Protecting Greenwich Village
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Oct. 28, 2009
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation organized a rally in the South Village on Oct. 22, 2009.
Credit: Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
Because much of New York's Greenwich Village stands outside the Greenwich Village Historic District, developers continue to level buildings on unprotected blocks. Now it looks as if that may change: Yesterday the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on a proposal to expand the district, established by the city in 1969.
Thirty-seven people testified, urging the commission to save the 235 structures that stand in an unprotected area south of Washington Square Park. Six have been demolished in the past several years, and several other buildings have been significantly changed.
"I'm very concerned about any [building] that would be unsympathetically altered or harmed, but please, let's move ahead together and get these [buildings] protected," says Robert Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Commission. "I don't want people to think the sky is falling."
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation first asked the commission to change the district's boundaries in 2002. It submitted a formal proposal to the commission three years ago, suggesting that it designate about 750 buildings as the South Village Historic District. So far the commission has considered only a third of that area.
"In the past couple years we've seen an alarming rate of demolition and alteration of sites in the South Village," says Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, established in 1980. "[Designation] is the best protection out there."
Even if the commission votes in favor of this expansion, Berman's group wants commissioners to also consider designating the remaining two-thirds of a proposed South Village Historic District—an area that includes about 500 more buildings.
"We feel very close [to designation] on that first third. We're worried because there have been losses there, and there are losses looming," Berman says. "We're very worried about the second two-thirds, because there's no timetable. … At the moment we have a mixture of hope and frustration."
Tierney says, "The Village has been a high priority for us for years. … We've been extremely active in the last seven or eight years in this area." He suspects a final vote on the designation could come "sometime in the spring."
Read more about recent demolitions in the South Village
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