Gramercy Stories
Share a piece of Gramercy’s history
An old photograph, a building brochure, a letter—or the story someone always meant to write down.
Some of the best neighborhood history is still in a filing cabinet. We’d like to hear from buildings and neighbors with photographs, documents or recollections that could help tell the stories of Gramercy.
Our building profiles bring original records together with careful research. A floor plan can show how people lived; a letter can put someone at an address; a photograph can reveal a doorway or roofline that has long since changed.
What might be useful?
- Early photographs, postcards and streetscape views.
- Original brochures, plans and descriptions of a building.
- Records of restorations or changes to shared spaces.
- Letters, neighborhood publications and personal recollections.
Start with a description
Tell us the building or address, the kinds of material you have, and any dates or names you know. A description is enough for a first conversation.
We can then discuss what to review, how to make copies and what might be suitable for a public story. Originals remain with their owners.
What have you found?
Write to Tim Cohen with the address and a brief description of the material.
Tell us about your materialSee how a record becomes a story
A neighbor’s contribution to One Lexington’s history
A neighbor shared On the Occasion of One Lexington Avenue’s Centennial, a building history dated March 13, 2011. It proved a trove of information for our profile: the completion date, early hopes for rental income, Hubbell’s alterations, household routines and later reorganization.
It also preserved details we might otherwise have missed: soft ground during excavation, the lender’s insistence on reaching bedrock, and part of an earlier foundation incorporated beneath the wall facing the Park.