A Timely Link: Westbeth and "The Village"
Westbeth is a historic artist housing community in Greenwich Village. The modern building has a fascinating history as a telephone company that once had an actual train track with trains running through it. Westbeth was created to provide artists with an affordable place to live and work together. It is artist run and managed, mostly. Over time it has become a mecca for world-renowned artists, exhibits and performances - open to all. The time limit for artists to live there has been extended and there is a long waiting list for new artists to move in. Westbeth gives hope where there is little and a place for artists in the world. What we know of as "The Village" is actually a brilliant creation by an early 20th-century architect named Vincent Pepe (NYT 11/12/2009 Christopher Grey "Which to Preserve, the Chicken or the Egg?"). Vincent Pepe created the bohemian look out of dilapidated row houses by shaving off stoops and enlarging windows. Vincent Pepe lifted the overall appearance greatly with tile work and Italian stucco and found creative ways to surmount antiquated interior regulations. Actual bohemians, and a host of others, were pushed out and replaced by people who could afford the increasing maintenance. Washington Square Village is being eyed for a new makeover and I.M. Pei's Silver Towers are threatened by the NYU 2031 plan: http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/nyu/nyu-12-22-11.htm. Much of Pepe's original work is fading and the modern simplicity of Westbeth comes into new light. The New School has already expanded right next to Westbeth and it is not long before an artist exodus begins again. Westbeth is the creative response to the endless cycle of gentrification known as Washington Square Village. Westbeth is in the far West Village but without it what the world knows of know as "The Village": Washington Square Village, Greenwich Village, and East Village loses authenticity with each crumbling facade.
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