Westbeth Artists Community

Westbeth
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	55 Bethune Street, New York, New York
Area	.9 acres (0.36 ha)
NRHP reference No.	09001085
Added to NRHP	December 8, 2009

Westbeth Artists Housing, located at 463 West Street in the West Village neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan, is the largest such community in the world. This low- to middle-income rental housing project was developed with the assistance of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and federal funds from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1968 to house artists, their families, and their studios. The facility considers itself full and is not accepting applications from new artists.

History

Westbeth is among the first examples of adaptive reuse of industrial buildings for artistic and residential use in the United States. It is a complex of 13 buildings in Manhattan's West Village, comprising an entire city block, bounded on the north by Bethune Street; on the east by Washington Street; on the south by Bank Street; and on the west by West Street. The complex was originally the site of Bell Laboratories (1868–1966), one of the world's most important industrial research centers and home to many inventions, including the vacuum tube, the condenser microphone, an early version of television,and the transistor. The complex was vacated by Bell in the middle 1960s, and remained empty until the Westbeth project started later in the decade. Using seed money from the J.M. Kaplan Fund and help and encouragement from the National Council for the Arts (which has since become the National Endowment for the Arts), an ambitious renovation project designed to create live-work spaces for 384 artists of all disciplines was initiated under the direction of developer Dixon Bain. The project was the first significant public commission of Richard Meier, who later won the Pritzker Prize for architecture and is still a significant figure in modern architecture. Westbeth opened in 1970 for artists, dancers, musicians, actors, writers and film makers.

Artists of all disciplines are admitted as tenants in Westbeth after review by a committee of tenants in their discipline. They must also meet certain income requirements at the time of admission. (The waiting list for new residential tenants was closed in 2007.)

In addition to its residential component, there are also large and small commercial spaces, performance spaces, and rehearsal and artists' studios. Westbeth is home to a number of major cultural organizations, including The New School for Drama, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Cherry Pit Stage of the Cherry Lane Theatre, the Brecht Forum, and Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the first LGBT synagogue in New York and the largest in the world, with over 800 members.

Westbeth is owned and operated by Westbeth Corp. Housing Development Fund Corp. Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation governed by an unpaid, volunteer board of directors. Westbeth's operation is regulated by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development under the Sec. 221(d)(3) program of the National Housing Act. It is also subject to oversight by the New York City housing department and the Charities Bureau of the New York State attorney general.

In late October 2009, after consultation with the Westbeth Corp., the city Landmarks Preservation Commission calendared the site for consideration as an individual landmark, thus beginning the process by which Westbeth will likely be recognized an individual landmark under the city landmarks laws.

The landmarks commission action came shortly after the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, using funds from the J.M. Kaplan Fund, commissioned historic preservationist Andrew Dolkart to write a report to nominate Westbeth for listing on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The research included interviews with several key figures in the conversion of the former Bell Telephone Labs to the nation's first subsidized housing complex for artists, including architect Richard Meier, choreographer Merce Cunningham, and Joan Davidson.

Following Prof. Dolkart's submission, and citing the "extraordinary significance" required to list sites on the State and National Register of Historic Places which are less than 50 years old, the New York State Historic Preservation Board unanimously approved the nomination of Westbeth to the State Register of Historic Places. Action by the National Park Service on the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places is now pending.

Organizations

The Westbeth Artists' Residents Council, elected by the residential tenants, provides free cultural events to the public such as readings, performances, and film screenings in the Westbeth Community Performance Space and runs the Westbeth Art Gallery, which exhibits the work of both resident and non-resident artists; both in spaces donated by the corporation. The Council receives grants from the offices of NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and State Sen. Thomas Duane, as well as public funding from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2008, the Council was awarded a major grant from the Pollack Krasner Foundation for the Council's official website – www.westbeth.org. The website hosts individual artists' pages showing the work of its artist-residents and publicizes events and exhibitions sponsored by the Council. The Council also functions as the tenants association, and is involved in various larger community issues, particularly with regard to preserving the historic character of the West Village neighborhood, and zoning issues. Other tenant groups include the Westbeth Artists Committee and the Westbeth Artists in Residence.

Resident artists of note

Westbeth Artists Housing has been home to a number of influential artists including Diane Arbus, Moses Gunn, Muriel Rukeyser, Harry Schunk, Vin Diesel, David Greenspan, Tobias Schneebaum, David Del Tredici, Billy Harper, Joseph Chaikin, Hans Haacke, Spencer Holst, Robert De Niro, Sr., Ed Sanders, Ralph Lee, Karl Bissinger, John Dobbs, William Kennon, Herman Rose,Gayle Kirschenbaum, Harold Hal Miller, and Anne Tabachnick.

External links

• Westbeth Artists' Residents Council official website
• Westbeth Center for the Arts official website
• http://www.homeofthearts.org/