Greenwich Village Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Washington Square Park, in the heart of Greenwich Village
Location:	Bounded by: W 14th Street on the North; W Houston Street on the South; the Hudson River on the West; Broadway on the East
Coordinates:	40°44′2″N 74°0′4″W / 40.73389°N 74.00111°W / 40.73389; -74.00111Coordinates: 40°44′2″N 74°0′4″W / 40.73389°N 74.00111°W / 40.73389; -74.00111
Built:	1799
Architectural style:	Mid 19th Century Revival, Italianate, Federal
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	79001604[1]
Added to NRHP:	June 19, 1979

Greenwich Village,^{[pronunciation 1]} often referred to in New York as simply "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families. Greenwich Village, however, was known in the late 19th to mid 20th centuries as an artists' haven, the bohemian capital, and the East Coast birthplace of the Beat movement. What provided the initial attractive character of the community eventually contributed to its gentrification and commercialization.^[2]

The name of the village is Anglicized from the Dutch name Greenwijck, meaning "Pine District", into Greenwich, a borough of London.^[3]

Location[link]

MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village

The neighborhood is bordered by Broadway to the east, the Hudson River to the west, Houston Street to the south, and 14th Street to the north.^{[citation needed]} The neighborhoods surrounding it are the East Village and NoHo to the east, SoHo to the south, and Chelsea to the north. The East Village was formerly considered part of the Lower East Side and never associated with Greenwich Village.^[4] The West Village is the area of Greenwich Village west of 7th Avenue, though realtors claim the dividing line is farther east at 6th Avenue. The Far West Village is a sub-neighborhood from the Hudson River to Hudson Street. The neighborhood is located in New York's 8th congressional district, New York's 25th State Senate district, New York's 66th State Assembly district, and New York City Council's 3rd district.

Into the early 20th century, Greenwich Village was distinguished from the upper-class neighborhood of Washington Square – based on the major landmark Washington Square Park^[5] or Empire Ward^[6] in the 19th century.

Encyclopædia Britannica's 1956 article on "New York (City)" (subheading "Greenwich Village") states that the southern border of the Village is Spring Street, reflecting an earlier understanding (today, Spring Street might be considered the southern boundary of the neighborhood sometimes called the South Village, though some cite Canal Street as the furthest extent of the South Village). The newer district of SoHo has since encroached on the Village's historic border.

Grid plan[link]

The intersection of West 4th and West 12th Streets

As Greenwich Village was once a rural hamlet, to the north of the earliest European settlement on Manhattan Island, its street layout is more haphazard than the grid pattern of the 19th-century grid plan (based on the Commissioners' Plan of 1811). Greenwich Village was allowed to keep its street pattern in areas west of Greenwich Lane (now Greenwich Avenue) and Sixth Avenue, which were already built up when the plan was implemented, resulting in a neighborhood whose streets are dramatically different, in layout, from the ordered structure of newer parts of town. Many of the neighborhood's streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. In addition, unlike streets of most of Manhattan above Houston Street, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered. While some of the formerly named streets (including Factory, Herring and Amity Streets) are now numbered, even they do not always conform to the usual grid pattern when they enter the neighborhood. For example, West 4th Street, which runs east-west outside of the Village, turns and runs north, causing it to intersect with West 10th, 11th, 12th, and ending at West 13th Street.

A large section of Greenwich Village, made up of more than 50 northern and western blocks in the area up to 14th Street, is part of a Historic District established by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The District's convoluted borders run no farther south than 4th Street or St. Luke's Place, and no farther east than Washington Square East or University Place.^[7] Redevelopment in that area is severely restricted, and developers must preserve the main facade and aesthetics of the buildings even during renovation.

Most parts of Greenwich Village comprise mid-rise apartments, 19th-century row houses and the occasional one-family walk-up, a sharp contrast to the hi-rise landscape in Mid- and Downtown Manhattan.

History[link]

Map of old Greenwich Village. A section of Bernard Ratzer's map of New York and its suburbs, made circa 1766 for Henry Moore, Royal Governor of New York, when Greenwich was more than two miles from the city.

In the 16th century, Native Americans referred to its farthest northwest corner, by the cove on the Hudson River at present-day Gansevoort Street, as Sapokanikan ("tobacco field"). The land was cleared and turned into pasture by Dutch and freed African settlers in the 1630s, who named their settlement Noortwyck. In the 1630s, Governor Wouter van Twiller farmed tobacco on 200 acres (0.81 km²) here at his "Farm in the Woods".^[8] The English conquered the Dutch settlement of New Netherland in 1664 and Greenwich Village developed as a hamlet separate from the larger (and fast-growing) New York City to the south.

It officially became a village in 1712 and is first referred to as Grin'wich in 1713 Common Council records. Sir Peter Warren began accumulating land in 1731 and built a frame house capacious enough to hold a sitting of the Assembly when smallpox rendered the city dangerous in 1739. His house, which survived until the Civil War era, overlooked the North River from a bluff; its site on the block bounded by Perry and Charles Streets, Bleecker and West 4th Streets,^[9] can still be recognized by its mid-19th century rowhouses inserted into a neighborhood still retaining many houses of the 1830–37 boom.

The oldest house remaining in Greenwich Village is the Isaacs-Hendricks House, at 77 Bedford Street (built 1799, much altered and enlarged 1836, third story 1928).^[10] When the Church of St. Luke in the Fields was founded in 1820 it stood in fields south of the road (now Christopher Street) that led from Greenwich Lane (now Greenwich Avenue) down to a landing on the North River. In 1822, a yellow fever epidemic in New York encouraged residents to flee to the healthier air of Greenwich Village, and afterwards many stayed. The future site of Washington Square was a potter's field from 1797 to 1823 when 10 to 20,000 of New York's poor were buried here, and still remain. The handsome Greek revival rowhouses on the north side of Washington Square were built about 1832, establishing the fashion of Washington Square and lower Fifth Avenue for decades to come. Well into the 19th century, the district of Washington Square was considered separate from Greenwich Village.

Greenwich Village is generally known as an important landmark on the map of American bohemian culture. The neighborhood is known for its colorful, artistic residents and the alternative culture they propagate. Due in part to the progressive attitudes of many of its residents, the Village has traditionally been a focal point of new movements and ideas, whether political, artistic, or cultural. This tradition as an enclave of avant-garde and alternative culture was established during the 19th century and into the 20th century, when small presses, art galleries, and experimental theater thrived.

