E-BULLETIN OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL
May 2013, Volume 10, Number 5
Tomorrow:
Exclusive tour of
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street Brooklyn, NY 11232
Twilight Tour and Catacomb Visit
Thursday, May 16th 5:30 to 8pm
Admission: $50/$75
Two is better than one on this exclusive joint tour with members of the Historic Districts Council and the Green-Wood Historic Fund. Among Green-Wood’s stunning spring landscape, mix and mingle with fellow members and some Green-Wood and HDC staff at an intimate outdoor reception.
After a drink and a snack, embark on a twilight tour with Green-Wood Historian Jeff Richman. You’ll enjoy the many fascinating sites and stories of Green-Wood’s 478 acres, including the stunning sculpture of New York mayor (among other vocations) DeWitt Clinton, the recently rediscovered Zouave Boy inside the Anderson Mausoleum, and gorgeous bronzes by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in collaboration with Stanford White. You’ll take in Green-Wood’s rolling hills and spring blooms at dusk, and even get a chance to enter the catacombs, an area closed to the public.
Please call 212.614.9107 or click here to RSVP for this special event.
Sponsored in part by and all images © of:
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Historic Districts Council 2013 Grassroots Preservation Awards and Annual Preservation Party
Date: Thursday May 23, 2013
Location: Village Community School, 272 W 10th St New York, NY 10014
Time: 6:30 pm
Click hereto read more or purchase tickets!!
This year’s Grassroots Awards recipients are:
• The Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project
• New Amsterdam Market’s Robert LaValva
• NYC Parks advocate Geoffrey Croft
• NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan
• The Aquinas Honor Society of the Immaculate Conception School
• Friend in High Places: Council Member Stephen Levin of Brooklyn’s 33rd District
• Friend from the Media Award: The Tribeca Trib.
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Week of May 13 – Highlighted 2013 Grassroots Awards Recipient:
Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP)
Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project (MARP) was established in 1999 to reinvigorate the Myrtle Avenue business corridor within the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Wallabout and Clinton Hill. Working with residents, business owners and city officials, MARP has successfully brought new life and energy to this once-neglected commercial avenue. As part of their holistic mission of preservation and community development, MARP also works with the residential and formerly industrial neighborhoods bordering the Brooklyn Navy Yard to preserve and enhance their historic character while encouraging better services and resources for their residents. Their efforts have resulted in a successful campaign to designate the Wallabout National Register District as well as a smaller local city-designated historic district, in partnership with the Historic Wallabout Association. Successes also include MARP’s façade and storefront design grant program for commercial properties, as well as, most recently, producing the Wallabout Homeowner’s Preservation Manual to help residents better care for their historic properties.
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Date: Tuesday, May 21
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: 641 Avenue of the Americas, 8th Floor
To RSVP for the event please contact: [email protected] by 5/17
*note: if you are unable to make it by 5pm you can arrive at 5:30 for the second half of the presentation without disrupting the event.
Please join us at the offices of COOKFOX and Terrapin Bright Green for a presentation of “MidCentury (un)Modern”, a provocative analysis of the 1958-73 office building. Bill Browning and Bob Fox, two of Terrapin’s co-founders, will discuss Terrapin’s in-depth investigation into the first generation Manhattan glass curtain wall and the report’s conclusions. The presentation will be followed with a discussion moderated by Simeon Bankoff, HDC Executive Directo, Peg Breen, President, New York Landmarks Conservancy and Nina Rappaport, Vice-President Docomomo NY/Tri-state.
Motivated by PlaNYC 2030 and the understanding that there needs to be a focus on deep retrofits of existing buildings Terrapin undertook a study into retrofitting a specific class of midcentury single glazed hi-rise buildings. We encourage you to read the full report HERE!
Terrapin is a consulting and strategic planning group helping clients think differently about environmental strategy, policy, and related opportunities. Bill Browning is one of the green building and real estate industry’s foremost thinkers and strategists, and an advocate for sustainable design solutions at all levels of business, government, and civil society. Bob Fox is also a founding partner of renowned sustainable architecture firm COOKFOX Architects and a highly respected leader in the green building movement.
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~Cultural Medallion Celebrates the Life of a Pioneer of Music~
Date: This Thursday, May 16, 2013
Time: 3:45pm
Location: 312 West 77th Street, between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, Manhattan
On May 16 the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center will unveil a new cultural medallion to jazz legend Miles Davis. HDC is pleased to co-sponsor this event. The ceremony will take place at 312 West 77th Street, where Davis lived and recorded for 23 years. Renowned participants and performers at the program include Phil Schaap, Ron Carter, George Coleman, Jimmy Cobb, Gary Bartz, James Mtume, Al Foster, Wallace Roney, Jimmy Heath, and the Harlem School of the Arts Advanced Jazz Combo. Come join us for this free and fun event!
Image © http://www.htbackdrops.com
About the Cultural Medallion Program
The Cultural Medallions are a program of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center. Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Chair of the HLPC, created the Cultural Medallions program, and will lead the ceremonies. The HLPC has installed close to 100 medallions around the city to heighten public awareness of the cultural and social history of New York City.
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Join our colleague group, The New York Landmarks Conservancy for their annual Sacred Sites Open House Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, May 18th and 19th. Nearly 100 historic houses of worship are participating throughout New York State. To find an open house near you, download the participant list from the Conservancy’s website.
Visit many of these landmarked and significant religious spaces and learn more about how they contribute to the architectural, historic and cultural fabric of neighborhoods citywide!
For more information go to: http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/sacred_sites_open_house/sacred_sites_open_house2013/
Or click here to download the NYC-based sites that will be open.
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Have you been wondering how you’re going to explore and discover this great city over the summer? Well here’s your answer!
Join HDC on our fantastic walking/ bike tours of the Six To Celebrate neighborhoods. The tours will run from May through October.
BIKE TOUR (north Bronx loop) les by Richard Gans, Bronx bike advocate
Saturday, June 15, 9:30AM
Bronx Parks System, The Bronx ; Rocking Stone, Bronx Park, about 1895
photo credit : JFGryphon, Flickr
In 1888, more than four thousand acres was designated as parkland in The Bronx in anticipation of New York City’s northern growth. This enormous public investment guided the development and planning of the borough to become a livable place for people of modest means. Please join us for two bike tours of the magnificent parks that have shaped The Bronx since their conception 125 years ago. The first will explore the parks of the northern Bronx, beginning with a visit to the Van Cortlandt Mansion at Van Cortlandt Park and meandering eastward to Pelham Bay Park with stops at the Valentine-Varian House, the Bronx River Forest and the Bartow Pell Mansion. The second will explore the parks in the south, including Bronx Park, Crotona Park and St. Mary’s Park. Bikes will not be provided.
For more information about the tours click here
For information about the 2013 STC click here
For information about the STC program click here
Don’t forget we have the 2012Walking Tour Brochures are now available for sale on our website!!!!
Only $10 for all six brochures (shipping included).
To purchase the brochures click here.
Six to Celebrate is generously supported by The New York Community Trust. Support for the Six to Celebrate Tours and walking tour brochures is provided by 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 Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Inez Dickens, Vincent Gentile, Daniel Garodnick, Stephen Levin and Rosie Mendez.
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If you’re receiving this, then you know that HDC is working hard throughout the city to protect and preserve the neighborhoods which make New York great. Please consider contributing and becoming part of the movement to preserve our city’s irreplaceable architecture and history. There are a lot of buildings to cover, and we can only do it with a lot of people.
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