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49-400: The South Village is roughly bounded by West 4th Street and Washington Square Park on the north, Seventh Avenue South and Varick Street on the west, Canal Street on the south, and West Broadway and LaGuardia Place on the east. West Broadway separates the predominantly residential South Village from SoHo , dominated by factory and loft buildings, to the east. The South Village includes

98-604: A coffin , and a gravestone dated 1803 were uncovered 10 feet (3.0 m) below ground level. At the laying of the cornerstone, Freemasons from St. John's Lodge No. 1 were again present with the George Washington Inaugural Bible . The Arch was dedicated in 1895. In 1918, two statues of Washington were added to the north side. By the late 20th century, the Washington Arch had become extensively defaced with spray-painted graffiti . It

147-562: A 300 feet (91 m)-tall dorm. GVSHP called for the proposed district to be expanded to include the two NYU sites and a row of ten altered 1840s houses on West Houston Street, and began a campaign to convince Speaker Quinn, who brokered the deal, to pressure the LPC to bring these sites into the proposed district. The strategy again worked, and the LPC and Quinn announced in May that the three sites, along with another NYU building, D'Agostino Hall, which

196-551: A 400-foot radius of the proposed rezoning), the LPC also acknowledged that the remaining un-landmarked portion of the proposed South Village Historic District was "landmark-eligible". The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation used this potential harm to spearhead a campaign to insist that the City Council not approve the Hudson Square Rezoning unless the proposed South Village Historic District

245-630: A new Mayor taking office in January 2014, Bill de Blasio , Tierney was replaced. GVSHP and advocates are continuing the campaign to landmark the entire South Village, including the Phase III area south of Houston Street. In December 2013, GVSHP's nomination of the entire South Village to the State and National Registers of Historic Places was accepted, and the South Village was formally listed in

294-695: A room in the Studio Club building to complete the series of articles that became his account of the Bolshevik Revolution , Ten Days That Shook the World , later the source for the film Reds . Sculptor and art patron Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney established the Whitney Studio Club in a brownstone at 147 West 4th Street in 1918 as a place for young artists to gather and show their work. The facility operated for ten years and

343-484: Is an early Romanesque Revival marble edifice designed by Gamaliel King and built in 1859–60. Dubbed the "Peace Church" for its support of Vietnam War protesters, Washington Square Church long provided a neighborhood base for activist groups such as the Black Panthers and Gay Men's Health Crisis . The church was sold in 2005 to a developer for conversion into residential units. During construction, parts of

392-533: Is one of the major transfer points in the New York City Subway . The street is home to the basketball and handball West Fourth Street Courts , known as "The Cage", a hangout for some of New York's best basketball players and the site of a citywide streetball tournament. West 4th Street has always been a center of the Village's bohemian lifestyle. The Village's first tearoom, The Mad Hatter,

441-424: Is westbound (northbound geographically) and is approximately 35 feet (11 m) wide, a legacy of the original Greenwich Village street grid. The section of four short blocks from MacDougal Street to University Place which forms the southern border of Washington Square Park is called Washington Square South . The north/south portion (from Sixth Avenue to 13th Street) was formerly called Asylum Street , after

490-596: The Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), where West 4th Street turns north and confusingly intersects with West 10th , 11th, 12th, and 13th Streets in Greenwich Village . Most of the street has the same 40-foot (12 m) width between curbstones as others in the prevailing street grid, striped as two curbside lanes and one traffic lane, with one-way traffic eastbound. The portion from Seventh to Eighth Avenues

539-656: The Charlton–King–Vandam Historic District , the MacDougal–Sullivan Gardens Historic District , and the Sullivan–Thompson Historic District. Originally home to a merchant class in the early 19th century, by the late 19th century the area was dominated by immigrants, largely from Italy. The Italian immigrants built their own distinct parishes, to distinguish them not only from their Protestant neighbors on

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588-610: The Trump SoHo , which was said to be out of character for the neighborhood, and the recent real estate purchases in the area by Jared Kushner , Donald Trump 's son-in-law. Others, such as Joseph Rosenberg of the Catholic Community Relations Council, said that the landmarking of Phase III would put an undue burden on St. Anthony of Padua Church and the work it does for the immigrant community, and some residents complained that landmarking would make

