Search Results for: brooklyn history

Cuomo gets involved in L train shutdown plans; Jean-Georges will bring fine dining to the TWA Hotel

L train via Wiki Commons (L); TWA Terminal courtesy of MCR and Morse Development. Photo by Max Touhey. (R)

December 11, 2018

Cuomo gets involved in L train shutdown plans; Jean-Georges will bring fine dining to the TWA Hotel

This Thursday night, Governor Cuomo will tour the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel and “personally” vet the L Train shutdown plans. [amNY] Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten will run a restaurant and a lounge inside the TWA Hotel, which will bring back some classic dishes from in-flight TWA menus from the 1950s and ’60s. [NYT] Is Manhattan West trying to compete with […]

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Via Practice for Architecture and Urbanism

December 11, 2018

A megachurch in East New York will become an ‘urban village’ with 2,100 affordable apartments

By Alexandra Alexa

A Christian megachurch in East New York is partnering with the Gotham Organization to redevelop their East New York campus into a mixed-income community, or "urban village" as Reverend A.R. Bernard calls it, of 2,100 affordable units and neighborhood amenities. The plan from the Christian Cultural Center, led by Bernard, will supplement the existing church at 12020 Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn and create a community with CCC at its core.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

December 6, 2018

40 NYC-themed gifts for every type of New Yorker

By Devin Gannon

Whether you need just a few more items to check off your holiday shopping list or you haven’t even started thinking about it yet, follow our guide to make this year’s gift-giving totally stressfree. We’ve rounded up the 40 best presents that are uniquely New York for every type of Big Apple dweller, from the transit nerd and the foodie to the architecture buff and bookworm. Priced between $10 and $295, recommended gifts include everything from a cheese class with Murray's Cheese to a walking tour of Flushing, Queens.
See the full list

Our 4,700sqft: How European expats found a family home in a historic Hamilton Heights brownstone

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to Laurence and Antoine’s 19th-century Hamilton Heights townhouse. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

December 4, 2018

Our 4,700sqft: How European expats found a family home in a historic Hamilton Heights brownstone

By Dana Schulz

France natives Laurence and Antoine moved to NYC in 2006, after spending 12 years in Frankfurt, Germany. Antoine's career as a software developer brought the family of six across the pond, where they landed in Turtle Bay. But once they got acclimated, they knew they wanted a neighborhood with more character. So eight years ago, they bought a historic brownstone in Hamilton Heights. When asked if they miss anything about living in Midtown they quickly say "no," as they've fallen in love with Hamilton Heights' charm, convenience, and friendly neighborhood feel. But take away what's outside, and Laurence and Antoine's home alone would be enough to make any New Yorker fall in love. Built in 1890, the 21-foot-wide brownstone retains almost all of its original details, such as elaborately carved moldings and fireplaces (five, to be exact), cozy window seats, and jaw-dropping foliated screens in the master bedroom. However, with their children now out of the house, the couple is ready to downsize and has put their home on the market. But before they depart, Laurence and Antoine invited us in for a personal tour.
Have a look around

Limited-edition ‘Game of Thrones’ MetroCards launch today at Grand Central

Image via HBO

December 4, 2018

Limited-edition ‘Game of Thrones’ MetroCards launch today at Grand Central

By Alexandra Alexa

After a slight delay, limited edition "Game of Thrones"-themed MetroCards will be available starting today at Grand Central Terminal. The MetroCards are part of a larger #ForTheThrone campaign in anticipation of the series' final season debuting sometime in April 2019. The MTA partnered with HBO for the "Game of Thrones" takeover at Grand Central, which includes more than 150 promotional posters that will remain at the station through Dec. 23, as Gothamist reported.
Get the details

Transit

A monument honoring Shirley Chisholm will be built near Prospect Park

Chisholm announcing her candidacy in 1972; photo via the Library of Congress

November 30, 2018

A monument honoring Shirley Chisholm will be built near Prospect Park

By Devin Gannon

Chipping away at the lack of women represented among New York City statues, the city announced on Friday it is commissioning a permanent statue of Shirley Chisholm to be built in Brooklyn. Chisholm, who lived in Bed-Stuy, became in 1968 the first black woman to serve in the House of Representatives. The statue, expected to be completed in 2020, will be placed outside of the Parkside entrance to Prospect Park.
More on the new statue here

