element of that trailblazing narrative is the extraordinary role the Village played in relation to African American history. The neighborhood was home to North America’s earliest free Black settlement in the 17th century, to some of America’s first black churches in the 19th century, and many pioneering African-American artists, civil rights leaders, and organizations in the 20th century. This Black History Month, here are just a few of the exceptional Greenwich Village sites connected to African-American history.
Learn about all 15 sites here
Fall in love with this elegant two-bedroom co-op, asking $1.85M in the Village
February 14, 2018

Fall in love with this elegant two-bedroom co-op, asking $1.85M in the Village

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In New York we don't just fall madly in love with people--we fall just as hard for real estate. So here's a charming two-bedroom apartment to love from the Greenwich Village cooperative 171 West 12th Street. The listing boasts plenty of pre-war elegance in the form of original casement windows with double-paned glass, a wood-burning fireplace surrounded by exposed brick, and built-in bookshelves. And exposures to the south, west, and north--plus access to a balcony--bring in plenty of light. It's just been listed for $1.85 million.
Take a look
Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner house hunt in Annabelle Selldorf’s Bowlmor Lanes-replacing condo
February 8, 2018

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner house hunt in Annabelle Selldorf’s Bowlmor Lanes-replacing condo

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DNCE singer Joe Jonas and fiancee Sophie Turner, star of "Game of Thrones," were recently spotted having a look at a Greenwich Village home in the newly-minted Annabelle Selldorf-designed condos that notoriously replaced the former Bowlmor Lanes at 21 East 12th Street. The New York Post reports that the pair checked out a unit in the building's C-line, where two-bedroom homes span 2,028 square feet, priced between $5 and $6 million.
Get a closer look
‘Parisian style’ short-term rental in Greenwich Village asks $5,000/month
January 17, 2018

‘Parisian style’ short-term rental in Greenwich Village asks $5,000/month

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For a short-term rental option, this one-bedroom apartment with some Parisian style in Greenwich Village is up for rent. What's so French-feeling about the space? 12-foot ceilings, beautiful crown moldings, large arched framed windows and some classy decor and art. The $5,000/month pad is available for between one and six months, according to the listing. It's on the second floor of the walk-up building at 2 East 12th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue.
Check it out inside
The Greenwich Village church that threw a presidential election

The Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church in 1902, courtesy of the New-York Historical Society, Robert L. Bracklow Photograph Collection

January 11, 2018

The Greenwich Village church that threw a presidential election

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The stately church building at 141-145 West 13th Street in the West Village is the picture of serene elegance. Built in 1846-47 in the Greek Revival style, the classical balance and symmetry of the façade mask a history full of controversy, including the birth of a notorious slur in American politics, which arguably changed the outcome of a pivotal presidential election.
Find out about the scandalous story
LPC sends glassy addition to Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square loft back to the drawing board
January 10, 2018

LPC sends glassy addition to Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square loft back to the drawing board

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Back in November, the developer/owner of a pair of newly-landmarked buildings at 827-831 Broadway--noted for their cast-iron architecture and a rich cultural history that includes serving as home to artist Willem de Kooning--submitted a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace that architects DXA Studio say was influenced by de Kooning's work. Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission received the proposal with mixed reviews, feeling skeptical about whether or not cultural events should influence a building's architecture. After hearing testimony from a slew of local residents and preservationists who feel the glass topper is too large, the LPC decided to take no action on the plan, instead sending the team back to the drawing board to better detail the restoration aspects and reconsider the addition as perhaps shorter and further setback.
More details and renderings ahead
Fire Patrol House #2: From Benjamin Franklin’s fire prevention ideas to Anderson Cooper’s stylish home

Fire Patrol #2 in 2009, via Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Image Archive

January 4, 2018

Fire Patrol House #2: From Benjamin Franklin’s fire prevention ideas to Anderson Cooper’s stylish home

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The former firehouse located at 84 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village is often noted for being the renovated and restored home of TV personality and journalist Anderson Cooper. But it’s just as noteworthy for an unusual history connected to Benjamin Franklin and insurance underwriters, and for not being the kind of firehouse you think it is at all.
The whole history and current use
The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

Abandoned buildings along the Christopher Street Pier. Ca. 1974. © Jack Dowling Collection for GVSHP.

