The apartment building at 2 Fifth Avenue has been home to several notable LGBT figures who have made impacts in the fields of activism, health, theater, and literature. One resident, Larry Kramer, (b. 1935) helped catalyze the response to the AIDS epidemic as co-founder of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). His literary achievements as playwright include The Normal Heart (1985) and its sequel The Destiny of Me (1992). He is also well known for his controversial book Faggots (1978) and his screenplay of Women in Love (1969). Edith “Edie” Windsor & Dr. Thea Clara Spyer also lived here. Edith “Edie” Windsor was a LGBT rights activist and her wife Thea Spyer moved into their apartment in the mid-1970s. Windsor, who resided here at the time of her death in 2017, was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States case, which overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Greenwich Village has been the home of many women, whose actions have changed the fabric of New York and America.

As we roam the modern streets of New York City, we can see the skyline and neighborhoods change each year. Given how complicated our city’s systems have become, it is difficult to imagine a time without the founding principles of zoning, planning, and preservation. The man who created many of those frameworks for modern-day New York is George McAneny. During his extensive civic career, he served in several official positions, including New York City comptroller, executive manager of The New York Times, first president of the Regional Plan Association, and Manhattan Borough President. The snippets of history that can be seen on Urban Archive are just a small part of McAneny’s legacy, making him one of the most remarkable New York City visionaries of the first half of the 20th century.

The Whitney Museum is now one of New York City's unparalleled art institutions. But it took a while to get there. Here's a brief history of the Whitney Museum

The original Rhinelander Mansion, No. 14, on the west corner of Fifth Avenue, was built in 1839-1840 for Mary (Rogers) Rhinelander as her family’s residence and continued to serve the family until the death of her daughter in 1914. The house, and adjoining No. 15, were a pair of splendid Greek Revival town houses, each 42 feet wide and three and one-half stories high, with attic windows in the fascia. At each, a stoop led to the entrance portico, framed by Corinthian columns, and an iron balcony graced the parlor floor. No. 15 was built as the residence of Gardiner Greene Howland, who had previously lived with his brother Samuel at No. 12 Washington Square North on the block east of Fifth Avenue. They were important shipping merchants.

Few neighborhoods in New York can claim as rich a tradition of social advocacy as Greenwich Village. This collection documents the homes and lives of a few of them.

2 Fifth Avenue visible above MacDougal Alley, ca. 1955. Designed by the firm of Emery Roth Sons for the developer Samuel Rudin between 1951 and 1952, 2 Fifth Avenue is a massive 353-apartment building. The major portion of the structure is the large 20-story white-glazed brick building (visible in this photograph). At the south end of the lot the building faces Washington Square Park, and it was designed to complement the low rise structures that face the park. 2 Fifth Avenue here is a five-story red brick building that works with the 19th century mansions that sit to its west. The building has been the home of a number of well-known New Yorkers including former Mayor Ed Koch and writer and activist Larry Kramer. The pair had an acrimonious relationship, as Koch was mayor for the first decade of the AIDS epidemic and his failure to act had serious repercussions for the gay community.

The three townhouses combined to form the new museum building.

A collection that maps and celebrates NYC LGBT history for the month of October!

The Rhinelander House, Washington Square North, January 1950. Built for William C. Rhinelander in 1940, the Greek Revival mansion at Washington Square North and Fifth Avenue became a preservation flashpoint after the Rhinelander Real Estate Company sold the property for development in 1944. After a half-decade in limbo, the house was demolished in 1951, over the objections of the nascent Washington Square Committee, formed in January 1950. Today, the nineteen-story 2 Fifth Avenue stands on the site.

In 1981, a “rare cancer” first seen in a group of gay men primarily in New York and San Francisco eventually became a widespread epidemic more accurately known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This curated collection includes the residences of influential AIDS activists and artists, venues where fundraising events were held, and meeting and demonstration locations of AIDS organizations.

Cultural Medallions are porcelainized enamel plaques affixed to the exterior of buildings, in order to commemorate an individual (or occurrence) that has made a significant contribution to New York City’s rich cultural heritage. These are the Cultural Medallions in Manhattan. See more from the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center here.

8 and 10 West 8th Street. This pair was building in 1838 (along with nos. 12 and 14 to the east). In 1914, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney turned 8 West 8th Street into the Whitney Studio Gallery. In 1931, she turned nos. 8,10, and 12 into the first home of the newly established Whitney Museum.

The New York Preservation Archive Project is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and celebrating the history of historic preservation in New York City. The Archive Project is devoted to celebrating neglected narratives of New York historic preservation using the archives that hold these stories. This collection includes a selection of historic sites that became flashpoints of the city's preservation movement(s). For more information, visit: www.nypap.org/phd-category/places/

Marble House, March 20, 1936. No. 8 (the corner building) was built for John Taylor Johnston, the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Johnston made his fortune in the railroad business. According to his obituary, he was the originator of the entire Central New Jersey Railroad system. Johnston created what was the first art gallery in NYC–to showcase his own collection– in a stable building next to his home before the Met was established. The house, which was called the first marble house in the city, was constructed in 1856 and, as a bright white building, stood out from its slightly later red brick neighbors. After his death the home was occupied by his daughter Frances for some time. She passed away in 1928 while living further uptown on Fifth Avenue. That same year the Johnstons, who had leased the land the home occupied from the Rhinelanders family, gave up the lease when the land owners planned to build an apartment building. The building never came to be as originally planned, due to the Depression. In 1936 when it was photographed, the home had been subdivided into apartments and named the Marble House. It was later occupied in part by NYU. The home and its neighbors seen here (and others unseen) were demolished in the early 1950s for the large apartment house at 2 Fifth Avenue.

Entrance to the Whitney Museum When the conversion of the three houses was complete, the new Whitney Museum of American Art moved in and installed this signage an accompanying cast-aluminum eagle (still visible above the current signage for the New York Studio School). The creation of this museum was largely predicated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's refusal of Gertrude Whitney's donation of around 500 artworks. This original museum was a modest exhibition space and director Juliana Force (a long-time friend and associate of Ms. Whitney) lived in an apartment above the galleries.

Juliana R. Force Residence, ca. 1932.

Marble House doorway, February 1, 1938.

Larry Kramer, a pioneering gay-rights activist, and author lived at 2 Fifth Avenue beginning in the 1980s. On August 11, 1981, he hosted a group of friends at his apartment to discuss the recent announcement of the outbreak of Kaposi sarcoma, cancer attributed to AIDS. The group mobilized quickly, raising $6,600 for medical research and founding the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the first AIDS advocacy and support organization, on January 4th, 1982. By 1987, however, Kramer had become frustrated with the group’s passivity amidst ongoing threats to gay equality and increasing numbers of AIDS victims. On March 10, he gave an impassioned speech at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street, which led to the creation of the grassroots activist group AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) two days later. The organization is credited with calling attention to the political and medical bureaucracy and prejudice contributing to the deaths of those who had AIDS. The founding of both GMHC and ACT UP represented a fundamental shift in the response to and view of the AIDS crisis at the time, from one of government apathy and inaction to a determined effort by those most affected by and potentially at risk for the virus demanding a response by government, the media, and established institutions to recognize their humanity and address the life or death needs they faced.

12 and 14 West 8th Street. No. 12 became part of the new Whitney Museum in 1931, while no. 14 (at right) still looks very much as it did here, though with a large window at the ground level.