Campaign underway to landmark building that the Soho House is developing on Ludlow Street

From the EVG inbox this past weekend…

The Friends of the Lower East Side (FOTLES) and the East Village Community Coalition (EVCC) have launched a drive to advocate for the NYC landmark designation of the former H. Nieberg Funeral Home, a rare intact survivor of the many funeral homes that once served the Jewish community of the Lower East
Side.

A Request for Evaluation for the historic building at 139-141 Ludlow Street was recently submitted to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in collaboration with Friends of Terra Cotta and Kerri Culhane, architectural historian.

Many funeral homes, like H. Nieberg, evolved from livery stables, providing all the necessary arrangements, from removal of the body to burial, and were viewed as important religious structures in the community. The structure spans 143 years and reflects the growth and development of the neighborhood through its changing usage: from a hay and feed store and single dwelling to apartments and a stable, from an automobile garage and Jewish funeral home to a printing plant and high-tech company and, currently, planned for a private members’ club connected to an international network.

In 1925, Harry Nieberg handled the highly publicized funeral and burial of noted gangster Morris Grossman, attracting a crowd of more than 5,000 spectators. Described in 1937 in the New York Evening Post as “the huge and jovial Ludlow Street undertaker,” Harry Nieberg became a well-known figure in New York City during his ownership of the building. He was admired locally for his generosity.

In 1928, The New York Times reported on Nieberg’s efforts to raise funds to bury an impoverished Roman Catholic neighbor. This act of kindness was characteristic of Nieberg who offered twenty-five free funerals a year to impoverished New Yorkers.

Politically, Nieberg was celebrated for challenging the corruption of Tammany Hall, although his Congressional campaigns in 1935 and 1937 – against Christopher D. Sullivan, brother of Tammany boss “Big Tim” Sullivan – were not successful.

You can find the petition here.

After a long battle, the Soho House won approval for a liquor license here last October. Reps for Soho House had reportedly agreed to work with preservationists to protect the building's facade.

BoweryBoogie got a look inside the building last year.

Report: Soho House plans more outreach as they put liquor license application on hold

As you know, there has been a bit of an uproar about Soho House expanding to Ludlow Street. Team Soho planned to be on next month's CB3/SLA committee docket.

But! As The Lo-Down reports today:

[T]he operators of the members’ club have decided to take some more time for community outreach before moving forward with their Lower East Side expansion plan, so the liquor application has been withdrawn, for now.

Previously on EV Grieve:
L.E.S. Dwellers make the case against Soho House expanding to Ludlow Street (32 comments)

L.E.S. Dwellers make the case against Soho House expanding to Ludlow Street

As you likely heard, Soho House is planning an expansion to 139 Ludlow St. They've already made their pitch to neighbors. (Read BoweryBoogie's post on it here; and The Lo-Down here.)

During this past weekend, L.E.S. Dwellers sent around their campaign again Soho House. (You can read it here.) It's slightly outside my usual coverage zone. But I wanted to share with you what they have to say. (And, of course, there's a major spillover effect from all this to this neighborhood...)

An excerpt from the L.E.S. Dwellers campaign:

Rival gangs of frat boys, sororisluts, suburbanite wannabes, tramps with stamps, and bridge & tunnel douchebags converge on our streets, and a bloody turf war ensues between residents and the drug and alcohol-fueled gangs. If Soho House comes, new gangs arrive with them - Jimmy Choo stiletto girls, newly minted tech-set, B-list models, I-bankers disguised in Thomas Pink and Gucci loafers, trust fund wannabe hipsters, expense account ad men, label whores, and Eurotrash. Our streets will become bloodier and messier than it already is, with the residents further outmatched by the increasingly uncontrollable mobs.

And!

The L.E.S. will officially become the "Eastpacking", unless we as a community do something about it. We can choose to remain silent and compliant, marking our doors with black crosses in anticipation of the Soho House virus incubating at 139 Ludlow Street. Or we can rise up and fight back.

Soho House reps are expected to appear before the CB3/SLA committee next month to apply for a liquor license. Reps have said they wouldn't expect to open on Ludlow Street until the summer of 2014.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Lower East Side documentarian Clayton Patterson explained why is he supporting the Soho House's expansion to Ludlow Street in a post published at The Lo-Down.

An excerpt:

If not them then who? Soho House is not going to build up. They are going to save the look and integrity of the façade architecture. The fact that they are private keeps the crowds down, will be more low key… and so on. Imagine this: it is a large double wide lot- has at the very least 6 stories worth of air right to build up. Imagine a brand new 12 story luxury hotel or apartment eating up the block.