December 29, 2017

The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation shares a collection of archival images by Jack Dowling that documents the crumbling piers of Greenwich Village in the 1970s. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at tips@6sqft.com. The fetid smell of rotted wood and the Hudson River nearly rises from these photos of the sorry state of Greenwich Village's collapsing piers in the 1970s. The contrast is stark between the neighborhood's disinvested, abandonment, pictured here, and its current culture of high rents and pricey coffee shops. Among New York City's main concerns when photographer Jack Dowling created, "Decay and Rebirth Along the Greenwich Village Waterfront in the 1970s," were its murder rate and the looming threat of bankruptcy when these photos have taken; the city as a whole has changed drastically in the decades since.
The visible difference from the present is astounding
What lies below: NYC’s forgotten and hidden graveyards

Zoom of the 1852 Dripps map of Manhattan, showing the proximity of downtown cemeteries, via David Rumsey Map Collection

December 21, 2017

What lies below: NYC’s forgotten and hidden graveyards

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Most New Yorkers spend some time underground every day as part of their daily commute, but some spend eternity beneath our streets, and in a few cases occupy some pretty surprising real estate. Manhattan cemeteries are tougher to get into than Minetta Tavern without a reservation on a Saturday night because as far back as 1823, New York forbade new burials south of Canal Street. In 1851 that prohibition was extended to new burials south of 86th Street, and the creation of new cemeteries anywhere on the island was banned. But thousands of people were buried in Manhattan before those restrictions went into effect. And while some gravesites remain carefully maintained and hallowed ground, such as the those at St. Mark’s in the Bowery Church on Stuyvesant Street, Trinity Church on Wall Street, and St Paul’s Church at Fulton and Broadway, others have been forgotten and overlaid with some pretty surprising new uses, including playgrounds, swimming pools, luxury condos, and even a hotel named for the current occupant of the White House.
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NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

The Ninth Avenue El near 14th Street c. 1914. Via Bain Collection, Library of Congress.

December 14, 2017

NYC’s first elevated train and the world’s first streetcar began in Greenwich Village

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Greenwich Village is known as the birthplace of many things – the modern gay rights movement, Off-Broadway theater, the New York School of artists and poets, the “new urbanism” pioneered by Jane Jacobs, among many other trailblazing firsts. Less closely associated with the Village, however, are radical and transformative innovations in transportation technology. But while little known, the Village was in fact home to the first elevated rail line, and the first streetcar.
The whole history right this way
The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

© Estate of Fred W. McDarrah

December 7, 2017

The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

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Perhaps no single photographer could be said to have captured the energy, the cultural ferment, the reverberating social change emanating from New York City in the second half of the 20th century as vividly as Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah got his start covering the downtown beat of the Village Voice in the 1950s and '60s, as that publication was defining a newly-emerged breed of independent journalism. McDarrah penetrated the lofts and coffeehouses of Lower Manhattan to shed light upon a new movement known as "The Beats" and went on to capture on film the New York artists, activists, politicians, and poets who changed the way everyone else thought and lived. Through the generosity of the Estate of Fred W. McDarrah and the McDarrah family, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation was fortunate enough to add to its digital archive a dozen of the most epochal of Fred McDarrah’s images of downtown icons, including Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Jane Jacobs, and Allen Ginsberg. And just in time for the holidays, you can purchase your own copy (with all proceeds benefitting GVSHP!).
Learn the story behind all the photos
The long cultural and musical history of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village

Jimi Hendrix, via Wiki Commons

November 30, 2017

The long cultural and musical history of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village

