East Village and Lower East Side Landmarks Named

By SIGOURNEY SEALEY

The New York City Landmark Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted 6 to 1 to landmark some 330 buildings for preservation in  a new East Village/Lower East Side historic district.

The action was designed to slow down the rapid gentrification of the area.

The panel excluded only five buildings from the proposed district situated in the area west of Avenue A and south of St. Mark’s Place centered on Second Avenue.

“Each wave of immigrants that settled in the district gave rise to the richly layered built environment that remains today,” observed Commission Chairman Robert Tierney

Local preservationists praised the action.

“I think it was unnecessary to remove the five buildings,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, “but we’re happy about the 330 buildings that were remained in.”

Among the buildings protected from the wrecking ball were the Fillmore East concert hall — now defunct — famous for appearances by Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead in the rock heyday of the 1960’s. Other notable buildings preserved were the Russian Orthodox Cathedral on E. 2^nd Street and a synagogue at 415 E. 6^th St.

“This is a victory,” Berman later added.  “It’s an enormous step forward and we’re gonna keep pushing for more designations from here.”

Opposition to the landmarking came from property owners like Krystyna Piorskowska. who owns a multi-family residential building on East 7th street and has lived in the East Village neighborhood since 1975. She argued that there was insufficient outreach to property owners like herself.

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