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2018 Six to Celebrate Launch Party

Come celebrate the new Six to Celebrate! Wednesday, February 8- Metropolitan College of New York

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Metropolitan College of New York

 60 West St, New York, NY 10006

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Arthur Avenue, The Bronx

Elmhurst, Queens

Lower West Side, Manhattan

Prospect Heights Apartment House District, Brooklyn

Westchester Square, The Bronx

Cultural Landmarks, Citywide

Introducing the 2018 Six to Celebrate!

Six to Celebrate annually identifies six historic NYC neighborhoods that merit preservation. These will be priorities for HDC’s advocacy and consultation over a yearlong period.

Arthur Avenue, The Bronx

Arthur Avenue, the long-time home of The Bronx’s Little Italy, has been a haven for Italian-Americans, Italophiles and curious tourists seeking an authentic shopping and dining experience for generations. In a city that is constantly evolving, its family-run businesses offer consistency, quality and a connection to the past on a storied and historic street. To capture the essence of this place, the Belmont Business Improvement District will undertake a series of oral histories with key constituents and develop an official tour of the area. These place-making initiatives will serve to enhance the public’s experience of and appreciation for Arthur Avenue, as well as ensure that its history is not forgotten. The group also seeks to investigate zoning tools to protect the character and scale of the neighborhood.

Elmhurst, Queens

This community in western Queens boasts many charming, yet unprotected, residential, commercial and religious structures, as well as a number of historic burial grounds that are at risk of damage due to poor stewardship and lack of awareness. The Elmhurst History and Cemeteries Preservation Society, Inc., a newly-formed and first-of-its-kind civic organization in Elmhurst, is working to document the neighborhood’s treasures and pursue appropriate preservation tools to ensure their survival. In addition, the group is working to foster local pride in Elmhurst’s heritage through robust public programming, including walking tours and signage.

Lower West Side, Manhattan

Prior to the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the World Trade Center, the area from roughly Liberty Street to Battery Place west of Broadway was host to a vibrant immigrant neighborhood called the Lower West Side. Initially populated by Irish and German immigrants, it later became a Middle Eastern enclave (known as the “Syrian Quarter” or “Little Syria”) and was subsequently home to a large Slavic population. The area’s major redevelopment in the mid-20th century nearly wiped the neighborhood off the map, but several buildings still exist to tell the story, and the Friends of the Lower West Side is determined to make sure this history is not lost. The group will appeal to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to protect a small area of significance, as well as expand its oral history program, publish a written history and offer walking tours to raise awareness.

Prospect Heights Apartment House District, Brooklyn

Constructed on a lost fragment of the original footprint of Prospect Park, now in southern Prospect Heights, is a concentration of 82 apartment buildings dating from 1909-1929. This development, boasting a cohesive design vocabulary and scale, was promoted by the Prospect Park Commissioners to attract high quality construction to complement the nearby Park, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Public Library. The buildings, representative of a period in Brooklyn history when building patterns shifted to accommodate a rising middle class, remain exemplary for their architectural integrity and as housing stock for a diverse population. The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council and the Cultural Row Block Association on Eastern Parkway are working to garner local support and submit a proposal for historic district status from the LPC.

Westchester Square, The Bronx

Westchester Square, now a major transportation hub in the northeast Bronx, was once home to a critical location in the birth of our nation. Hidden in plain sight, sites such as Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church and the Westchester Creek were crucial to American victory in the Revolutionary War. Other sites such as the Huntington Library and above-ground subway station serve as vestiges of the early 20th century innovation and architectural character that continue to anchor the neighborhood today. The Westchester Square Business Improvement District is working to rebrand the area with a focus on its rich history. This public awareness campaign will involve formally documenting its history and commemorating important events through the installation of plaques in and around the Square.

Cultural Landmarks, Citywide

Working in partnership with the New York Preservation Archive Project and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, HDC will undertake a campaign to shine a light on sites of cultural significance throughout the five boroughs. In recent years, the LPC has designated several landmarks based largely on their cultural impact and has expressed that such designations are a priority for the agency. Through the formation of a diverse coalition of stakeholders, HDC hopes to broaden the conversation about preservation tools for culturally significant sites and to create an action plan for their proper stewardship.