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Jimi Hendrix would have turned 75 this week. In his brief 27 years and even briefer musical career, Hendrix left an indelible mark upon guitar playing and rock music, permanently transforming both art forms. But perhaps in some ways his most lasting impact came from a project completed just three weeks before his death--the opening of Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street in Greenwich Village. On August 26th, 1970, the studio opened, the only recording artist-owned studio at the time. It provided Hendrix with affordable studio space that would also meet his personal technical and aesthetic specifications. Kicked off by an opening party near summer’s end, Electric Lady Studios was the location of Hendrix's last-ever studio recording--an instrumental known as "Slow Blues"--before his untimely passing on September 18, 1970. Fortunately, this was only the beginning of the studio’s incredible run recording some of the greatest rock, hip hop, and pop albums of the last nearly half-century and only the latest incarnation of one of the Village’s most unusual and storied structures.
The whole history here
$980K Village co-op maximizes space with smart storage and a bonus outdoor patio
November 22, 2017

$980K Village co-op maximizes space with smart storage and a bonus outdoor patio

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This Greenwich Village apartment, at the cooperative 175 Bleecker Street, is within cozy quarters. But the ground-floor, one-bedroom unit is more than meets the eye post-renovation. It's packed with some ingenious storage, a lofted second bedroom space, and a dreamy private patio. After last selling in 2015 for $849,000, it's back on the market with a steeper ask of $980,000. Will someone be willing to spend close to $1 million on a well-designed but modest apartment, right in the heart of the Village?
Take a look around
Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

Artist’s studios on Bleecker Street, via GVSHP

November 9, 2017

Artist aeries: Touring downtown’s ‘studio windows’

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With fall’s arrival and the turning back of the clocks, sunlight becomes an ever more precious commodity. Perhaps no New York living space is more centered around capturing and maximizing that prized amenity than the artist’s studio, with its large casement windows and tall ceilings. So with sunlight at a premium, let’s conduct a brief survey of some of the most iconic artist’s studio windows in the Village and East Village.
But first, a little history
DXA Studio proposes prismatic glass addition for Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square home
November 8, 2017

DXA Studio proposes prismatic glass addition for Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square home

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Just a week after the pair of buildings at 827-831 Broadway was landmarked, not only for their cast-iron architecture but for their long cultural history that most notably includes serving as home to world-famous artist Willem de Kooning, the developer/owner has put forth a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace. Though the architects at DXA Studio say the modern topper's reflectivity is representative of two phases of de Kooning's work--his 1960s rural and pastoral landscapes as seen through the reflection of surrounding plantings and his late 1950s urban landscapes through the building reflections--local groups are not so convinced.
All the details ahead
‘Good Wife’ star Josh Charles buys Devonshire House pad in the Village for $6.3M

Image courtesy of the Stein Team of Sotheby’s Downtown. Credit: Scott Wintrow/Gamut Photos.
Josh Charles image: Wikipedia.

November 2, 2017

‘Good Wife’ star Josh Charles buys Devonshire House pad in the Village for $6.3M

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Alec Baldwin and Amanda Seyfried just got a new celebrity neighbor at the venerable Greenwich Village condo Devonshire House at 28 East 10th Street. According to the Post, "The Good Wife" star Josh Charles just purchased a three-bedroom home at the celebrity-loved building for $6.3 million. According to records, the actor recently sold a two-bedroom condo at 42 East 12th Street for $3.75 million.
Take a look
First look at proposed Greenwich Village tower by Robert A.M. Stern
October 27, 2017

First look at proposed Greenwich Village tower by Robert A.M. Stern

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If there's one neighborhood in NYC where new developments face the most challenges it's Greenwich Village. One of the city's first historic districts and once home to preservation godmother Jane Jacobs, the low-scale community is arguably the most vocal and steadfast in the city. But it looks like Madison Realty Capital didn't get the memo, as they've tapped starchitect Robert A.M. Stern to design a hulking, 27-story condo tower at 14 Fifth Avenue, just a block north of Washington Square Park, according to NY Yimby. And while Stern's signature classy, limestone design fits in well with the stretch's other apartment buildings, the proposed 367-foot height will likely not sit well with locals. However, at this point, the tower is merely conceptual and will still require a public review need Landmarks Preservation Commission approvals.
More looks and details
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