October 20, 2008
Neighbors step inside
Hundreds of neighbors toured 23 Gramercy Park South at a benefit co-hosted by the Gramercy Park Block Association’s president Arlene Harrison and vice president Tara Rockefeller. Proceeds supported the Neighborhood Support Network, which assisted homebound neighbors.
A striking local house became a setting for a practical act of community support.
The 1847 Greek Revival townhouse, then owned by Michael Hirtenstein and formerly occupied by the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children, had become a showhouse created by Metropolitan Home Magazine and Showtime Networks. Its rooms and garden drew inspiration from six Showtime series.
Samantha Nestor, the magazine’s special projects editor, conducted the tours. The accompanying photographs by Kamel Boutros show neighbors gathered during the visit.
The benefit linked interest in Gramercy’s architecture with the less visible needs of people who could not easily leave their homes. The Neighborhood Support Network story follows that work more closely.
Town & Village covered the house tour on October 30, 2008.
