Introducing the new Sullivan-Thompson Historic District

Located below Houston Street between 6th Avenue and West Broadway, this portion of the South Village is often thought by many to be part of SoHo. But it is architecturally quite different, with no cast iron structures but rather structures similar to those just below Washington Square. The obliteration of such landmarks as 186 Spring Sreett, often considered "the LGBT Independence Hall" and the architecturally significant Tunnel Garage had given rise to much concern over the protection of architectural and historic resources in the area. The cache of adjacent SoHo, intensive nearby development on 6th Avenue and in the new rezoned Hudson Square, had only increased pressures on the area. What now remains are over 150 buildings including St. Anthony of Padua Church (the oldest extant Italian-American Church in the country); unique early reform housing/model tenements built by and for immigrants along Thompson and Sullivan Streets; townhouses reflecting the Federal and Greek Revival periods and fascinating vestiges of the days when the area was the city's most significant African American quarter, hiding in plain site. After a decade-long campaign to gain protection via historic district status for this portion of the South Village, the Landmarks Preservation Commission finally designated the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District in December. Join Laurence Frommer to investigate one of the city's newest historic districts! Cost: $30 / $20 Members