The remaining structure of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church will be demolished

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted this week to allow the demolition of the remains of the fire-damaged Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street. 

Church leaders made the announcement via Twitter...

INCREDIBLE NEWS! The NYC Landmarks Commission has voted to allow @middlechurch to remove the burnt remains of our facade, so we can rebuild on our historic site.

Truly, God is good. Out of this fire, fierce love is rising.

Make a gift to help us rise: https://t.co/Vkt9D5e9V0

— Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (@RevJacquiLewis) January 11, 2023

LPC members voted 8-2 in favor of the demolition. 

As previously reported, church leaders said they must remove what remains on the property within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. According to a report commissioned by church leaders, the culmination of an 18-month review, there is too much damage to the existing structure to integrate it into Middle Collegiate's new home, that it wouldn't withstand a full-scale rebuild on the property.

In a November interview with EVG, Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister at the Middle Collegiate Church, said they spent $4 million to reinforce, stabilize and weatherproof the façade in the months after the devastating December 2020 fire.

She said that despite these efforts, the façade has deteriorated over time. And then, their engineering report showed that it would be best to remove what was left before building a new church. 

"It felt like something died," Lewis said of hearing this news. "The building burning felt like a death — a big death. This makes me feel heartbroken. It feels like a second loss. But if we let it go, we could get back on site, get back in the space and build something."

Preservation groups, including Village Preservation, had urged the LPC not to grant permission for demolition until further studies could occur. According to Village Preservation: "We don’t believe there is sufficient documentation that alternatives to preserve the historic façade have been fully explored, nor that there is sufficient evidence at this time to justify the permanent and irreversible removal."

Lewis previously stated that she understood the opposition. 

"We relive the fire daily and try to think about what to do with it. It's that kind of grief that just keeps coming in waves," Lewis said. "At some point, two years in, I want to be able to say to my community: We did the very best we could with this. This is not a willy-nilly, hurry-up decision. The engineer says we can't keep it, and we're heartbroken."

No word just yet on the timing of the demolition. 

Meanwhile, Middle Collegiate leaders continue fundraising efforts to rebuild a new church here in the East Village. They are holding services from their temporary home — East End Temple, 245 E. 17th St. between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. 

EVG photo from May 2022.

Openings: From Lucie on 10th Street

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Lucie Franc de Ferriere is debuting her very first bakery tomorrow (Saturday!) at 11 a.m. ... at 263 E. 10th St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

Here, she hopes to bring a little of her native French countryside to the neighborhood. 

During the pandemic, the local resident lost her gallery job and turned to something familiar from her childhood to help pay the rent: baking cakes. 

As she wrote in her successful Kickstarter campaign: 

After baking one too many cakes for my friends, I decided to do a few pop-ups around the city in 2020 to sell my mini cakes. Soon after, I created my website so that people could order their cakes. I did not expect that people would be so interested in trying my cakes and knowing more about my story and that I’d be baking full-time! 

Following her success in recent years, she decided to take "a scary leap of faith" and open her own shop.

She was raised on a farm in Bordeaux in southwest France, where her family grew their own fruit, vegetables and flowers. 

My mother owns a small bed and breakfast where people from all over the world come and dine at our table, and there is always a big cake for dessert and a nice bouquet of freshly picked flowers at the center. Baking cakes for me isn't only about working with unique products but also to reproduce those small moments and souvenirs and bring a glimpse of the south of France to people's desserts. 

From Lucie will feature a variety of her baked goods as well as serve coffee and tea (there are just a few seats for in-bakery dining).

You can follow along via the From Lucie website or Instagram account.

The landlord has taken legal possession of Commodities on 1st Avenue

Photos last night by Steven 

Updated Jan. 18: It doesn't appear that the market will reopen. See this post.

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The landlord has taken legal possession of 165 First Ave. just north of 10th Street — which had been home to Commodities for 30 years. 

The gate was down at the health-food market last evening during usual business hours, and a legal notice from the Marshal was affixed to the storefront.

As we've seen in the past, a visit by the Marshal doesn't always mean the end for the business. Perhaps the landlord and tenant can work out a deal. 

However, recently, there had been rumors that the market would be closing, fueled partly by a retail listing for the space. ("Excellent opportunity for boutique retail in high foot traffic area.")