637-613: The centennial of George Washington's 1789 inauguration as President of the United States , and forms the southern terminus of Fifth Avenue . Washington Arch, constructed of white Tuckahoe marble , was conceived by Stanford White , who adapted the form of a Roman triumphal arch , with a design close to the 1st-century Arch of Titus in Rome. They were monuments which the Roman Republic and later emperors built throughout

686-637: The 1968 hippie candidate for the presidency, had his artists' studio and campaign headquarters at 129 East 4th St. Music venue The Bottom Line was at 15th West 4th Street from 1974 to 2004. Washington Square Arch The Washington Square Arch , officially the Washington Arch , is a marble memorial arch in Washington Square Park , in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan , New York City . Designed by architect Stanford White in 1891, it commemorates

735-417: The 1980s, when New York University (NYU) erected the high-rise D'Agostino Hall on West Third Street. The pace of change quickened in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the demolition of the historic Poe House and Judson Houses on West Third Street by NYU to make way for the new Furman Hall Law School Building. The relatively modest, mid-century modern NYU Skirball Student Center on Washington Square South also

784-521: The 25-block area and commissioned noted architectural historian Andrew Dolkart to write a history of the area to buttress GVSHP's proposal for a South Village Historic District. The report, research, and landmarking proposal were submitted to the LPC in December 2006. The LPC divided the proposed district into three sections, promising to consider only one at a time. While the Commission considered

833-616: The Greenwich Village Historic District. After this, the LPC stalled on the two remaining phases of the proposed South Village Historic District, in spite of promises to move ahead. In 2012, developer Trinity Real Estate applied for a rezoning of the adjacent Hudson Square area, which would require the approval of both the NYC Planning Commission and City Council. The proposed rezoning would have allowed high-rise residential development in

882-526: The LPC announced its proposed boundaries for Phase II – to be called "The South Village Historic District" – in April 2013, several key sites were excluded from the district, including two NYU properties, the Kevorkian Center and Vanderbilt Hall, the latter of which occupied a full block on Washington Square South and could have, under existing zoning and without landmark protections, been replaced with

931-760: The LPC, however, as well as being listed on the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places: the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District in 1966, and the MacDougal-Sullivan Gardens Historic District in 1967. Several buildings also were individually landmarked, including Judson Memorial Church ; 26, 28, and 30 Jones Street; 203 Prince Street; and 83, 85, and 116 Sullivan Street . The neighborhood remained relatively free of demolitions and out-of-scale new development until

980-480: The NYU buildings – even the full-block Vanderbilt Hall with its potential for replacement by a 300-foot (91 m)-tall dorm. At the end of December, LPC Chairman Robert B. Tierney wrote to GVSHP saying that the Commission's survey found the third phase of the proposed South Village Historic District was unworthy of landmark designation, and therefore the LPC would not be moving ahead with consideration of it. However, with

1029-560: The Orphan Asylum Society, which stood on Asylum Street between Bank Street and Troy Street (now West 12th Street). The asylum was demolished in 1833 and the street was renamed West 4th Street. Later, the cross streets (Amos, Hammond, and Troy) were renamed West 10th, 11th, and 12th Streets, causing the current confusion. Located near Washington Square Park's south-west corner, between MacDougal Street and Sixth Avenue , The Washington Square Methodist Church (135 West Fourth)

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1078-490: The South Village Historic District on December 17, 2013. From the beginning, the LPC expressed skepticism of the landmark-worthiness of the row of ten houses on West Houston Street, and they did in fact exclude those houses. However, in a victory for GVSHP and other advocates of the landmark campaign, LPC designated more than 250 buildings on more than a dozen blocks in the South Village, including

1127-428: The State and National Registers of Historic Places in the spring of 2014. The LPC held a public hearing on Phase III – which it referred to as the "Sullivan-Thompson Historic District" – in late November 2016, which provoked a "spirited debate". Politicians such as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer , New York State Assemblyperson Deborah Glick , and City Council member Corey Johnson , had voiced their support for

1176-478: The area include M55 , M20 , M21 . Notes Bibliography 40°43′45″N 74°0′3″W  /  40.72917°N 74.00083°W  / 40.72917; -74.00083 4th Street (Manhattan) 4th Street is a street in Lower Manhattan , New York City . It starts at Avenue D as East 4th Street and continues to Broadway , where it becomes West 4th Street . It continues west until

