Village Preservation Launches "Virtual Village" Featuring Guided Walking Tours to Highlight Historic and Cultural Sites in "South of Union Square"

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Oct 27, 2020, 14:00 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Village Preservation today announced the launch of "Virtual Village," an interactive online tool that offers free, guided walking tours of the many historic and cultural riches hidden in the "South of Union Square" area, where Greenwich Village meets the East Village, in order highlight the need to preserve these historic sites by granting them landmarking protections. Virtual Village has nearly 40 tours that invite users to explore the South of Union Square area, which roughly encompasses Third to Fifth Avenues between 9th and 14th Streets, with its unique concentration of rich New York and American history that includes a mashup of commerce, art, architecture, politics, literature, industry, African-American and LGBQT activism, and music, from punk to classical.

"The area South of Union Square is an important piece of New York's DNA, yet because it almost entirely lacks landmark protections, its history and great historic buildings are being lost every day," said Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation. "We hope that this tool will bring increased awareness to the critical need to preserve these sites, which for nearly two centuries have made our city a unique, vibrant, and progressive cultural hub and incubator of enormous national and global influence."

Village Preservation, a group dedicated to preserving the historic, architectural and cultural fabric of Greenwich Village, East Village and NoHo in Manhattan, launched their campaign to seek landmark protections for the South of Union Square area in 2018, after it faced increasing threats of demolition and out-of-scale new development stemming in large part from the tech industry.

The tool is available to access here. For more information about the Village Preservation's South of Union Square campaign, please visit their website.

ABOUT VILLAGE PRESERVATION

Founded in 1980, Village Preservation works to document, celebrate, and preserve the special architectural and cultural heritage of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo. Village Preservation has successfully advocated for the landmark designation of more than 1,250 buildings in these neighborhoods, and has helped secure zoning protections for nearly 100 blocks. Village Preservation is a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit https://www.villagepreservation.org.