A gut renovation at 12th and C, and the loss of the Gil Scott-Heron tribute mural

Photos by Stacie Joy

We've been keeping tabs on 195 Avenue C (aka 656 E. 12th St), a 5-floor residential building on the SW corner of 12th Street that has been undergoing a gut renovation... the scaffolding, construction netting and sidewalk bridge came down in late November...

In 2021, the Restored Homes Housing Development Fund Corporation bought the building from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development for an undisclosed sum. 

https://www.neighborhoodrestore.org › about

For several years, the walls here housed the 12C Outdoor Art Gallery, which featured a rotating batch of murals curated by resident Robert Galinsky.

One constant through the years: the Gil Scott-Heron tribute that Chico created after the jazz poet, musician and author died in 2011.

Several readers/residents were hoping that this mural — with "the Revolution Will Not Be Televised" line — would remain in place. 

And it looked as if the mural just might make it through the renovations...

Unfortunately, the mural has now all but wiped out ...