HDC will host five walking tours of a diverse range of neighborhoods and sites on weekends in April
More Information about the 2017 Conference
Tuesday, May 9 at 3pm Port Authority Bus Terminal
Encompassing nearly two full city blocks, the Port Authority Bus Terminal is the biggest and busiest bus terminal on the planet — and a striking example of postmodern utilitarian architecture. Join the Historic Districts Council for a rare look behind the scenes of this Midtown Manhattan workhorse, which was originally opened in 1950 and was expanded and substantially renovated from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The tour will be led by Mark Schaff, Assistant General Manager of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and will include a visit to the new Performing Arts Stage. The Performing Arts Stage was created with the help of the Historic Districts Council’s own Deputy Director, Adrian Untermyer. Following the tour, participants are invited to join us for a drink at McAnn’s, an Irish pub located within the Port Authority that boasts oversized historic photographs of the original 1950s terminal.
SOLD OUT
Sunday, April 30 at 1:00PM Greenwich Village’s Legacy of Activism
From class warfare in Astor Place to garment workers and beatnik musicians in and around Washington Square to anarchists on the Gold Coast to gay men outside a bar, Greenwich Village has witnessed and been host to some of America’s most important and impactful activism. The impressive roster of protests on all manner of issues that have taken place on its streets throughout its history has changed the world for the better. Join us for a tour led by Philip Desiere of Walk About New York, as he highlights some of Greenwich Village’s seminal protest locations that mark how New Yorkers and, more broadly, United States citizens have made their voices heard to help make America a more just place to live.
Sunday, April 2, 3:00PM Behind-the-Scenes Tour of King Manor
Join us for a tour of the home of Rufus King, signer of the United States Constitution and early voice in the anti-slavery movement. Originally constructed in the 1750s, King lived here from 1805 until his death in 1827. Located in Jamaica, the Colonial-era structure now functions as a house museum, and is the only such museum in southeastern Queens. Executive Director of the King Manor Museum (and former HDC staff member!) Nadezhda Williams will give us a behind-the-scenes peak on this extended tour, which will encompass the entire house from the basement to the attic and from the servants’ quarters to the King family’s parlor. Explore how the house, a designated New York City Individual and Interior Landmark, tells its history of three major phases of construction (c1750, c1790 and 1810) and still holds a few mysteries.
Saturday, April 8 at 10:30AM Sunset Park: History and Advocacy
Join tour guide Joe Svehlak on this tour of Sunset Park, whose built environment has shaped what is today a quintessential Brooklyn neighborhood: from the massive Bush Terminal and its associated workers’ housing to the construction of the 4th Avenue Subway, and from the establishment of the country’s first cooperative apartment buildings in the early 1900s to the Section 8 housing of the 1970s, which helped the neighborhood transition out of blight. For the past four years, advocates and residents have led a grassroots effort to push for the designation of a historic district in Sunset Park to pay homage to these developments and allow the neighborhood’s storied past to inform its future. While the effort stalls at the City level, many lessons can be learned in this case study about the power of community organizing and public participation?
Sunday, April 23 at 11:00AM In Search of the Tenderloin and Tin Pan Alley
From the 1870s to about 1910, the Tenderloin was Manhattan’s most famous red-light district, a cradle of elegant vice that developed north of 23rd Street west of Fifth Avenue, in the shadow of luxurious hotels such as Gilsey House. High-stakes gambling parlors, brothels, saloons, dance halls: the Tenderloin reveled in its own illegality, until pressure from civic authorities and corporate development led to its demise. Since the 1990s, zoning changes have altered the landscape of the old Tenderloin’s main stem – Sixth Avenue – and have led to the destruction of many buildings. But a few reminders survive. On this tour, author and historian David Freeland will guide visitors to sites associated with still-visible Tenderloin businesses, including the block of 28th Street once known as Tin Pan Alley, birthplace of the pop music industry.
Sunday, April 23 at 11:00AM In Search of the Tenderloin and Tin Pan Alley
From the 1870s to about 1910, the Tenderloin was Manhattan’s most famous red-light district, a cradle of elegant vice that developed north of 23rd Street west of Fifth Avenue, in the shadow of luxurious hotels such as Gilsey House. High-stakes gambling parlors, brothels, saloons, dance halls: the Tenderloin reveled in its own illegality, until pressure from civic authorities and corporate development led to its demise. Since the 1990s, zoning changes have altered the landscape of the old Tenderloin’s main stem – Sixth Avenue – and have led to the destruction of many buildings. But a few reminders survive. On this tour, author and historian David Freeland will guide visitors to sites associated with still-visible Tenderloin businesses, including the block of 28th Street once known as Tin Pan Alley, birthplace of the pop music industry.
Support 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 and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by City Council Members Ben Kallos, Rosie Mendez, Mark Levine, Inez Dickens, Vincent Gentile, Corey Johnson, Stephen Levin, Margaret Chin, Daniel Garodnick and Rafael Salamanca, and by New York State Assembly Members Deborah Glick, Richard Gottfried and Daniel O’Donnell.