East Villagers Boo Glassy Mansion Proposed to Replace Adorable Townhouse

EAST VILLAGE, NY — Dozens of people protested the demolition of a pastel periwinkle historic townhouse on East 7th Street Friday afternoon, calling it an "outrageous" decision by the city to knock it down.

The demolition of 264 E. 7th St., where the famous children's novel "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" was illustrated, was approved by the city last week.

Community members see this as a pattern of big bucks invading their diverse community, and are furious the city has allowed glass buildings to pop up on their streets in place of picturesque historic leafy houses.

"It's displacement, pure and simple," said one woman who has lived for decades down the street from the periwinkle townhouse. "They should have a place to build their glassy mansions, but it's not here. Some people still like to live in old houses on a street with a sense of community. We're the 'unity' in community."

"We are outraged that the city is yet again doing nothing to save a historic property here in the East Village that years ago they said was eligible for landmark designation," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, to the crowd Friday.

"And now that it's actually threatened with demolition, the city has said, 'Oh, sorry we no longer think it's worth saving."

The crowd booed.

Neighbors of 264 E. 7th St. said they were especially concerned because the roof of their buildings are connected to the building up for demolition. They fear the demolition could compromise the structure of their houses. One man who owns a whole floor of 262 E. 7th St. told Patch the owner of 264 E. 7th St., GlobalServ Property One, LLC, who purchased the house in October 2015, was leaving them all in the dark despite several requests to know what was going on. He preferred to remain anonymous.

Building records with the city show the owner of the property is Elaine Hsu Yuching. The lawyer who facilitated the sale said he did not want to comment, when reached by Patch.

This is the second time in a month that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has rejected the historic preservation of buildings that they considered eligible for historic preservation just eight years ago, said Berman. The LPC said the same thing about a row of houses on East 11th Street, passing on saving those as well.

"It's kind of deja vu all over again in terms of what was happening on 11th Street," Berman told Patch.

A request for comment from the LPC wasn't immediately returned.

"There are wonderful things you could do with this building renovating it," Berman added. "But somebody seems to think that a three-and-a-half story house is not luxurious enough, and they want something bigger."

Photo credit: Sarah Kaufman/Patch