Clemente Soto Velez Center Wins Landmarks Conservancy Award
This image has been archived or removed.
The building is not only an architectural anchor on the Lower East Side, but one for the arts as well. Clemente Soto Velez at Suffolk Street is a bastion of creativity that offers classes, theatrical performances, and even the annual Halloween haunted house. For its efforts in preserving the former public school, PS 160, the New York Landmarks Conservancy is bestowing the highest honor. The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award. Last night was the official reception to mark the occasion.
According to the press release:
The Moses Awards recognize individuals, organizations, architects, craftspeople and building owners for their extraordinary contributions to preserving our City.
Their work has saved some 2,000 buildings across the city and state, helping preserve the beauty of New York for future generations.
The building was constructed at 107 Suffolk Street in 1898 by the Board of Education of New York, and was designed in a Dutch Neo-Gothic style. Its function as a school ended in the seventies, and the premises briefly became home to Solidaridad Humana, community-based, bilingual education center. CSV wouldn’t arrive until 1993.
For the last few years, it sat beneath a shroud of netting and scaffolding, receiving repairs and a facelift. We now see it in all its glory.
Recent Stories
Late Photographer Corky Lee Gets Mural Treatment on Doyers Street
There is a new tribute mural in Chinatown that honors the memory of beloved photographer Corky Lee. The nascent Chinatown Mural Project is behind the new artwork, which stretches along a 35-foot wall on Doyers Street, the nerve center of Chinatown. The mural is two-toned – blue and off-white – and meant to resemble “Ming” […]
One Year Later, ‘Fiore Escape’ COVID Sessions Still Captivate
One year after first captivating passersby at Essex and Grand Streets, the free fire escape concert series is back for another. Indeed, musician Jill Fiore will perform anew from the second floor of her Essex Street tenement (above Delancey Car Service). The next so-called “Fiore Escape” show is slated for October 15, as announced on […]
Parks Department Installs Fence at Allen Mall Bathhouse in Response to Nadja Rose Madder
The Parks Department is upping the ante on deterring a homeless artist from painting and gathering at the Allen Street Bathhouse. Earlier this week, the city began assembling an eight-foot chain-link enclosure to (partially) fence in the sidewalk plaza. It is on this spot that transgender artist Nadja Rose Madder has been transforming the brickwork […]
Extell Residents in Cherry Street Tower Bark Foul Over Abundance of Dogs Despite No Pet Policy
Residents of Extell’s “affordable tower” at 227 Cherry Street are barking foul over the proliferation of pitbulls, despite the no-pet policy. We are told by current tenants that leases contain a strict stipulation prohibiting pets in apartments, and that management (Wavecrest) seems deaf and/or slow to act about the apparent violations. By some estimates, there […]
Aggro Panhandler Hurls Brick at Pickle Guys Worker in Brutal Attack
An aggro panhandler outside Pickle Guys on Grand Street attacked an employee after he was asked to move away from the store entrance, cops said. The suspect had been aggressively begging at around 8:20am last Wednesday when the 63-year-old worker told him to disperse. That didn’t sit well; the pugilist picked up a nearby chair […]