Lillian Wald’s Lower East Side: From the Visiting Nurse Service to the Henry Street Settlement

Henry Street Nurses, courtesy of The Henry Street Settlement

November 30, 2018

Lillian Wald’s Lower East Side: From the Visiting Nurse Service to the Henry Street Settlement

By Lucie Levine

In 1893, the 26-year-old nurse Lillian Wald founded the Lower East Side’s Henry Street Settlement, and what would become the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. Two years of nursing school had given her the “inspiration to be of use some way or somehow,” and she identified “four branches of usefulness” where she could be of service. Those four branches, “visiting nursing, social work, country work and civic work,” helped guide the Settlement’s programming, and turned Wald’s home at 265 Henry Street into a center of progressive advocacy, and community support, that attracted neighbors from around the corner, and reformers from around the world.
Learn about Lillian

History

Explore 10 of Andy Warhol’s lesser-known NYC haunts

Andy Warhol in 1968, via Wiki Commons

November 27, 2018

Explore 10 of Andy Warhol’s lesser-known NYC haunts

By Lucie Levine

The Whitney’s new Andy Warhol retrospective, “Andy Warhol – From A to B and Back Again," is the first major presentation of the artist’s work in the United States since 1989. The show covers the museum’s entire fifth floor, as well as smaller galleries on the first and third floors. It traces Warhol’s career from his early days as a commercial illustrator, to his role as the world’s most iconic pop artist, and through his resurgence in the 1970s and ‘80s. If Warhol’s work is as famous as a can of Coca-Cola, so too is his relationship with New York City. High profile haunts like the Factory, Studio 54, and Max’s Kansas City are as closely associated with Warhol as any of his artwork. But Andy Warhol lived, worked, and played all over New York. Since Andy’s having his moment, give these 10 lesser-known Warhol haunts their 15 minutes.
These places pop!

November 26, 2018

The best offbeat holiday events, exhibits, and outings in NYC this year

By Michelle Cohen

The winter holiday season is as much about tradition as it is about twinkling lights and shopping, from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree and the Rockettes to The Nutcracker and as many versions of Handel's Messiah as there are ways to count 'em–plus a full menu of classics on TV and at the movies. If you're craving a break from the old chestnuts, these less-traditional alternatives to the holiday hit parade might be just the kind of merry you're looking to make.
No SantaCon, we promise

The backstory on backhouses: How NYC’s hidden rear residences came to be

Via Wiki Commons

November 21, 2018

The backstory on backhouses: How NYC’s hidden rear residences came to be

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

New York City is full of hidden surprises that even the most dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker may not know about. One such example is the elusive "backhouse" or rear house. There are literally scores of these hidden structures throughout the older neighborhoods of Lower Manhattan like Greenwich Village and the East Village. But because they are generally invisible from the street, they’re typically virtually unknown to anyone other than their residents and immediate neighbors. But these oft-romanticized structures have a complicated and surprising history, one which belies their almost mythical place in the psyche of New Yorkers.
Get the scoop

History

Mapping Manahatta: 10 Lenape sites in New York City

“Manhattan Island in the Sixteenth Century,” from the Memorial History of New York, 1892, via NYPL

November 20, 2018

Mapping Manahatta: 10 Lenape sites in New York City

By Lucie Levine

Currently, most Lenape belong to the Delaware Nation and live in New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Ontario, but the word Lenape means “Original People,” and the Lenape are the Original New Yorkers. In fact, the name Manhattan comes from the Lenape “Manahatta,” meaning “hilly island.” Although the Lenape stove to “walk so gently on the earth,” without leaving an impact on the land, they influenced the city’s physical geography in ways we can see and feel today. From Bowling Green to Broadway, Cherry Street to Minetta Lane, here are 10 sites in Manhattan that reflect the legacy of the Lenape.
Learn more about the first

