Stuyvesant Town (Stuy Town) is associated with the Peter Cooper Village, which spans from 20th to 23rd street on 1st to Avenue C. The actual Stuyvesant Town is from 14th to 20th street on 1st to Avenue C and consists of many amenities such as an optional gym, study lounge, café, elderly community house, child care, ice rink, green markets, movie nights, and café. Stuy Town was developed to provide housing for returning World War II veterans in the post-war period of the early 1940’s. Individuals involved in this housing project aimed to provide a peaceful space in the city where residents would feel like they were living in a park or the country. The construction lasted from 1945 to 1947 and the first tenants were two World War II veterans and their families. Today, over 30,000 reside at Stuy Town.
Peter Cooper village was previously known as the Gas House District. The space was occupied by two massive gas storage tanks in the late 19th, early 20th century, which made it an undesirable place to live in. Although there were occasional indications of gas leakages, the area provided a cheap rent that made it affordable for lower-class immigrants (mainly from Ireland, Germans and Europeans) to live in. However, reflecting the cheap rent were the unsafe and squalid conditions of the neighborhood that consisted of foul gas odor and a high crime rate (the Gas District was the dwelling of the Gas House Gang). The conditions of this once dilapidated area is hard to imagine of today’s cordial and green neighborhood of the Stuy Town complex. The successful gentrification that took place here attracted various tenants ranging from students, elders and middle-class workers. However, there was a massive relocation of immigrants as they couldn’t afford the doubled rent costs and when the Stuy Town complex was being sold to the Blackstone Group, many tenants were apprehensive about potentially increased rents. However, the historic foundation of providing an affordable space to middle class workers and veterans was not easily undermined – the Blackstone Group agreed to Mayor De Blasio’s stipulation to keep “5,000 units within financial reach for the city’s working people”[1].
[1] “Vintage NYC Photos: The Gas House District That Became Stuy Town.” Untapped Cities. April 18, 2016. Accessed March 11, 2017. http://untappedcities.com/2016/04/18/vintage-nyc-photos-the-gas-house-district-that-became-stuy-town/.
Stuyvesant Town from Heewon Yun on Vimeo.
