Old NAACP Headquarters In Village Considered For Landmark Status

GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY — The Greenwich Village might soon be getting another landmarked building after city officials voted Tuesday to start the designation process for a property that housed the NAACP headquarters in the early 20th century.

Specifically, 70 Fifth Avenue, also known as 2-6 West 13th Street, is a Beaux-Arts styled office building built in 1912, which serves as the headquarters of the NAACP from 1914 to 1925.

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission agreed on Tuesday to "calendar" the 12-story Greenwich Village building. It is the first step in designating a property for historic status.

Along with serving as the HQ for the NAACP, the building was also the original home to The Crisis magazine — the first-ever magazine published for a Black audience. W.E.B DuBois served as its first editor and it featured the early works of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston.

The 70 Fifth Avenue building is one of many locations in the Greenwich Village area that community organizations have advocated landmark status for due to its connection to the Civil Rights Movement.

"It is welcome and long overdue news that the city will finally begin consideration of this incredibly historically significant building for landmark status," said Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Village Preservation, in a news release. "The cultural and political history connected to this building — the critical civil rights campaigns led from here and the groundbreaking art and literature created here — is unrivaled."

The NAACP also wrote a note last year supporting the preservation of the building.