By Albert Amateau
The campaign to create a South Village historic district in the area south of Washington Sq. got underway Tuesday morning, Nov. 11, with a gathering of preservation advocates in front of Our Lady of Pompeii Church at Bleecker and Carmine Sts.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is proposing for designation the South Village district in the traditional center of the Italian-American immigrant community along Bleecker, Carmine, MacDougal, Sullivan and Thompson Sts., in the area south of the Greenwich Village Historic District.
The Rev. Joseph Cogo, pastor of Our Lady of Pompeii, joined Andrew Berman, director of G.V.S.H.P., City Councilmember Christine Quinn and state Senator Tom Duane in supporting a study of the proposed district.
Scott Heyl, head of the Preservation League of New York State, presented an oversized ceremonial check for $8,000 to Berman for a study of the proposed district, which includes several wooden houses dating from the 1820s.
The wood-frame buildings at 233 and 237 Bleecker St., built in 1822 and 1839, are two of the remaining three wood-frame buildings in the Village, and are worthy of preservation along with the brick 1861 building between them at No. 235, Berman said.
However, the future of the three houses is in doubt because the Department of Buildings has cited them for hazardous conditions.
“It would be absolutely shameful if those buildings were allowed to be destroyed or to deteriorate beyond repair,” said Berman, who wrote to Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Robert Tierney asking for landmark status to preserve them.
In the past few years, several buildings in the proposed South Village district have been lost to high-rise New York University development, including the Poe House and the Judson Memorial Church community house at the corner of W. Third and Thompson Sts. Facsimile facades of these two buildings were included in the new N.Y.U. School of Law building for which they were razed.
G.V.S.H.P. will study the area bounded roughly between Seventh Ave. S. and LaGuardia Pl. from W. Fourth to W. Houston St. with an extension south to Broome St. along Sullivan and Thompson Sts.
The district includes Federal-style row houses dating from the 1840s on Jones St. and on Bleecker between Leroy and Morton Sts. Classic 1904 tenements are at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal Sts. Cast-iron storefronts are outstanding features of Thompson St., and houses dating from the 1830s grace Prince and Sullivan Sts.
