Village Building's NAACP History Unveiled In Preservation Push

GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — In a timely push to preserve a slice of Village history, local preservationists are asking the city to landmark a Fifth Avenue building that once served as the NAACP's headquarters.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation submitted new documents to the city on Wednesday, the 111th anniversary of the NAACP's founding, showing that a historic building they hope will be landmarked served as the organization's headquarters during an important period in the early 20th century.

The detailed 13-page history of the 70 Fifth Ave. building is the latest push from the preservationists, fittingly during Black History Month, to have the spot declared a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The advocates argue that landmarking the building — along with the 20-block area below Union Square it sits in — will ensure that its 108-year history and that of other nearby buildings won't be destroyed.

"The historic area of Greenwich Village and the East Village south of Union Square currently faces extreme development pressure, with historic buildings being demolished to make way for high-rise condo towers, hotels, and office buildings, largely connected to the tech industry," the organization wrote.

"Unlike much of the neighboring Greenwich Village and East Village neighborhoods," they continue, "this area south of Union Square has neither landmark nor zoning protections to prevent out-of-scale new development and demolition of historic buildings. "

The 70 Fifth Ave. building in particular, which is also known as 2-6 West 13th St., was built in 1912 and home to the NAACP and its groundbreaking publication The Crisis Magazine from 1914 until the mid-1920s, the organization said.

The New York City headquarters came at an important time for the new organization, which was formed in 1909, preservationists said.

"These organizations were located here at critical, seminal moments in their history, when their agendas were highly controversial and faced widespread opposition, and yet they accomplished extraordinary changes and undertook groundbreaking campaigns which affected the lives of millions and altered the course of history in our country," they wrote.

During its time in the building, the NAACP waged legal battles for voting rights and where African Americans could live, launched campaigns against lynchings and challenged segregation in the federal government.

The organization's letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission also included new documents with another nearby building, 80 Fifth Ave., which housed the first national LGBT civil rights organization, the National Gay Task Force, now the National LGBTQ Task Force.

It came after previous letters they sent about the Union Square area, which they specifically hope to protect between West 9th and 14th streets and Third and Fifth avenues. That area was home to prominent artists and writers, publishing houses, industrial history and 19th and early 20th century architecture.

Read the full 70 and 80 Fifth Ave. history here.