New owners took over the business in January 2019 and changed the name to Commodities Health Foods from Commodities Natural Market, ending rumors that Commodities 1.0 would close for good. 

Michael Hughes opened Commodities here in 1993. Hughes and his wife Audra opened an outpost in Vermont in 2015. Leading up to that Vermont debut, Michael's brother Ed took over the East Village shop. 

New season of 'Feud' brings a 1970s Times Square vibe to the East Village

Photos by Derek Berg

Prep work continues this afternoon for filming scenes of the second season of the FX series "Feud: Capote and the Women" ... on Seventh Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...

... and Sixth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue...

As previously noted... according to Variety, Ryan Murphy's anthology series "follows the true story of how Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) was friends with numerous members of New York high society until he published excerpts of his unfinished novel 'Answered Prayers,' with the excerpts serving as a tell-all about the city's elite."

The cast includes Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest and Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson. Gus Van Sant is directing all eight episodes. 

Previously on EV Grieve:

• 'American Horror Story' brings the porn and 1980s mobiles to 9th Street

RIP Alicia Torres

Alicia Torres, who founded the Esperanza Garden on Seventh Street and took part in the neighborhood's rent strikes in the 1970s, died on Jan. 4, five days away from her 99th birthday, according to her grandson, Marcel Torres. 

At the time of her death, she was living at 219 E. Seventh St. between Avenue B and Avenue C — her home since 1975. 

Here's more about her life via a tribute at Legacy.com: 

Alicia Torres and her eight children moved to New York City in 1959. In 1975, they moved to the heart of the Lower East Side (Loisaida), 219 E. Seventh St., a tenement building, after being displaced from one dilapidated apartment to another. 

Alicia had grown up on the island of Vieques; her family had been displaced from their land by the United States Navy in the 1930s and had suffered through the Great Depression, which made Puerto Rico the poorest country in the world at that time. 

When the building (219 E. Seventh) was sold in 1976 to a real estate speculator who tried to collect rent while providing no services, Alicia decided she was tired of being pushed around. With the guidance of a community housing organization, Adopt a Building, the Torres family organized a tenant association and led a rent strike. 

They collected the rents and started to make repairs and purchase heating oil. The landlord brought eviction proceedings in the Housing Court, but did not prevail as he failed to make the repairs that were ordered by the judge. Conditions were harsh, however, and most of the tenants gradually moved out, leaving the Torres family members occupying eight of the twenty-four apartments. 

In 1975, the building next door (223 E. Seventh St.) had a devastating fire. The City demolished the building in 1976 and the resulting rubble lot attracted neighborhood drug dealers. Some neighbors at this end of Seventh Street met with Alicia Torres and her family and together they started to clear the lot of the bricks and debris and planted sunflowers. It was backbreaking work, but soon the lot started to look more like a garden than a rubble lot. 

In 1979, the East Seventh St Block Association was granted a lease by the City's Operation Green Thumb and a fence was erected to protect the garden. Green Thumb delivered truckloads of fertile topsoil from upstate and soon after that, it wasn't long before the garden members, many of them 219 residents, were growing vegetables, flowers, and shrubs. Trees and rose bushes were planted and the garden became a magical space for East Seventh Street residents, especially children. 

On weekends, the garden would be full of people working, talking, cooking, and kids playing. It was an island of beauty and harmony amidst a gritty urban landscape. 

Photo of Alicia Torres in Esperanza sometime in the late 1980s courtesy of Marcel Torres. You can read more about what happened to the garden here.

5C Cultural Center reopens with coffee service from the Roost

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy 

Updated: The coffee service/cafe ended service in late March/early April.

There's a new familiar tenant on the SE corner of Avenue C and Fifth Street inside the 5C Cultural Center.

East Village resident Vito DiTomaso, who operates the Roost, the 9-year-old cafe and cocktail lounge at 222 Avenue B between 13th Street and 14th Street, has just debuted a coffee service here to help the 501(c)(3) Cultural Center revamp its business.

DiTomaso has brought in new coffee equipment, painted and refreshed the space, and is creating a series of new menus. The plan is to serve coffee during the day, currently from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., and soon offer beer, wine and cider in the evenings, along with community programming, live music and events that honor the Cultural Center. 

He is currently training staff and hoping to eventually branch out to food — with to-go plates for lunch and lasagnas, Italian dishes, and Spanish food favorites for dinner.