The Tenth Street Studio Building was situated at 51 West 10th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, the building was commissioned by James Boorman Johnston^[11] and designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Its innovative design soon represented a national architectural prototype,^[12] and featured a domed central gallery, from which interconnected rooms radiated. Hunt's studio within the building housed the first architectural school in the United States.^[13] Soon after its completion in 1857, the building helped to make Greenwich Village central to the arts in New York City, drawing artists from all over the country to work, exhibit, and sell their art. In its initial years Winslow Homer took a studio there,^[14] as did Edward Lamson Henry, and many of the artists of the Hudson River School, including Frederic Church and Albert Bierstadt.^[15]

The Hotel Albert from the late 19th century through the 21st century has served as a cultural icon of Greenwich Village. Opened during the 1880s and originally located at 11th Street and University Place, called the Hotel St. Stephan and then after 1902, called The Hotel Albert while under the ownership of William Ryder it served as a meeting place, restaurant and dwelling for several important artists and writers from the late 19th century well into the 20th century. After 1902 the owner of the Hotel Albert's brother Albert Pinkham Ryder lived and painted there. Some of the other famous guests who lived there include: Augustus St. Gaudens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Hart Crane, Walt Whitman, Anaïs Nin, Thomas Wolfe, Robert Lowell, Horton Foote, Salvador Dalí, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and many others.^[16][17] During the golden age of bohemianism, Greenwich Village became famous for such eccentrics as Joe Gould (profiled at length by Joseph Mitchell) and Maxwell Bodenheim, dancer Isadora Duncan, writer William Faulkner, and playwright Eugene O'Neill. Political rebellion also made its home here, whether serious (John Reed) or frivolous (Marcel Duchamp and friends set off balloons from atop Washington Square arch, proclaiming the founding of "The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village").^[18]

Cherry Lane Theatre is also located in Greenwich Village

In 1924, the Cherry Lane Theatre was established. Located at 38 Commerce Street it is New York City's oldest continuously running Off-Broadway theater. A landmark in Greenwich Village’s cultural landscape, it was built as a farm silo in 1817, and also served as a tobacco warehouse and box factory before Edna St. Vincent Millay and other members of the Provincetown Players converted the structure into a theatre they christened the Cherry Lane Playhouse, which opened on March 24, 1924, with the play The Man Who Ate the Popomack. During the 1940s The Living Theatre, Theatre of the Absurd, and the Downtown Theater movement all took root there, and it developed a reputation as a place where aspiring playwrights and emerging voices could showcase their work.

In one of the many Manhattan properties Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and her husband owned, Gertrude Whitney established the Whitney Studio Club at 8 West 8th Street as a facility where young artists could exhibit their works in 1914. By the 1930s the place would evolve to become her greatest legacy, the Whitney Museum of American Art, on the site of today's New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. The Whitney was founded in 1931, as an answer to the then newly founded (1928) Museum of Modern Art's collection of mostly European modernism and its neglect of American Art. Gertrude Whitney decided to put the time and money into the museum after the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art turned down her offer to contribute her twenty-five-year collection of modern art works.^[19] In 1936, the renowned Abstract Expressionist artist and teacher Hans Hofmann moved his art school from E. 57th Street to 52 West 9th Street. In 1938, Hofmann moved again to a more permanent home at 52 West 8th Street. The school remained active until 1958 when Hofmann retired from teaching.^[20]

The Village hosted the first racially integrated night club in the United States,^[21] when the nightclub Café Society was opened in 1938 at 1 Sheridan Square^[22] by Barney Josephson. Café Society showcased African American talent and was intended to be an American version of the political cabarets Josephson had seen in Europe before World War II. Notable performers there included among others: Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Anita O'Day, Charlie Parker, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Paul Robeson, Kay Starr, Art Tatum, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Josh White, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, and The Weavers, who also in Christmas 1949, played at the Village Vanguard.

Bedford Street

The Village again became important to the bohemian scene during the 1950s, when the Beat Generation focused their energies there. Fleeing from what they saw as oppressive social conformity, a loose collection of writers, poets, artists, and students (later known as the Beats) and the Beatniks, moved to Greenwich Village, and to North Beach in San Francisco, in many ways creating the east coast-west coast predecessor to the Haight-Ashbury-East Village hippie scene of the next decade. The Village (and surrounding New York City) would later play central roles in the writings of, among others, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, James Baldwin, Truman Capote, Marianne Moore, Maya Angelou, Rod McKuen, and Dylan Thomas, who collapsed at the Chelsea Hotel and died at St. Vincents Hospital at 170 West 12th Street, in the Village after drinking at the White Horse Tavern on November 5, 1953.

Off-Off-Broadway began in Greenwich Village in 1958 as a reaction to Off Broadway, and a "complete rejection of commercial theatre".^[23] Among the first venues for what would soon be called "Off-Off-Broadway" (a term supposedly coined by critic Jerry Tallmer of the Village Voice) were coffeehouses in Greenwich Village, in particular, the Caffe Cino at 31 Cornelia Street, operated by the eccentric Joe Cino, who early on took a liking to actors and playwrights and agreed to let them stage plays there without bothering to read the plays first, or to even find out much about the content. Also integral to the rise of Off-Off-Broadway were Ellen Stewart at La MaMa, originally located at 321 E. 9th Street and Al Carmines at the Judson Poets' Theater, located at Judson Memorial Church on the south side of Washington Square Park.