November 19, 2018

NYC’s best alternative holiday markets and coolest pop-up shops of 2018

By Michelle Cohen

No matter how hard we try to resist the urge to do last-minute shopping, that unexpected invitation, secret Santa or gift that needs reciprocation sends us scrambling for the perfect present. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of holiday markets and pop-up shops offering a bounty of just-right goodies and crafty gifts. The big NYC markets at Union Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central Station, and Columbus Circle are the front-runners for sheer volume, but some of the best finds are waiting to be discovered at smaller, cooler neighborhood affairs. In addition to locally-made jewelry, crafts, vintage items, artfully curated fashions, home items, gourmet goodies and other things we didn't know we needed, these hip retail outposts sparkle with drinks, food, workshops, tarot readings, nail art, music, and family fun to keep shoppers' spirits bright.
Find out where to get the goods

Events & Things To Do

John, a third generation Mohawk ironworker who helped raise One World Trade, photographed by Melissa Cacciola, via Melisssa Cacciola

November 16, 2018

New exhibit at 9/11 Museum features the Mohawk ironworkers who built One World Trade Center

By Lucie Levine

“Skywalkers: a Portrait of Mohawk Ironworkers at the World Trade Center,” opens today at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The exhibit features photographer Melissa Cacciola’s tintype portraits of Kahnawake Mohawk ironworkers who volunteered in rescue efforts after 9/11 and helped raise One World Trade Center, Towers 2, 3, and 4, and the Calatrava Transportation Hub.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

November 16, 2018

Behind the scenes at Trinity Church’s $112M historic restoration

By Lucie Levine

Hardhats aren’t your typical church-going attire, but they were necessary at Trinity Church when Vicar Rev. Philip Jackson led a behind-the-scenes tour of Trinity’s ongoing $112,000,000, two-year restoration. The project, officially known as a “rejuvenation” of the facilities, began on May 7, 2018, and is slated to be finished in the spring of 2020. Now six months underway, the meticulous work, headed by architect Jeff Murphy of Murphy Burnham and Buttrick, will preserve Trinity’s landmarked church building while "enhancing the overall worship experience," by making the church more accessible and welcoming. Weaving our way between scaffolding and rubble in one of New York’s most iconic naves, we saw the very foundation of Trinity Church’s past and got a glimpse of its future. From the finer points of organ-voicing to some of the first examples of American stained-glass, check out 10 of the most exciting behind-the-scenes secrets of the Trinity Church Restoration.
Check out the Church!

See 120 years of NYC art and architecture planning at the Public Design Commission’s Archives

Plans for a never-built “Italian Fountain” at the Bronx Zoo, disapproved by the Commission Feb. 10, 1903; DC French’s “Brooklyn” and a Guide to Prospect Park via PDC

November 13, 2018

See 120 years of NYC art and architecture planning at the Public Design Commission’s Archives

By Lucie Levine

On the third floor of City Hall, in what was once an apartment for the building's caretaker, a small agency known as the Public Design Commission reviews works of public art, architecture, and design proposed on or over city-owned property. Projects as varied as West End Avenue's Straus Memorial, Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, Greenpoint's now-defunct Huron Street Baths, and all of the City's spectacular WPA murals, have come before the Commission for approval and safeguarding. Since the Commission was established under the New York City Charter in 1898 and approved its first project, the Maine Monument in Central Park, designed and carved in the Bronx by the great Attillio Piccirilli, the commission has conferred or withheld its blessing on more than 7,000 projects. Thankfully, what those projects are and where you can find them is all a matter of public record. Since 1902, the Commission has maintained a meticulous archive documenting all the projects it has reviewed. The Archive includes original drawings, photographs, and architectural plans of more than a century of the City's public works.
Set your designs on this Story!

