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South of Union Square
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86 University Place

Posts & Stories(17)

LGBTQ History Tour image

LGBTQ History Tour
Walk

Several key individuals, organizations, and meeting spaces connected to LGBTQ history were located here, including the headquarters of the country's first national LGBTQ rights organization, and prominent writers, artists, musicians, and performers. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Fashion History Tour image

Fashion History Tour
Walk

This area was home to many prominent innovators and leaders in the field of fashion. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Library Tour image

Library Tour
Walk

Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Architecture Tour image

Architecture Tour
Walk

The area south of Union Square contains a stunning array of residential and commercial architecture from the 19th through the early 20th century. There is a particularly rich array of late 19th and early 20th-century factory/loft/warehouse architecture, in every style from Italianate to Gothic and Romanesque Revival, Neo-classical, Queen Anne, Victorian, and Byzantine. Work by some of America’s greatest architects, including James Renwick Jr., Henry J. Hardenbergh, Emery Roth, Griffith Thomas, Napoleon LeBrun, Harvey Wiley Corbett, David, and John Jardine, George B. Post, Carrere and Hastings, John Kellum, and Charles Rentz, among others, can be found here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
German History Tour image

German History Tour
Walk

This area served as a home to many prominent German and German-American businesses which shaped New York in the 19th and 20th centuries. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Political Figures Tour image

Political Figures Tour
Walk

A vast array of people who made a mark in the field of politics had connections to this area, including many notable "firsts" to run for or win office. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
86 University Place image

86 University Place
Post

This began as a four story private house built in 1840 with a fifth floor added in 1880 and the two story commercial addition in front added in 1919. It housed one of New York’s most prominent philanthropists of the 19th century who helped establish some of the city’s great institutions, later serving as the home to a family of German immigrant entrepreneurs. The commercial space housed one of the city’s most popular speakeasies, and later a lesbian bar frequented by well-know authors. Go back and click on the tours the building is featured in for additional information and history.
Rowhouse Tour image

Rowhouse Tour
Walk

In spite of massive waves of commercial construction, tenement building, and later hotel and apartment building construction which swept through this neighborhood, the area retains dozens of rowhouses from its early stages of development, dating from the early 1830s to the early 1850s. They range from modest to grand, most in the Greek Revival or Italianate style. Reflecting the vast forces of change which swept through the area, none remained single family houses, taking on new lives housing commerce, unions, theaters, art galleries, and multiple tenants. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Leftist and Labor Tour image

Leftist and Labor Tour
Walk

This area was a mecca for leftist and labor organizing, with many of the most significant figures and organizations of the 19th and 20th centuries located here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Commerce Tour: West of Broadway image

Commerce Tour: West of Broadway
Walk

Multiple innovators in the field of commerce were located here, once the center of commerce in New York, along with the headquarters of several prominent businesses. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Philanthropy Tour image

Philanthropy Tour
Walk

Some of New York's most prominent and impactful philanthropists, and philanthropic organizations, were located here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Artists Tour image

Artists Tour
Walk

An incredible array of sites in the area are connected to the great artists and art movements of the last century and a half. In the mid-20th century, this area was ground zero for the New York School of artists, who shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Writers and Authors Tour image

Writers and Authors Tour
Walk

An extraordinary array of significant writers and authors lived or worked here, and great works of literature were produced here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
African American History Tour image

African American History Tour
Walk

This area was home to several sites connected to significant developments in African American history, including civil rights leaders and organizations, musicians, and writers. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
84 University Place image

84 University Place
Post

This 7-story Romanesque Revival style loft was built in 1894 for Leopold R. True by Louis Korn, architect of many landmarked NYC buildings. Graphic designer and artist Stanley Glaubach had a studio here and Charles Cheriff Galleries was located here for nearly a century. Go back and click on the tours the building is featured in for additional information and history.
Theater Tour image

Theater Tour
Walk

This area was a center of theater and home to many experimental and innovative theaters, large and small, several of which still survive to this day. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
Women's History Tour image

Women's History Tour
Walk

Many notable organizations, leaders, and events in the women's rights and women's suffrage movements were located or took place here. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of these and other historic buildings south of Union Square.
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