The Village had a cutting-edge cabaret and music scene. The Village Gate, the Village Vanguard and The Blue Note (since 1981), hosted some of the biggest names in jazz on a regular basis. Greenwich Village also played a major role in the development of the folk music scene of the 1960s. Music clubs included Gerde's Folk City, The Bitter End, Cafe Au Go Go, Cafe Wha?, The Gaslight Cafe and the Bottom Line. Three of the four members of The Mamas & the Papas met there. Guitarist and folk singer Dave Van Ronk lived there for many years. Village resident and cultural icon Bob Dylan by the mid-60s became one of the foremost popular songwriters in the world, and often developments in Greenwich Village would influence the simultaneously occurring folk rock movement in San Francisco and elsewhere, and vice versa. Dozens of other cultural and popular icons got their start in the Village's nightclub, theater, and coffeehouse scene during the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, notably besides Bob Dylan, there were Jimi Hendrix, Barbra Streisand, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Bette Midler, The Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, Liza Minnelli, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Eric Andersen, Joan Baez, The Velvet Underground, The Kingston Trio, Carly Simon, Richie Havens, Maria Muldaur, Tom Paxton, Janis Ian, Phil Ochs, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, and Nina Simone among others. The Greenwich Village of the 1950s and 1960s was at the center of Jane Jacobs's book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which defended it and similar communities, while critiquing common urban renewal policies of the time.

Founded by New York based artist Mercedes Matter and her students the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture is an art school formed in the mid 1960s. The school officially opened September 23, 1964, it is still currently active and it is housed at 8 W. 8th Street, the site of the original Whitney Museum of American Art.^[24]

Greenwich Village was also home to one of the many safe houses used by the radical anti-war movement known as the Weather Underground. On March 6, 1970, however, their safehouse was destroyed when an explosive they were constructing was accidentally detonated, killing three Weathermen (Ted Gold, Terry Robbins, and Diana Oughton).

In recent days, the Village has maintained its role as a center for movements that have challenged the wider American culture, for example, its role in the gay liberation movement. It contains Christopher Street and the Stonewall Inn, important landmarks, as well as the world's oldest gay and lesbian bookstore, Oscar Wilde Bookshop, founded in 1967. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center – best known as simply "The Center" – has occupied the former Food & Maritime Trades High School at 208 West 13th Street since 1984. In 2006, the Village was the scene of an assault involving seven lesbians and a straight man that sparked appreciable media attention, with strong statements both defending and attacking the parties.

Since the 1960s[link]

Jefferson Market Library, once a courthouse, now serves as a branch of the New York Public Library.

At the current time, artists and local historians mourn the fact that the bohemian days of Greenwich Village are long gone, because of the extraordinarily high housing costs in the neighborhood.^[25][26][27] The artists fled first to SoHo then to TriBeCa and finally Williamsburg^[26] and Bushwick^{[citation needed]} in Brooklyn, Long Island City,^[26] and DUMBO.^{[citation needed]} Nevertheless, residents of Greenwich Village still possess a strong community identity and are proud of their neighborhood's unique history and fame, and its well-known liberal live-and-let-live attitudes.^[27]

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village is still home to celebrities, including many actresses/actors Emma Stone, Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, Leontyne Price, Amy Sedaris, and Barbara Pierce Bush, the daughter of former U.S. President George W. Bush; Thurman and Bush both live on West Ninth Street.^[28] American designer Marc Jacobs^[29] and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper^[30] live in the neighborhood. Alt-country/folk musician Steve Earle moved to the neighborhood in 2005,^[31] and his album Washington Square Serenade is primarily about his experiences in the Village. The Village serves as home to Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine and Calvin Trillin, a feature writer for The New Yorker magazine.

Greenwich Village includes several college or post-baccaulaurate institutions. Since the 1830s New York University (NYU) has had a campus there. In 1973 NYU moved its main campus from University Heights in the West Bronx to Greenwich Village. In 1976 Yeshiva University's established Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in the northern part of Greenwich Village. In the 1980s Hebrew Union College built in Greenwich Village. The New School, with its Parsons The New School for Design, a division of The New School, and the School's Graduate School expanded in the 2000s, with the newly renovated, award winning design of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at 66 Fifth Avenue on 13th Street. The Cooper Union is also located in Greenwich Village, at Astor Place, near St. Mark's Place on the border of the East Village. Pratt Institute established its latest Manhattan campus in an adaptively reused Brunner & Tryon designed loft building on 14th Street, just east of Seventh Avenue. The university campus building expansion was followed by a gentrification process in the 1980s.

The historic Washington Square Park is the center and heart of the neighborhood, but the Village has several other, smaller parks: Father Fagan, Minetta Triangle, Petrosino Square, Little Red Square, and Time Landscape. There are also city playgrounds, including Desalvio, Minetta, Thompson Street, Bleecker Street, Downing Street, Mercer Street, Cpl. John A. Seravelli, and William Passannante Ballfield. Perhaps the most famous, though, is "The Cage", officially known as the West Fourth Street Courts. Sitting on top of the West Fourth Street – Washington Square subway station (A B C D E F M trains) at Sixth Avenue, the courts are easily accessible to basketball and American handball players from all over New York. The Cage has become one of the most important tournament sites for the city-wide "Streetball" amateur basketball tournament. Since 1975 New York University's art collection has been housed at the Grey Art Gallery bordering Washington Square Park at 100 Washington Square East. The Grey Art Gallery is notable for its museum quality exhibitions of contemporary art.

The Village also has a bustling performing arts scene. It is still home to many Off Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theaters; for instance, Blue Man Group has taken up residence in the Astor Place Theater. The Village Gate (until 1992), the Village Vanguard and The Blue Note are still presenting some of the biggest names in jazz on a regular basis. Other music clubs include The Bitter End, and Lion's Den. The village also has its own orchestra aptly named the Greenwich Village Orchestra. Comedy clubs dot the Village as well, including The Boston and Comedy Cellar, where many American stand-up comedians got their start.

Each year on October 31, it is home to New York's Village Halloween Parade, the largest Halloween event in the country, drawing an audience of two million from throughout the region.

Several publications have offices in the Village, most notably the citywide newsweekly The Village Voice, and the monthly magazines Fortune and American Heritage. The National Audubon Society, having relocated its national headquarters from a mansion in Carnegie Hill to a restored and very green, former industrial building in NoHo, relocated to smaller but even greener LEED certified digs at 225 Varick Street,^[32] a short ways down Houston Street from the Film Forum.

Preservation[link]

Historically, local residents and preservation groups, including the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), have been concerned about development in the Village and have fought to preserve the architectural and historic integrity of the neighborhood. In the 1960s, Margot Gayle led a group of citizens to preserve the Jefferson Market Courthouse (later reused as Jefferson Market Library)^[33] while other citizen groups fought to keep traffic out of Washington Square Park^[34] and Jane Jacobs, using the Village as an example of a vibrant urban community, advocated to keep it that way.

