Liz Christy Garden
299 Bowery | also 13 East 1st Street, 9 East 1st Street, 1 East 1st Street | East Village | built 2005
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1899
Six suicides and seven attempts at McGurk's saloon give it the name Suicide Hall
McGurk's, opened in 1893 at 295 Bowery by John McGurk, was frequented by prostitutes. In 1899 six of them died by suicide and seven more tried, throwing themselves from the fifth-story window or swallowing carbolic acid. Blond Madge Davenport died of the acid, while another woman, Big Mame, spilled it on her face and survived disfigured and barred from the place. McGurk decided to cash in on the notoriety and renamed it McGurk's Suicide Hall. This was an earlier building on the site.
Source: Village Preservation
- 1902
McGurk skips town on $1,000 bail as the Suicide Hall closes and becomes a transient hotel
Under pressure from the police and city officials, John McGurk, with a $1,000 bail hanging over him, left for California with his wife and daughter. The Suicide Hall closed as a bar in 1902 and became a hotel for the Bowery's down-and-out. In the 1960s a cooperative of women artists took over the building and held it for more than 40 years, until it was demolished in 2005. This was an earlier building on the site, at 295 Bowery.
Source: Village Preservation
- 1973
Liz Christy rallies neighbors to clear the Houston Street lot after the city denies permission
Liz Christy worked for an architect-planner who had thought of turning the vacant lot at Houston Street and the Bowery into a farm for the Bicentennial, and in 1973 she went ahead with the idea herself. When the city refused permission, she and her volunteers worked without it, clearing trash, hauling in soil and laying out vegetable plots. Her group, the Green Guerillas, was also known for "seed grenades" lobbed over the fences of neglected lots.
“After the city denied the group permission to work on the project, they proceeded outside of official channels.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
The city housing agency agrees to rent the cleared lot to the new community garden for $1 a month
The Green Guerillas, with Liz Christy among them, cleared the lot on the Bowery's northeast corner at East Houston Street in late 1973 and early 1974. In late April 1974 the Office of Housing Preservation and Development agreed to rent it to the Bowery Houston Community Farm and Garden for a dollar a month. Sixty raised beds were planted with vegetables first, and trees and flower borders followed.
“…the New York City Office of Housing Preservation and Development agreed to rent the site for a $1 a month…”
Source: National Register nomination
- 1985
The garden is renamed for Liz Christy after her death from cancer
In 1985 the garden was renamed for Liz Christy after her death from cancer. It had originally been called the Bowery-Houston Community Farm and Garden. Christy had founded the Green Guerillas, who created the garden.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2000
Kate Millett and her fellow tenants hold out against eviction from 295 Bowery for urban renewal
The feminist author Kate Millett made her home at 295 Bowery, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s she fought city efforts to evict her as part of a large redevelopment plan. She and other tenants held out but eventually lost. The building was torn down and its residents were moved elsewhere. This was an earlier building on the site.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2002
The Liz Christy Garden gains legal protection as one of a few community gardens so safeguarded
In 2002 the Liz Christy Garden became one of a handful of community gardens in New York protected by law. It had been dedicated in honor of its co-founder in the mid-1980s. The National Register nomination for the Bowery Historic District describes it today as mostly ornamental, with some vegetables and fruit, and notes that its Dawn Redwood can be seen from blocks away along East Houston Street.
“Today the garden is primarily an ornamental landscape with some vegetable and fruit cultivation.”
Source: National Register nomination
- 2004
AvalonBay threatens the garden with development, but it survives and is expanded to Second Avenue
In 2004 the developer AvalonBay threatened the garden's site. Garden members and community supporters, city officials and the Parks Department backed the garden, which survived and was expanded to Second Avenue.
- 2013
The garden falls within the Bowery Historic District on the National Register
In 2013 the Liz Christy Garden was included in the Bowery Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The garden runs from the Bowery at Houston Street through to Second Avenue and is now part of the city Parks Department.
“In 2013, it was included in the Bowery Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Liz Christy GardenWikipedia
- 285 BoweryVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
- 287 BoweryVillage Preservation: East Village Building Blocks
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