History

In honor of the World War I armistice centennial, the city’s memorials get refurbished

The Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial via Wiki Commons

November 12, 2018

In honor of the World War I armistice centennial, the city’s memorials get refurbished

By Dana Schulz

Did you know NYC has one of the largest collections of memorials erected in the aftermath of World War I? 103 to be exact. And to mark the centennial of the WWI armistice, the Parks Department has announced that they've completed refurbishments of several of these sites, including Father Duffy in Times Square, the Pleasant Plains Memorial on Staten Island, the Abingdon Square Doughboy in Greenwich Village, and the Carroll Park monument in Brooklyn.
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City Living

November 12, 2018

This map shows the diversity of NYC’s veterans in every neighborhood

By Michelle Cohen

The New York City greater metropolitan area is home to over a million service members, veterans and their families. To provide an idea of just how many veterans call the city home–and how diverse a community they are– the New York City Department of Veterans' Services has compiled a set of maps using the most recently available data from the American Community Survey and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Maps and more info, this way

Uncategorized

From breweries and baseball to ‘cigar tenements’ and German Broadway: 10 secrets of Yorkville

Yorkville Theater, 86th Street between Lexington and Third, via Wikimedia

November 7, 2018

From breweries and baseball to ‘cigar tenements’ and German Broadway: 10 secrets of Yorkville

By Lucie Levine

Yorkville has been a popular outpost for the young professional crowd for quite some time now, but thanks to the Second Avenue Subway opening two years ago, the neighborhood has been getting on everyone's radar. But long before the cool subway mosaics, new building developments, and constantly-popping-up restaurants and bars, Yorkville had a diverse history that spanned more than 300 years. In celebration of this history, FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts is releasing today a new neighborhood history book, “Shaped by Immigrants: A History of Yorkville.” And after getting a sneak peek, we couldn't resist sharing some juicy neighborhood history gems. From having its own "piano ferry" and the largest brewery in the country to revolutionizing apartment living, this Upper East Side enclave is bursting with exciting secrets!
10 things you probably didn't know about Yorkville

History

November 6, 2018

Behind the Scenes at Queens’ Loew’s Valencia, once the most successful Wonder Theatre in NYC

By James and Karla Murray

Earlier this year, 6sqft got an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at the majestic Loew’s Jersey City Theatre, as well as the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights. In 2016, we joined Untapped Cities and NYCEDC on a tour of Brooklyn Kings Theatre, and just last month, as part of Untapped Cities Insider’s Tours, we were lucky enough to tour and photograph the former Loew’s Valencia Theatre on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, which is now home to the Tabernacle of Prayer for All People church. The majestic Loew’s Valencia Theatre opened on Saturday, January 12, 1929, as the first, largest, and most famous of the five flagship Loew’s “Wonder” Theatres established in the New York City area from 1929-30. All of the grand movie palaces were built by Marcus Loew of the Loew’s Theatres chain to establish the firm as a leader in film exhibition and to simultaneously serve as a fantastical yet affordable escape for people of all classes from the tedium and anxieties of their daily lives. The Valencia most definitely did not shy away from this fantastical approach, with its Spanish/Mexican Baroque architecture, gilded ornamentation, rich jewel-tone colors, and elaborate carvings.
Take the grand tour

November 5, 2018

720,000 New York City tax photos from 1940 are now digitized so you can find your building online

By Michelle Cohen

If you've ever tried to research an old building–to find out the history of your home for renovation purposes or just to see what it used to look like–you may have found yourself tasked with a trip to the Municipal Archives for an in-person search or having to order up a large, glossy photo by mail, sight unseen. Access to one of the city's most thorough documentation efforts, the black-and-white tax photos taken of every building in the city between 1939 and 1941, just got a lot easier, as Brownstoner reports. The New York City Department of Records & Information Services has released 720,000 digitized images made from the original negatives, meaning that a photograph of every building in the city that was standing at the time is now available to look up online.
Check it out

History

How the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage helped win voting rights in New York

Members of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage March in a 1915 Suffrage Parade, via the Carrie Chapman Catt Papers at Bryn Mawr College

November 5, 2018

How the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage helped win voting rights in New York