Since then, preservation has been a part of the Village ethos. Preservation success stories abound in the neighborhood, which was landmarked in 1969 by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Victories for preservationists, often spearheaded by GVSHP, include the preservation of the Greenwich Village waterfront and Meatpacking District; the inclusion of the Far West Village in the Greenwich Village Historic District;^[35] the creation of the Weehawken Street Historic District;^[36] and the downzoning of the Far West Village.^[37] Additionally, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission began the process of landmarking the South Village in June 2009.^[38]

More recent and on-going preservation issues in the Village include: New York University's (NYU) expansion into the neighborhood;^[39][40] St. Vincent’s Hospital’s rebuilding plans;^[41] overdevelopment in the Far West Village;^[35] and threats to local theaters,^[42] including the Provincetown Playhouse,^[43] the Yiddish Art Theater,^[44] and the Variety Theater.

In media[link]

90 Bedford Street

• Village Barn (1948–50), the first country music show on network television (NBC) originated from a nightclub of the same name in the basement of 52 West 8th Street.
• In Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954) James Stewart's character lives in a Greenwich Village apartment.
• The ABC sitcom Barney Miller (1975–82) was set at the fictional 12th precinct NYPD station in Greenwich Village.
• The cover photo for The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan of Dylan and his then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo was taken on Jones Street near West 4th Street in Greenwich Village, near their apartment.^[45]
• The NBC Sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–92) made several references to the Village during its run, and the townhouse used for exterior shots is on St. Luke's Place.
• The NBC sitcom Friends (1994–2004) is set in the Village. Central Perk was apparently on Mercer or Houston Street, down the block from the Angelika Film Center;^[46] and Phoebe lived at 5 Morton Street.^[47] The building in the exterior shot of Chandler, Joey, Rachel, and Monica's apartment building is at the corner of Grove and Bedford Streets in the West Village.^[48] One of the show' working titles was Once Upon a Time in the West Village.
• In Wait Until Dark (1967), Susy Hendrix (Audrey Hepburn) lives at 4 St. Luke's Place.^{[citation needed]}
• O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf is set in Greenwich Village.
• Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976) chronicles the story of a young Jewish boy in 1953 who moves to the Village, looking to break into acting.
• In the Marvel Comics universe, Master of the Mystic Arts and Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, lives in a brownstone mansion in Greenwich Village. Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum is located at 177A Bleecker Street.
• In Wonderful Town (1953), the Sherwood sisters leave 1935 Columbus, Ohio, for Greenwich Village to pursue their dreams of becoming a writer (Ruth) and an actress (Eileen). Their apartment said to be on Christopher Street, though the actual apartment of author Ruth McKenney and her sister Eileen McKenney was on Gay Street.
• On Sex and the City (1998–2004), exterior shots of Carrie Bradshaw's apartment building are of 66 Perry Street, even though her address is given as on the Upper East Side.
• The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984) centers on a maître d' (Mickey Rourke) in the Italian section of the Village.
• The Real World: Back to New York, the 2001 season of the MTV reality television series The Real World, was filmed in the Village.^[49]
• The Greenwich Village KFC/Taco Bell infested with rats appeared on many TV networks worldwide.^[50]
• Greenwich Village is a playable multiplayer map in the Freedom Fighters (2003) video game.
• Greenwich Village is the setting for Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place.
• The anti-hero of the book Mother Night by author Kurt Vonnegut, and the film of the same name, Howard W. Campbell Jr. resides in Greenwich Village after WWII and prior to his arrest by the Israelis.
• Greenwich Village is the setting for the restaurant 22 Bleecker in the Catherine Zeta-Jones, Aaron Eckhart and Abigail Breslin movie No Reservations.
• Chinese Coffee (2000), an independent film by Al Pacino, which features Pacino and Jerry Orbach, is set in Greenwich Village in 1982.

Education[link]

Greenwich Village residents are zoned to two elementary schools: PS3 Melser Charrette School and PS41 Greenwich Village School. Residents are zoned to Baruch Middle School 104. Residents apply to various New York City high schools.

Greenwich Village is home to New York University, which owns large sections of the area and most of the buildings around Washington Square Park. To the north is the campus of The New School, which is housed in several buildings that are considered historical landmarks because of their innovative architecture.^[51] New School's Sheila Johnson Design Center also doubles as a public art gallery.^[52] Cooper Union, one of the most selective engineering, art, and architecture schools in the world, is located in the East Village.

Notable residents[link]

Greenwich Village has long been a popular neighborhood for numerous artists and other notable people.

See also[link]

New York City portal

• Cedar Tavern
• Gay Street, Manhattan
• Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
• The Church of the Ascension
• Village Care of New York
• Village People
• West Village

Notes and references[link]

1. ^  /ˈɡrɛnɨtʃ/ GREN-ich, /ˈɡrɛnɨdʒ/ GREN-ij, /ˈɡrɪnɨtʃ/ GRIN-ich, /ˈɡrɪnɨdʒ/ GRIN-ij.[1]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Greenwich Village

• Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
• Village Voice
• Online guide for "The Village"
• Official Tourist map (controversially showing Greenwich Village to include the East Village
• Greenwich Village Historic District – map from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
• Greenwich Village, by Anna Alice Chapin, 1919, from Project Gutenberg
• Greenwich Village travel guide from Wikitravel
• Greenwich Village Trip Advisor
• Greenwich Village Live controlable webcam
• Lower East Side Preservation Initiative

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Royal Greenwich
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
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OS grid reference	TQ395775
London borough	Greenwich
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	SE10
Dialling code	020
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List of places: UK • England • London

Greenwich (UK ⁱ/ɡrɪnɪdʒ/ GRIN-ij;^[1][2][3] US /ɡrɛnɪtʃ/ GREN-ich or /ɡrɛnɪdʒ/ GREN-ij)^[4][5][6] is a district of south London, England, located in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and situated 5.5 miles (8.9 km) east south-east of Charing Cross.

Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian (0° longitude) and Greenwich Mean Time. The town became the site of a royal palace, the Palace of Placentia from the 15th century, and was the birthplace of many in the House of Tudor, including Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. The palace fell into disrepair during the English Civil War and was rebuilt as the Royal Naval Hospital for Sailors by Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. These buildings became the Royal Naval College in 1873, and they remained an establishment for military education until 1998 when they passed into the hands of the Greenwich Foundation. The historic rooms within these buildings remain open to the public; other buildings are used by University of Greenwich and the Trinity College of Music.

The town became a popular resort in the 17th century and many grand houses were built there, such as Vanbrugh Castle (1717) established on Maze Hill, next to the park. From the Georgian period estates of houses were constructed above the town centre. The maritime connections of Greenwich were celebrated in the 20th century, with the siting of the Cutty Sark and Gipsy Moth IV next to the river front, and the National Maritime Museum in the former buildings of the Royal Hospital School in 1934. Greenwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created.

History[link]

Toponymy[link]

So named by Danish settlers, Greenwich (Anglo-Saxon equivalent Grenewic) means the green place on the bay (vig, wich) or near the mouth of a river. (Similarly, Schleswig, Sandwich)^[7] The settlement later became known as East Greenwich to distinguish it from West Greenwich or Deptford Strond, the part of Deptford adjacent to the Thames,^[8] but the use of East Greenwich to mean the whole of the town of Greenwich died out in the 19th century. However, Greenwich was divided into the two Poor Law Unions of Greenwich East and Greenwich West from the beginning of civil registration in 1837, the boundary running down what is now Greenwich Church Street and Crooms Hill, although more modern references to "East" and "West" Greenwich probably refer to the areas east and west of the Royal Naval College and National Maritime Museum corresponding with the West Greenwich council ward. An article in The Times of 13 October 1967 stated:

East Greenwich, gateway to the Blackwall Tunnel, remains solidly working class, the manpower for one eighth of London's heavy industry. West Greenwich is a hybrid: the spirit of Nelson, the Cutty Sark, the Maritime Museum, an industrial waterfront and a number of elegant houses, ripe for development.^[9]

Early settlement[link]

Tumuli to the south-west of Flamsteed House,^[10] in Greenwich Park, are thought to be early Bronze Age barrows re-used by the Saxons in the 6th century as burial grounds. To the east between the Vanbrugh and Maze Hill Gates is the site of a Roman villa or temple. A small area of red paving tesserae protected by railings marks the spot. It was excavated in 1902 and 300 coins were found dating from the emperors Claudius and Honorius to the 4th century. This was excavated by the Channel 4 programme Time Team in 2000,^[11] and further investigations were made by the same group in 2003.^[12]

The Roman road from London to Dover, Watling Street crossed the high ground to the south of Greenwich, through Blackheath. This followed the line of an earlier Celtic route from Canterbury to St Albans.^[13] As late as Henry V, Greenwich was only a fishing town, with a safe anchorage in the river.^[8]

Alphege and the Danes[link]

During the reign of Ethelred the Unready, the Danish fleet anchored in the River Thames off Greenwich for over three years, with the army being encamped on the hill above. From here they attacked Kent and, in the year 1012, took the city of Canterbury, making Archbishop Alphege their prisoner for seven months in their camp at Greenwich. They stoned him to death for his refusal to allow his ransom (3,000 pieces of silver) to be paid; and kept his body, until the blossoming of a stick that had been immersed in his blood. For this miracle his body was released to his followers, he achieved sainthood for his martyrdom and, in the 12th century, the parish church was dedicated to him. The present church on the site west of the town centre is St Alfege's Church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1714 and completed in 1718. Some vestiges of the Danish camps may be traced in the names of Eastcombe and Westcombe, on the borders of nearby Blackheath.^[14]

Royal Greenwich[link]

The Domesday Book records the manor of Greenwich as held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux; his lands were seized by the crown in 1082. A royal palace, or hunting lodge, has existed here since before 1300, when Edward I is known to have made offerings at the chapel of the Virgin Mary.^[14]

Plantagenets[link]

Subsequent monarchs were regular visitors, with Henry IV making his will here, and Henry V granting the manor (for life) to Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, who died at Greenwich in 1417. The palace was created by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, Henry V's half-brother and the regent to Henry VI in 1447; enclosing the park and erecting a tower on the spot of the Royal Observatory. It was renamed the Palace of Placentia or Pleasaunce by Henry VI's consort Margaret of Anjou after Humphrey's death. The palace was completed and further enlarged by Edward IV, and in 1466 it was granted to his queen, Elizabeth.^[14]

Tudors[link]

The palace was the principal residence of Henry VII whose sons Henry (later Henry VIII) and Edmund Tudor were born here, and baptised in St Alphege's. Henry favoured Greenwich over nearby Eltham Palace, the former principal royal palace. He extended Greenwich Palace and it became his principal London seat until Whitehall Palace was built in the 1530s. Henry VIII married Catherine of Aragon and Anne of Cleves at Greenwich, and both Mary (February 18, 1516) and Elizabeth (September 7, 1533) were born at Greenwich. His son Edward VI also died there at age 15.

The palace of Placentia, in turn, became Elizabeth's favourite summer residence.^[14]. Both she and her sister Mary I used the palace extensively, and Elizabeth's Council planned the Spanish Armada campaign there in 1588.

Stuarts[link]

James I carried out the final remodelling work on Greenwich Palace, granting the manor to his wife Queen Anne of Denmark. In 1616 Anne commissioned Inigo Jones to design and build the surviving Queen's House as the final addition to the palace.

Charles I granted the manor to his wife Queen Henrietta Maria, for whom Inigo Jones completed the Queen's House. During the English Civil War, the palace was used as a biscuit factory and prisoner-of-war camp. Then, in the Interregnum, the palace and park were seized to become a 'mansion' for the Lord Protector.

By the time of the Restoration, the Palace of Placentia had fallen into disuse and was pulled down. New buildings began to be established as a grand palace for Charles II, but only the King Charles block was completed. Charles II also redesigned and replanted Greenwich Park and founded and built the Royal Observatory.

James II, as Duke of York and Lord Admiral until 1673, was often at Greenwich with his brother Charles and, according to Samuel Pepys, he proposed the idea of creating a Royal Naval Hospital. This was eventually established at Greenwich by his daughter Mary II, who in 1692-1693 commissioned Christopher Wren to design the Royal Hospital for Seamen (now the Old Royal Naval College). The work was begun under her widower William III in 1696 and completed by Hawksmoor. Queen Anne and Prince George of Denmark continued to patronise the project.