1225-449: The area's defining religious edifices. The Italian-American community was very poor, and its parish churches often had to be subsidized by third parties; Our Lady of Pompeii Church was the personal charity of a woman named Annie Leary who is buried in the crypt of Old St. Patrick's Cathedral. By the 1920s, however – the Village having fallen out of fashion with New York's patricians – artists, bohemians, and radical thinkers began to populate

1274-499: The area, and the institutions which served them, such as jazz clubs and speakeasies became commonplace throughout the area. By the 1950s and 1960s, many of these had become coffeehouses and folk clubs for hippies, beatniks, and artists. These South Village establishments were frequented by some of the most significant players in these cultural movements, including Bob Dylan , Jack Kerouac , James Agee , Miles Davis , John Coltrane , Sam Shepard and Jackson Pollock . The South Village

1323-641: The attic story reads: Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hand of God. The north side of the eastern pier bears the sculpture George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, Accompanied by Fame and Valor (1914–1916) by Hermon A. MacNeil ; the President is flanked by Fame (left) and Valor (right). The western pier has George Washington as President, Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice (1917–18) by Alexander Stirling Calder (father of Alexander Calder ), with flanking Justice (right) and Wisdom (left) figures. In

1372-576: The church were salvaged to form the furniture and interior architecture of Urban Spring, a cafe in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Judson Memorial Church , located at the corner of Thompson Street and Washington Square South, was designed by architect Stanford White and stained glass master John La Farge . The West Fourth Street subway station ( A ​, B ​, C ​, D ​, E ​, F , <F> ​, and M trains) at Sixth Avenue

1421-513: The empire to celebrate a victory or event. For example, the flying figures in the spandrels on either side of the arch are winged victories . The monument's total height is 77 feet (23 m). The piers stand 30 feet (9.1 m) apart and the arch opening is 47 feet (14 m) high. The iconography of the Arch centers on images of war and peace. On the frieze are 13 large stars and 42 small stars, interspersed with capital "W"s. The inscription on

1470-472: The famous Polish pianist and 3rd Prime Minister of Poland, who donated $ 4,500 collected from one of his concerts in New York. In 1889, a large plaster and wood memorial arch was erected over Fifth Avenue just north of Washington Square Park by local businessman and philanthropist William Rhinelander Stewart (1852–1929). Stewart lived at 17 Washington Square North , and his friends contributed $ 2,765 toward

1519-619: The historic district included the GVSHP, the New York Landmarks Conservancy – whose representative, Gale Umberger, said "This district is part of the narrative of New York City" – and the Historic Districts Council , whose representative said that the proposed district "most notably demonstrates New York City's evolution of housing development spanning two centuries". Concerns were expressed about

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1568-407: The home to some of the most important and influential figures in the post-Stonewall LGBT rights movement. The first phase of GVSHP's proposed South Village Historic District, covering approximately 11 blocks and 235 buildings west of Sixth Avenue, were landmarked in 2010, officially designated the "Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II" – or more informally, the "South Village Extension" of

1617-535: The latter sculpture, a hand holds a book bearing the Latin phrase Exitus Acta Probat ("the end justifies the deed"). These sculptures are commonly referred to as Washington at War and Washington at Peace , respectively. These figures and most of the rest of the carving on the arch was performed by the Piccirilli Brothers . Upon the last stone is carved a huge "P" in honor of Ignacy Jan Paderewski ,

1666-426: The manufacturing district directly bordering the South Village, which according to the developer's own draft environmental impact statement , would have had a "direct adverse impact" upon the remaining, un-landmarked part of the proposed South Village Historic District. In its part of the environmental review for the proposed Hudson Square rezoning (which included an examination of all potential historic resources within

1715-571: The north side of Washington Square Park (in Greenwich Village ), but their Irish neighbors in the South Village. By the late 19th century, Italians outnumbered the Irish in the area, but were not preeminent in the local church hierarchy, especially the parish of St. Patrick's, which covered this area. In response, the Italian-American communities of the South Village built Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Anthony of Padua churches, which remain

1764-410: The project, and Johnson has attempted to use his support for the proposed district as leverage for the rezoning and redevelopment of St. John's Terminal at 550 Washington Street , using air rights from the city-owned Pier 40 . The proposed five-building complex would have a hotel, 400,000 square feet (37,000 m) of retail space, and more than 1,500 apartments. Organizations that spoke in favor of

1813-678: The proposal, several key buildings were lost, including the Tunnel Garage, an early Art Deco building; the Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments, demolished by NYU to make way for another Law School building; the Circle in the Square Theater, the first non-profit theater; an 1861 rowhouse at 178 Bleecker Street; and 186 Spring Street, an 1824 rowhouse which gay activists and GVSHP rallied to save because it served as