By Lucie Levine

James Lees Laidlaw, the president of the National Chapter of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage, wrote in 1912, “The great educational work in the woman’s movement has been done by women, through a vast expenditure of energy and against great odds. There is still work to be done and hard work. We men can make it easier and happier work if we join in it, and no longer stand aside, as too many men have done, leaving the women to toil and struggle, making up in vital energy what they lack in political power.” Thanks to an ongoing great expenditure of energy, American men and women will vote tomorrow. In our own time, there is still work to be done, and hard work, in the fight for equality, justice and universal dignity. The history of the Men’s League for Women’s Suffrage, founded in New York in 1909, offers the reminder that we all can make it easier and happier work if we join in it, and provides a stirring example of how anybody might offer organized, meaningful support to a vital cause.
The Story of Support Continues

History

“Bird’s-eye View of the Southern End of New York and Brooklyn, Showing the Projected Suspension–bridge over the East River from the Western Terminus in Printing-House Square,” drawn by Theodore Russell Davis (1870)

November 2, 2018

The Durst Collection shows ‘New York Rising’ from the 17th century to the skyscraper age

By Emily Nonko

If you want to go on a visual journey that begins with Manhattan's first European settlement, way back in the seventeenth century, up through the skyscrapers and urban planning of the late twentieth century, look no further than New York Rising: An Illustrated History from the Durst Collection. The book, set to come out on November 13th, originates from the sprawling Durst Collection at Columbia University's Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library. Incredible photography captures the most definitive parts of New York history, accompanied by the thoughts of ten scholars who were asked to reflect on the images. Their writing ranges from the emergence of public transit to the "race for height" to affordable housing. 6sqft spoke with Thomas Mellins, who edited the book with Kate Ascher, on their efforts delving into the Durst Collection -- which has its own unique history -- to come up with this comprehensive visual history. See a selection of photos from the book, along with thoughts from Mellins, after the jump.
READ MORE

History

November 2, 2018

New Yorkers will be running this weekend. Will the subway?

By Devin Gannon

One of the best New York City events takes place this weekend: the NYC Marathon. With an expected 50,000 runners participating in the race on Sunday, and thousands more cheering on the sidelines, you can definitely expect some transit and traffic disruptions. The marathon kicks of 8:30 a.m. in Staten Island and ends in Central Park. In addition to typical subway delays and reroutes (or just a total lack of service), the MTA is also closing the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on Nov. 4 between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. If you need help getting to the event on Sunday, check out the Marathon Subway Map from the MTA. And ahead, find the rest of the subway service changes planned for this weekend.
Here's the subway situation

Transit

Stopped in its tracks: The fight against the subway through Central Park

Photo by Phil Roeder / Flickr

November 1, 2018

Stopped in its tracks: The fight against the subway through Central Park

By Lucie Levine

In 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio closed all of Central Park’s scenic drives to cars, finishing a process he began in 2015 when he banned vehicles north of 72nd Street. But not all mayors have been so keen on keeping Central Park transit free. In fact, in 1920, Mayor John Hylan had plans to run a subway through Central Park. Hylan, the 96th Mayor of New York City, in office from 1918 to 1925, had a one-track mind, and that track was for trains. He had spent his life in locomotives, first laying rails for the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad (later the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, or BRT), then rising through the ranks to become a conductor. In that capacity, he was involved in a near-accident that almost flattened his supervisor, whereupon he was fired from the BRT. Nevertheless, Hylan made transit his political mission, implementing the city's first Independent subway line and proposing that it run from 59th Street up through Central Park to 110th Street.
So, what happened?

October 29, 2018

The former Swedish American Athletic Club in Park Slope is now a $6M townhouse

By Michelle Cohen

Situated on an elegant Park Slope corner lot where Sixth Avenue meets Garfield Place, the house at 267 Sixth Avenue has a rare and unusual history. Built in the 1870s, the building is the former home of the Swedish American Athletic Club. In its current incarnation, the 7,200 square-foot house is comprised of a 5,400-square foot owner's triplex over a 1,800-square foot three-bedroom rental apartment–asking $5.999 million. In its athletic club days, the building featured a 90-foot ballroom, a billiard room, a bowling alley and a lounge with a 15-foot cocktail bar. The bar remains intact and the bowling alley (not pictured, unfortunately) lives partially unaltered on the home's lowest level.
Take the grand tour

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