Hanoverians[link]

George I landed at Greenwich from Hanover on his accession in 1714. His successor George II granted the Royal Hospital for Seamen the forfeited estates of the Jacobite Earl of Derwentwater, which allowed the building to be completed by 1751.

In 1805, George III granted the Queen's House to the Royal Naval Asylum (an orphanage school), which amalgamated in 1821-1825 with the Greenwich Hospital School. Extended with the buildings that now house the National Maritime Museum, it was renamed the Royal Hospital School by Queen Victoria in 1892.

George IV donated nearly 40 paintings to the hospital in 1824, at a stroke creating a gallery in the Painted Hall. These now form the Greenwich Hospital Collection at the National Maritime Museum. Subsequently William IV and Queen Adelaide were both regular donors and visitors to the gallery.

Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/Windsor[link]

Queen Victoria rarely visited Greenwich but in 1845 her husband Prince Albert personally bought Nelson's Trafalgar coat for the Naval Gallery.

George V and Queen Mary] both supported the creation of the National Maritime Museum, and Mary presented the museum with many items.

George VI, when Duke of York, laid the foundation stone of the new Royal Hospital School when it moved out to Holbrook, Suffolk. In 1937 his first public act as king (three weeks before coronation) was to open the National Maritime Museum in the buildings vacated by the school. George was accompanied by Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth] and Princess Elizabeth.

As Princess Elizabeth, HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (who was created Baron Greenwich on their marriage in 1947) made their first joint visit to Greenwich in 1948 for the Duke to receive the Freedom of the Borough. In the same year, he became trustee of the National Maritime Museum. The Duke was an active trustee for 52 years until 2000, when he became its first patron. The Duke of Edinburgh has also been a patron of the Cutty Sark (which was opened by HM the Queen in 1957) since 1952.

During the Silver Jubilee of 1977, HM the Queen embarked at Greenwich for the Jubilee River Pageant. In 1987 the Queen was aboard the P&O ship Pacific Princess when it moored alongside the Old Royal Naval College for the company's 150th anniversary celebrations.

To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, it was announced on 5 January 2010 that on 3 February 2012 the London Borough of Greenwich would become the fourth to have Royal Borough status, the others being the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.^[15] The status was granted in recognition of the borough's historic links with the Royal Family, the location of the Prime Meridian and its being a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[16]

Governance[link]

Greenwich is covered by the Greenwich West and Peninsula wards of the London Borough of Greenwich, which was formed in 1965 by merging the former Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich with that part of the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich which lay south of The Thames. Along with Blackheath Westcombe, Charlton, Glyndon, Woolwich Riverside, and Woolwich Common, it elects a Member of Parliament (MP) for Greenwich and Woolwich; currently the MP is Nick Raynsford.^[17]

Geography[link]

Topography[link]

The town of Greenwich is built on a broad platform to the south of the outside of a broad meander in the River Thames, with a safe deep water anchorage lying in the river. To the south, the land rises steeply, 100 feet (30 m) through Greenwich Park to the town of Blackheath. The higher areas consist of a sedimentary layer of gravelly soils, known as the Blackheath Beds, that spread through much of the south-east over a chalk outcrop—with sands, loam and seams of clay at the lower levels by the river.

Greenwich is bordered by Deptford Creek and Deptford to the west; the former industrial centre of the Greenwich Peninsula and the residential area of Westcombe Park to the east; the River Thames to the north; and the A2 and Blackheath to the south.

The view from Greenwich Park, with the Queen's House and the wings of the National Maritime Museum in the foreground

Climate[link]

This data was collected between 1971 and 2000 at the weather station situated in Greenwich:

Sites of interest[link]

Riverfront[link]

The Cutty Sark (a clipper ship) has been preserved in a dry dock by the river. A major fire in May 2007 destroyed a part of the ship, although much had already been removed for restoration. Nearby for many years was also displayed Gipsy Moth IV, the 54 feet (16.5 m) yacht sailed by Sir Francis Chichester in his single-handed, 226-day circumnavigation of the globe during 1966–67. In 2004, Gipsy Moth IV was removed from Greenwich, and after restoration work completed a second circumnavigation in May 2007. On the riverside in front of the north-west corner of the Hospital is an obelisk erected in memory of Arctic explorer Joseph René Bellot.

Boats at Greenwich at the end of the Great River Race

Near the Cutty Sark site, a circular building contains the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel, opened on 4 August 1902. This connects Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs on the northern side of the River Thames. The north exit of the tunnel is at Island Gardens,^[23] from where the famous view of Greenwich Hospital painted by Canaletto can be seen.

Rowing has been part of life on the river at Greenwich for hundreds of years and the first Greenwich Regatta was held in 1785. The annual Great River Race along the Thames Tideway finishes at the Cutty Sark. The nearby Trafalgar Rowing Centre in Crane Street is home to Curlew Rowing Club and Globe Rowing Club.

The Old Royal Naval College is Sir Christopher Wren's domed masterpiece at the centre of the heritage site. The site is administered by the Greenwich Foundation and several of the buildings are let to the University of Greenwich and one, the King Charles block, to Trinity College of Music. Within the complex is the former college dining room, the Painted Hall, this was painted by James Thornhill, and the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, with an interior designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart. The Naval College had a training reactor, the JASON reactor, within the King William building that was operational between 1962 and 1996. The reactor was decommissioned and removed in 1999.^[24]

To the east of the Naval College is the Trinity Hospital almshouse, founded in 1613, the oldest surviving building in the town centre.^[25] This is next to the massive brick walls and the landing stage of Greenwich Power Station. Built between 1902 and 1910 as a coal-fired station to supply power to London's tram system, and later the London underground, it is now oil- and gas-powered and serves as a backup station for London Underground.^[26] East Greenwich also has a small park, East Greenwich Pleasaunce, which was formerly the burial ground of Greenwich Hospital.

The O₂ (formerly the Millennium Dome) was built on part of the site of East Greenwich Gas Works, a disused British Gas site on the Greenwich Peninsula.^[27] It is next to North Greenwich tube station, about 3 miles (4.8 km) east from the Greenwich town centre, North West of Charlton. The Greenwich Millennium Village is a new urban regeneration development to the south of the Dome. Enderby's Wharf is a site associated with submarine cable manufacture for over 150 years.

