Thursday, January 10, 2019

Find the history of every neighborhood building with East Village Building Blocks



The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has created a new tool to make sure that you never leave the internet to explore the history of every building in the neighborhood.

Here's more about East Village Building Blocks, via a GVSHP email yesterday:

This online resource, which took 10 years to complete, used primary source research on every building in the East Village to determine (when possible) date of construction, original architect, original use, alterations over time, and any significant figures, events, businesses, or institutions connected to the existing building or prior buildings on the site.

Buildings can be searched by address, location, architect, building type or style, or significant figures, cultural groups, or types of activities associated with it. Present day and historic photos are also provided for each building, along with historic documents establishing dates of construction, owners, architects, uses, and alterations. Buildings include scores of houses of worship, theaters, schools, libraries, the country’s first public housing development, and one of the largest collections of intact tenements from the early 19th to the early 20th centuries.

Pack a bag and head into East Village Building Blocks at this link.

The arrival of the new tool coincides with the publication of "A History of the East Village and Its Architecture" by Francis Morrone.

Per GVSHP:

This report by the noted architectural historian documents the East Village’s history from Dutch settlement in the 17th century, to its development in the 19th century as a prosperous merchant burg and then immigrant gateway, to its evolution in the 20th century as an epicenter of abandonment and blight to a mecca for cultural innovation and rebirth, and its struggle in the 21st century to maintain its identity in the face of renewed popularity and success.

Read the report at this link. And you can find more about GVSHP's ongoing preservation efforts here.

9 comments:

Neighbor said...

This is so awesome!!!

Anonymous said...

Crimany! The northern border is 14th Street. I live at 16th Street. Guess I'll have to leave the apartment today.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

This is great!

Anonymous said...

Cool! I also would like to remind everyone of an oldie but a goodie for Manhattan history:

http://www.nysonglines.com/

I don't think he updates this anymore, but it is amazing nonetheless.

~evilsugar25 said...

Awesome! My current building on 6th St. is there, but my old place at 328 E 9th is skipped over. It's old! I wonder why...

Peachy McPeachface said...

328 East 9 is included with 330, as apparently they are twinned buildings.

bruce said...

My building and its neighboring twin are both missing :-( Guess I'll need to dig up what I have on its history to share with them....but its mainly what I've found on the insurance maps in the digital collection of NYPL, which I presume GVSHP was using to do some of this work, so their absence is odd.

Nancy Blum said...

This is great! I learned my bldg is 158 yrs old. Thanks so much.

Soledad.osraige@gmail.com said...

I love 9th street