Yorkville: A Celebration of Home

What was it like to live in Yorkville when 86th Street was known as German Broadway, when the smell of hops from the Ruppert and Ehret’s breweries filled the air, and when a stop at Paprika Weiss on 82nd Street preceded daily exercise at Sokol Hall? FRIENDS and the Historic Districts Council will celebrate Yorkville’s past while highlighting places that still offer a glimpse into this area’s rich immigrant history. The symposium will feature panels on Yorkville life and architecture, and cuisine from some of the neighborhood’s storied establishments.

Speakers include:

Alexandra Kelly – Manager of Outreach Services and Adult Programming at the New York Public Library, and developer and director of the NYPL’s Community Oral History Project

Edward Kasinec – Born and raised in Slovak and Rusyn Yorkville, a Research Scholar and Staff Associate at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, and a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Thomas Pryor – A native Yorkville resident, storyteller and author of I Hate the Dallas Cowboys – tales of a scrappy New York boyhood

Peter Walsh – Longtime Irish resident of Yorkville, writer, and musician

Irene Mergl – A lifelong Yorkville resident and member of the Sokol Hall, where she serves as 1st Vice President and Historian

Vít Hořejš – Co-founder of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, who showcases traditional Czech marionettes, many of which were discovered in Yorkville’s Jan Hus Presbyterian Church.

Join Franklin Vagnone, Principal of Twisted Preservation: Cultural Consulting and co-author with University of North Carolina Architecture & Urban Design professor Deborah Ryan as they discuss their renegade tactics that have yielded a sold-out book (in its third printing, and chosen as the #1 museum-education related book in 2015 by the Museum Educator Monitor!) and become a manifesto for touring aficionados. A seminal text on historic house museums, Anarchist’s Guide incites museum professionals to break the rules in order to stem eroding visitorship, engage adjacent communities,  & enlist these properties as protagonists for social programs. Their unorthodox methods aim to introduce preservation to new audiences, and save historic houses in the process.

Tuesday, May 10th
6:30 p.m.

Manhattan Church of Christ
48 East 80th Street (near Madison Avenue)

Free and open to the public, RSVP required
To register, click here.

Co-Sponsored by The New York Landmarks Conservancy and Landmark West!

Until the 1940s, a portion of Yorkville’s First Avenue was known as “Little Bohemia.” The heart of the area was home to Bohemian, Moravian, and Slovak immigrants who settled on the Upper East Side in the late 19th century. Join Joe Svehlak, tour guide and Czech-American, to hear about the Czech and Slovak immigrant experience, and see important remnants of this once vibrant community, including St. John Nepomucene Church, Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, Bohemian National Hall, and the gymnastic society’s Sokol Hall.

Sunday, May 15th
10:30 a.m.

Please click here for more information. 

Presented by the Historic Districts Council’s Six to Celebrate program:

One of the earliest immigrant families from Europe, the Rhinelander family immigrated to New York in the late 17th century to escape religious persecution. They prospered in their new country, becoming one of New York City’s most prominent families, and left a rich architectural legacy in Yorkville. Our walking tour will focus on the remarkable residential structures and philanthropic institutions that the Rhinelanders commissioned in the 1880s and 1890s to benefit these new immigrant groups. The tour will begin in the Hardenbergh/Rhinelander Historic District and conclude at the Church of the Holy Trinity, a “verdant treasure [that includes] one of New York’s greatest bell towers” (AIA Guide) and was built in 1897.

Wednesday, May 18th
6:30 p.m.

Meeting location will be provided upon ticket purchase and registration.

Free for members, $10 for non-members
To register, click here.