Greenwich Park[link]

Behind the former Naval College is the National Maritime Museum housed in buildings forming another symmetrical group and grand arcade around the Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones. Continuing to the south, Greenwich Park is a Royal Park of 183 acres (0.7 km²), laid out in the 17th century and formed from the hunting grounds of the Royal Palace of Placentia.^[28]

Spiral staircase and lantern at the Queen's House in Greenwich

The park rises towards Blackheath and at the top of this hill is a statue of James Wolfe, commander of the British expedition to capture Quebec,^[29] nearby a major group of buildings within the park is the former Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Prime Meridian passes through the building. Greenwich Mean Time was at one time based on the time observations made at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, before being superseded by Coordinated Universal Time. While there is no longer a working astronomical observatory at Greenwich, a ball still drops daily to mark the exact moment of 1 p.m., and there is a museum of astronomical and navigational tools, particularly John Harrison's marine chronometers.^[30]

The Ranger's House lies at the Blackheath end of the park and houses the Wernher Collection of art,^[31] and many fine houses, including Vanbrugh's house lie on Maze Hill, on the western edge of the park.

Town centre[link]

Georgian and Victorian architecture dominates in the town centre which spreads to the west of the park and Royal Naval College. Much of this forms a one-way system around a covered market, Greenwich Market and the arthouse Greenwich Cinema. Up the hill from the centre, there are many streets of Georgian houses, including the Fan Museum, on Croom's Hill. Nearby at the junction of Croom's Hill with Nevada Street, is Greenwich Theatre, formerly Crowder's Music Hall – one of two Greenwich theatres, the other being the Greenwich Playhouse.

The market[link]

There has been a market at Greenwich since the 14th century, but the history of the present market dates from 1700 when a charter to run two markets, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, was assigned by Lord Romney (Henry, Earl of Romney^[14]) to the Commissioners of Greenwich Hospital for 1000 years.^[32]

Greenwich Market

The market is part of "the Island site", bounded by College Approach, Greenwich Church Street, King William Walk and Nelson Road, near the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory. The buildings surrounding the market are Grade 2 listed and were established in 1827–1833 under the direction of Joseph Kay.^{[citation needed]} The market roof dates from 1902–08. Later significant development occurred in 1958–60 and during the 1980s.

Greenwich Market trades five days a week, being closed on Monday and Tuesday, but adjacent shops and restaurants remain open seven days a week. Wednesday is a food and homewares market day; antiques and collectibles are the speciality on Thursdays and Fridays. The landowner, Greenwich Hospital, is planning to redevelop and "regenerate" the facility in 2013.^[33]

Greenwich Mean Time[link]

Royal Observatory with the time ball atop the Octagon Room

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. It is commonly used in practice to refer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when this is viewed as a time zone, especially by bodies connected with the United Kingdom, such as the BBC World Service,^[34] the Royal Navy, the Met Office and others, although strictly UTC is an atomic time scale which only approximates GMT with a tolerance of 0.9 second. It is also used to refer to Universal Time (UT), which is a standard astronomical concept used in many technical fields and is referred to by the phrase Zulu time.

As the United Kingdom grew into an advanced maritime nation, British mariners kept at least one chronometer on GMT in order to calculate their longitude from the Greenwich meridian, which was by convention considered to have longitude zero degrees (this convention was internationally adopted in the International Meridian Conference of 1884). Note that the synchronization of the chronometer on GMT did not affect shipboard time itself, which was still solar time. But this practice, combined with mariners from other nations drawing from Nevil Maskelyne's method of lunar distances based on observations at Greenwich, eventually led to GMT being used worldwide as a reference time independent of location. Most time zones were based upon this reference as a number of hours and half-hours "ahead of GMT" or "behind GMT".

World heritage site[link]

Maritime Greenwich *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	United Kingdom
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, ii, iv, vi
Reference	795
Region **	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1997 (21st Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

In 1997, Maritime Greenwich was added to the list of World Heritage Sites, for the concentration and quality of buildings of historic and architectural interest. These can be divided into the group of buildings along the riverfront, Greenwich Park and the Georgian and Victorian town centre. In recognition of the suburb's astronomical links, Asteroid 2830 has been named 'Greenwich'.^[35]

Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre[link]

The Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre provides an introduction to the history and attractions in the Greenwich World Heritage Site. It is located in the Pepys Buildings near to the Cutty Sark within the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, (formerly Greenwich Hospital). The centre opened in March, 2010, and admission is free.^[36]

The Centre explains the history of Greenwich as a royal residence and a maritime centre. Exhibits include:

• The history of the Palace of Placentia.
• Models of Christopher Wren's original designs for Greenwich Hospital.
• Six of the carved heads originally intended to decorate the exterior of the College's Painted Hall.
• Exhibition displays about Maritime Greenwich and its connections with the sea and exploration.
• "By Wisdom as much as War" – an exhibition about the history of the Royal Naval College during the years it occupied Greenwich Hospital (1873–1998).

Greenwich Heritage Centre[link]

Greenwich Heritage Centre is a museum and local history resource run by the London Borough of Greenwich,^[37] and is based in Artillery Square, in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, south-east London.^[38] It was established in October 2003, combining materials from the Greenwich Borough Museum and the local history library (previously at Woodlands House in Westcombe Park).^[39]

Education[link]

The University of Greenwich main campus is located in the distinctive buildings of the former Royal Naval College. The university has other campuses at Avery Hill in Eltham and at Medway. Near the Greenwich campus, the Trinity College of Music is housed in the buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital.

Transport[link]

Greenwich station

Two railway lines cross Greenwich:^[40] the Greenwich Line, which runs west to east and follows the route of the London and Greenwich Railway, which was the first railway line in London,^[41][42] and links the South Eastern Main Line with the North Kent Line at Charlton; and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), which runs north to south. Both lines are served by Greenwich station; with the DLR having a separate station at Cutty Sark DLR Station near the river, and the Greenwich Line having Maze Hill railway station to the east, on the boundary with Westcombe Park. DLR trains run from Lewisham to Bank and Stratford via Canary Wharf.^[43] The Greenwich Line carries trains from London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street in central London to Dartford in Kent, with a limited service to Gravesend, Kent and Gillingham, Medway. There are no London Underground stations in Greenwich itself – North Greenwich tube station on the Peninsula is the nearest tube station.