1862-570: The shortcomings in the Quinn-brokered deal: the landmarking would not take effect until months after the rezoning, which was to be voted on that spring; the deal only included a commitment to survey Phase III, with no assurances about the outcome of the survey; and even the Phase II commitment was nebulous, in that no boundaries for the proposed district were offered, and the commitment of "a vote" by year's end did not guarantee passage. When

1911-509: The upkeep of their buildings more difficult and expensive, with one remarking "Landmarking our block will force us to sell our building as we'll no longer be able to afford to maintain it. You will have created a museum but destroyed a community." On December 13, 2016, the LPC voted to create the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District. New York City Subway service is located at: New York City Bus routes in

1960-492: The work. Freemasons from St. John's Lodge No. 1 lead a procession through the arch with the George Washington Inaugural Bible for the Centennial Parade of Washington's Inauguration in 1889. The temporary arch was so popular that more money was raised and, three years later, the permanent stone arch, designed by architect Stanford White, was erected. During the excavations for the eastern pier, human remains,

2009-555: Was also able to get the city to move ahead with the long-delayed South Village Historic District. The strategy partly paid off. On March 13, 2013, the City Council announced an agreement by the city to move ahead before year's end with Phase II of GVSHP's proposed South Village Historic District – the area east of Sixth Avenue and north of Houston Street, as well as to survey Phase III – the area south of Houston Street. While GVSHP and other advocates claimed victory, they pointed out

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2058-463: Was also approved. This put pressure on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn , who represented the area. Quinn had long claimed to support designation of the proposed South Village Historic District, but had not exerted any political pressure to get the City to act. GVSHP waged a letter-writing campaign, took out ads in local papers, and published op-eds demanding that Quinn vote down the rezoning unless she

2107-524: Was demolished to make way for the considerably larger and more prominent NYU Kimmel Student Center, which was criticized for blocking the view downtown through Washington Square Arch . This increased calls for landmark and zoning protections for the South Village, which became a campaign led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP). The GVSHP researched the history of every one of approximately 750 buildings in

2156-476: Was later home to the famous folk club Gerde's Folk City (11 West 4th Street), which hosted the New York debuts of Bob Dylan in 1961 and Simon & Garfunkel . Dylan also lived from early-1962 until late-1964 in a small $ 60-per-month studio apartment at 161 West 4th Street; the cover of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was photographed at nearby Jones Street at West 4th, and the street may have inspired his 1965 hit song " Positively 4th Street ". Louis Abolafia ,

2205-725: Was left out of the Greenwich Village Historic District designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in 1969, though Village activists had pushed to include much of it. Perhaps because much of the significant history of the area was relatively recent, associated with the Beats, the Folk Revival, and modern American Theater and progressive education – and because the architecture

2254-555: Was located at 150 West 4th Street and served as a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. The infamous Golden Swan bar (known as the "Hell Hole"), at the corner of Sixth Avenue, was a famous haunt of Eugene O'Neill and the setting and inspiration for his play The Iceman Cometh . Writer Willa Cather 's first New York residence was at 60 Washington Square South (4th Street between LaGuardia Place and Thompson Place) and radical journalists John Reed and Lincoln Steffens lived nearby at 42 Washington Square South. Reed later worked in

2303-428: Was more reflective of the Village's late 19th- and early 20th-century working-class, immigrant evolution, rather than its 19th-century patrician origins – the area was sidestepped for inclusion in the historic district. There was much speculation that New York University , located on its edges and in its midst, may have also played a role in the area's exclusion. Two small sections of the area were designated early on by

2352-409: Was surrounded by the other sites, would be formally added into the proposed district for consideration. At the time of the scheduled vote in December 2013, the LPC could vote to exclude any site from the district or deny landmark status to the entire proposed district. By that time Quinn, who was running for mayor and thus sensitive to pressure, would be past her election bid. The LPC voted to designate

2401-531: Was the second incarnation of what would later become the Whitney Museum of American Art . It started the careers of such artists as Ashcan School painter John Sloan , Edward Hopper , whose first one-man exhibit was held there in 1920, and social realists Reginald Marsh and Isabel Bishop . Sloan lived at 240 West 4th St and painted locations on the street including the Golden Swan. The street

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