Landmarks Commission To Hold Meeting On South Village Historic District Plans
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A public meeting is scheduled on Monday on a proposal to create a historic district in the South Village.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission is holding the meeting – open to the public, but intended for property owners in an area. The proposed historic district bounded roughly by West 4th Street on the north, Houston Street on the south, LaGuardia Place on the east and Sixth Avenue on the west.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has been advocating for landmark status in the area, urged its members to "make sure the LPC knows that we want the entire South Village to be landmarked."
Under the commission's plan for a South Village Historic District, several architecturally and historically significant buildings will be part of the historic district, including a pair of 1845 Greek Revival houses at 130 and 132 MacDougal St. where philosopher and reformer Amos Bronson Alcott and his daughter, Little Women author Louisa May Alcott, once lived, preservationists said. Also to be in included are the 1826 building at 200-202 Bleecker St. that houses the Little Red Schoolhouse, and the Atrium Apartments building at 160 Bleecker St. – which once housed the Village Gate Theatre and the "very seedy" Greenwich Hotel, among many other buildings, preservationists said.
But other significant buildings were left out of the proposed district, preservationists said. Among them are an entire blockfront along Houston Street between MacDougal and Sullivan streets, made up of buildings that all date from 1844, preservationists said.
Preservationists are concerned that rezoning plans afoot in nearby Hudson Square will increase pressure for development and lead to the demolition of historic buildings in the South Village. Advocates have said already, numerous buildings have been demolished and towers soaring as high as 18 stories have been planned in their place.
The Landmarks Preservation Council meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Monday in Room 121 of the NYU Meyer Building, at 4 Washington Pl.
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