There are a number of river boat services running from Greenwich Pier, managed by London River Services. The main services include the Thames commuter catamaran service run by Thames Clipper from Embankment, via Tower Millennium Pier, Canary Wharf and on to the O₂ and Woolwich Arsenal Pier;^[44] the Wesminster-Greenwich cruise service by Thames River Services; and the City Cruises tourist cruise via Westminster, Waterloo and Tower piers.^[45]

Pedestrian and cycle routes[link]

The Thames Path National Trail runs along the riverside.^[46] The Greenwich foot tunnel provides pedestrian access to the southern end of the Isle of Dogs, across the river Thames.

The National Cycle Network Route 1 includes the foot tunnel, though cycling is not permitted in the tunnel itself.^[47]

See also[link]

• Greenwich Peninsula
• List of people from Greenwich

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Greenwich

• All Things Greenwich – a guide to local shops, services, restaurants, bars & pubs in Greenwich, South East London.
• Greenwich World Heritage Site – official website
• London/Greenwich travel guide from Wikitravel has detailed information for visitors

v t e Royal Borough of Greenwich Districts Abbey Wood Blackheath Charlton Deptford Eltham Greenwich Kidbrooke Mottingham New Eltham Plumstead Shooter's Hill Thamesmead Westcombe Park Woolwich Attractions The O2 arena (formerly the Millennium Dome) The Royal Artillery Museum Cutty Sark National Maritime Museum Eltham Palace Greenwich Hospital Royal Observatory Street markets Greenwich Market Parks and open spaces Bostall Heath and Woods Constituencies Erith and Thamesmead Eltham Greenwich and Woolwich Other topics People Public art Schools

v t e World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom England Bath Blenheim Palace Canterbury Cathedral, St. Augustine's Abbey and St. Martin's Church Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape Derwent Valley Mills Durham Castle and Cathedral Frontiers of the Roman Empire Hadrian's Wall Ironbridge Gorge Jurassic Coast Kew Gardens Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City Maritime Greenwich Saltaire Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey Tower of London Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church Scotland Edinburgh Old Town and New Town Frontiers of the Roman Empire Antonine Wall Heart of Neolithic Orkney New Lanark St. Kilda Wales Blaenavon Industrial Landscape Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd Pontcysyllte Aqueduct Northern Ireland Giant's Causeway British Overseas Territories Gough Island and Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha Henderson Island, Pitcairn Islands Town of St George and Related Fortifications

Stuart Rosenberg (August 11, 1927 – March 15, 2007) was an American film and television director whose notable works included the movies Cool Hand Luke (1967), Voyage of the Damned (1976), The Amityville Horror (1979), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984).^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Rosenberg studied Irish literature at New York University in Manhattan, and began working as an apprentice film editor while in graduate school. After advancing to film editor, he then transitioned into directing in 1957 with the syndicated television series Decoy, starring Beverly Garland as an undercover police woman. It was the first police series on American television built around a female protagonist.

Over the next two years, Rosenberg directed 15 episodes of the 1958–1963 ABC police-detective series Naked City, which like Decoy was shot in New York City. Rosenberg was then hired to direct his first film, Murder, Inc. (1960), starring Peter Falk, but a strike by both the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild resulted in his leaving the film and being replaced by its producer, Burt Balaban. Rosenberg returned to television, directing 15 episodes of The Untouchables, eight of the anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, five of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and three of The Twilight Zone, along with episodes of Adventures in Paradise, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ben Casey, Clint Eastwood's Rawhide, and Falk's The Trials of O'Brien, among other shows. He won a 1963 Emmy Award for directing "The Madman", one of his 19 episodes of the esteemed courtroom drama The Defenders.

Film career[link]

Following the Lutheran-financed U.S.-German co-production Question 7 (1961), filmed in West Berlin, Germany, Rosenberg shot the 1965 TV-movie, Memorandum for a Spy and the 1966 telefilm Fame Is the Name of the Game before making his major-studio debut with the Paul Newman hit Cool Hand Luke (1967). Rosenberg had come across Donn Pearce's chain gang novel and developed the film with actor Jack Lemmon's production company, Jalem. Years later, Rosenberg would replace Bob Rafelson on another prison movie, Brubaker (1980) starring Robert Redford.

Other Rosenberg films include The April Fools (1969), with French actress Catherine Deneuve in her American debut opposite Jack Lemmon (who plays the first Rosenberg lead character named H. Brubaker); the Newman movies WUSA (1970), Pocket Money (1972) and The Drowning Pool (1975); the Walter Matthau police-detective thriller The Laughing Policeman (1973); the Charles Bronson action picture Love and Bullets (1979); and another action movie Let's Get Harry (1986), for which Rosenberg used the Directors Guild of America pseudonym Alan Smithee. He would be famous for straight dramas and crime films, the latter genre he would do constantly. The most acclaimed movie he did after 'Cool Hand Luke' would be The Pope of Greenwich Village with Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, and Darryl Hannah.

He made his last film, the independent drama My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys, in 1991.

Later career[link]

In 1993, Rosenberg became a teacher at the American Film Institute. Among his students were those who would go on to make names for themselves: Todd Field, Darren Aronofsky, Mark Waters, Scott Silver, Doug Ellin and Rob Schmidt.^[2]

Personal life[link]

Rosenberg died of a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills, California. He was survived by his wife, Margot Pohoryles, whom he had met at NYU; son Benjamin Rosenberg, a first assistant director; as well as four grandchildren.^[2]

Awards[link]

• 1961 Berlin International Film Festival OCIC Award, for Question 7^[3]
• 1961 Berlin International Film Festival Youth Film Award, Best Feature Film Suitable for Young People, for Question 7
• 1961 nomination, Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear, for Question 7
• 1963 Emmy Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Drama, for The Defenders: "The Madman"
• 1968 nomination, Directors Guild of America Award: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, for: Cool Hand Luke

References[link]

External links[link]

• Stuart Rosenberg at the Internet Movie Database