 

 

 

 

Support for Six to Celebrate is provided in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by New York City Council Members Margaret Chin, Daniel Garodnick, Vincent Gentile, Corey Johnson, Ben Kallos, Peter Koo and Stephen Levin.

Six to Celebrate Hart Island Tour

Hart Island Tour aboard the John J. Harvey

Join HDC and The Hart Island Project aboard the John J. Harvey Fireboat on Sunday, July 30th to take a truly unique trip around the Southern tip of Manhattan, up the East River to follow the original path from Bellevue Hospital past Roosevelt Island through Hells Gate to Hart Island. The Hart Island Project’s Melinda Hunt will inform tour goers about the history of Hart Island, as well as the influences it has had on New York City.

Boarding will be at 12:00 pm 

The trip will take approximately 5-6 hours

Water will be provided, but people are encouraged to bring refreshments. Casual dress is suggested, at some point the water cannons will go off.

This tour is free- RSVP is Required

RSVP HERE 

Donations to HDC, The Hart Island Project and the John J. Harvey Fireboat are greatly appreciated

 

West Chelsea Street Art and Graffiti Tour

Friday, June 23, 2017

5:00-7:00 pm

Join HDC’s own street artist- turned- tour guide Patrick Waldo on this walking tour of West Chelsea, exploring the neighborhood’s wide range of graffiti, street art, and legal public art. Waldo will draw on his brief but memorable stint in the illegal world of street art to explain techniques and terminology that will give tour goers a newfound appreciation for New York’s dynamic graffiti scene. Expect to see work from ’80s icon Kenny Scharf, Brazilian twin superstars Os Gemeos, mysterious French street artist Invader, as well as many up and coming local artists hoping to carve out a place in New York City street art history.

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Corona-East Elmhurst Walking Tour

Saturday, June 10, 2017

11am-1pm

Corona-East Elmhurst has become one of the largest and most intercultural Latino communities in NYC. Originally part of the Colonial Village of Newtown, established in the 1600s by Dutch and African settlers, over course of its history it has been home to sizable Italian, African-American, Caribbean, German, Irish, Jewish and Swedish populations; simultaneously. It also has a history as a horse-racing destination, a railroad and baseball town and a haven for New York’s jazz community. On this two-hour tour we will explore these aspects of Corona-East Elmhurst’s heritage concentrating on the Corona portion of this historically diverse community. Sights include historic houses of worship, a 19th-century country villa, beloved local parks, eateries, and the longtime home of music legend Louis Armstrong, as well as the former residence of his friend and fellow legend, John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, who along with Charlie Parker, ushered in the era of Be-Bop into the American jazz tradition. Tour participants will have the option of extending their tour by continuing with the guide to the World’s Fair Marina, a waterfront promenade where the mysterious Candela structures stand.

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Ace Hotel and Madison Square North Park

Friday, May 5

2:20 pm

Attendees of this unique tour will get to view the Ace Hotel located in the Madison Square North Historic District, and tour Madison Square Park. You will learn how the park affected development around Madison Square and how the hotel is a part of that history. The Ace hotel has embraced its historic roots by creatively decorating its interior with contemporary pieces that reflect the neighborhoods past. The tour will begin inside the lobby of the Ace hotel, where a staff member will guide us around the the original mosaic floor and stained glass windows. The tour will then continue through Madison Square Park. The land around Madison Sq. Park was designated a public space in the first city charter of 1686; in the ensuing centuries the land would be used as farmland, military training and finally a park. Come learn the storied history of the park and the neighborhood on this special Six to Celebrate tour.

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East River Vistas: Architecture and Changing Lifestyles in Yorkville Tour

Sunday, October 30, 2:00PM:

Once home to bucolic farmland, the eastern edge of Yorkville was dotted with clapboard farmhouses and country houses before being transformed into an industrial factory hub at the turn of the 20th century. As immigrants settled in Yorkville, tenement buildings were constructed, and by the 1930s the area around East End Avenue was home to luxury apartments designed by elite architects. Join the Historic Districts Council and FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts as we track this fascinating history of housing in eastern Yorkville with architectural historian and famed tour guide, Francis Morrone. Highlights will include East End Avenue, Gracie Square and Carl Schurz Park, model tenements such as the Cherokee Apartments, the idyllic rowhouses at Henderson Place and everything in between, including the largest white brick high-rise in the universe!

SOLD OUT