Meanwhile, longtime 5C Cultural Center proprietor Trudy Silver (above right) will continue with music and other live events on select dates, including an afternoon of programming for MLK Day on Monday. (See this link.)

Foul Witch is the new restaurant from the Roberta's team on Avenue A

Foul Witch is the name of the new wine bar-restaurant concept from the Roberta's team, opening soon at 15 Avenue A. (Updated: now open. Here's an Eater review.)

Signage is up now in the window here between Houston and Second Street. An EVG reader also spotted an Instagram account for Foul Witch. 

The team behind Roberta's and Blanca, Carlo Mirarchi and Brandon Hoy, had previously unveiled plans for a new establishment at the address. (First reported in September 2019.)

Foul Witch isn't a new name for the two: In May 2018, they unveiled Foul Witch by Blanca as part of the Frieze art fair at Randall's Island Park. As Eater reported at the time: "The 70-seat restaurant will have an all-day menu of natural wines and dishes like wagyu tartar, scallop ceviche, and a double cheeseburger."

Community Board 3 approved a beer-wine location for the ground floor last September. The minutes from that meeting show that the unnamed (at the time) establishment would have 12 tables and 44 seats with one 12-foot L-shaped bar with four chairs. Hours of operation were listed as 11 a.m. to midnight, with "Italian food prepared in a full kitchen, serving food during all hours of operation, no televisions, and ambient recorded background music."

As we've been reporting, the building received a vertical extension with two new floors, moving from four to six, dating back to 2020.

No word on an opening date for Foul Witch, which currently has some help-wanted listings posted. The EVG reader also saw workers loading food from a Roberta's truck yesterday morning.

Wednesday's parting shot

A weekend arrival in Freeman's Alley ... Debbie Harry wheatpaste by D7606 ...

This week in TV shoots: 'Feud,' 'Law & Order SVU'

Crews will be out tomorrow around Avenue A, Seventh Street and elsewhere to film scenes for the second season of the FX series "Feud: Capote and the Women" ...

According to Variety, Ryan Murphy's anthology series "follows the true story of how Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) was friends with numerous members of New York high society until he published excerpts of his unfinished novel 'Answered Prayers,' with the excerpts serving as a tell-all about the city's elite."

The cast includes Demi Moore as Ann Woodward, Diane Lane as Slim Keith, Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill, Naomi Watts as Babe Paley, Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest and Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson. Gus Van Sant will direct all eight episodes. 

The entertaining first season of "Feud" from 2017 followed the relationship between Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) and Bette Davis (Susan Sarandon) while filming "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" 

Also filming! A show that needs no introduction — "Law & Order SVU" ... we spotted signs along Third Street and Avenue A...

Thanks to Steven for the "Feud" pics; Stacie Joy for L&O SVU.

The area behind the fieldhouse in Tompkins Square Park is now open for 5 hours a day

Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy

The area of Tompkins Square Park behind the fieldhouse/office is once again open to the public — for a limited time each day.

Starting last week, Parkgoers can access this space — dubbed the Slocum area as it includes the Slocum Memorial Fountain — from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

As we've been reporting, the locks arrived here on Nov. 8. There wasn't any signage to explain why this part of the public park was closed to the public.

Parks officials later told us in later November that a malfunctioning boiler and a broken pipe in the basement of the fieldhouse are to blame. 

Meanwhile, the area reopened for a day or two in early December before the locks returned.

We're told that Parks employees have submitted requests to have the broken pipe and boiler repaired. This is impacting Park employees, who are working in a building without heat and water, and for Parkgoers, as the public restrooms remain out of service.

A Park regular has been keeping tabs on the lack of activity here, as seen in the note (since removed) earlier this month...   

Perhaps the Parks Department is just waiting ... as they are expected to rebuild the fieldhouse. According to the Parks Department website, the city has been awarded the contract to a contractor ... and is awaiting registration via the Comptroller's Office. 

Once construction starts, work is expected to take 12-18 months, per the Parks Department.

Meanwhile, tomorrow (Jan. 12) night, Community Board 3's Parks, Recreation, Waterfront, & Resiliency Committee will hear an item of interest (fifth on the agenda): "Clarification of Tompkins Square Park closing time." Find the registration link for the Zoom meeting here. 

Also on the agenda (2nd item): A Parks Manager Update.