What's New? St. Denis Building Directory
Special Late Night Hours at the Reliquary and Williamsburg Galleries on February 8!
**What's New in our Making a Museum Exhibit?**
Our Item of the Week: St. Denis Building Directory
**The 12th Annual Panorama Challenge is Friday, March 1!**
Test Your New York Knowledge Against The Best
**Every 2nd Friday is This Friday Night and You Should Be in Williamsburg!**
[Every Second Friday](https://www.facebook.com/groups/7215951441/) is an unofficial collective of Williamsburg galleries and community spaces holding special late night hours and events on the second Friday of every month. Enjoy the temperate reprieve in the weather and check out what's on in the neighborhood!
The City Reliquary will be open 6-9 p.m. with refreshments by donation - come hang out with us! Other participating spaces include [Figureworks](http://www.figureworks.com/), [Shag](http://shop.weloveshag.com/kingmallardeverythinginbetween-artopeningparty.aspx), [AG Gallery](https://aggallerybrooklyn.com/), [Quimby's](https://quimbysnyc.com/), [Lucas Lucas](https://www.lucaslucasnyc.com/), and [Artists & Craftsmen Supply](https://www.artistcraftsman.com/store-art-supplies-williamsburg-brooklyn-ny) - [get the map here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/7215951441/)!
The City Reliquary will be open 6-9 p.m. with refreshments by donation - come hang out with us! Other participating spaces include [Figureworks](http://www.figureworks.com/), [Shag](http://shop.weloveshag.com/kingmallardeverythinginbetween-artopeningparty.aspx), [AG Gallery](https://aggallerybrooklyn.com/), [Quimby's](https://quimbysnyc.com/), [Lucas Lucas](https://www.lucaslucasnyc.com/), and [Artists & Craftsmen Supply](https://www.artistcraftsman.com/store-art-supplies-williamsburg-brooklyn-ny) - [get the map here](https://www.facebook.com/groups/7215951441/)!
**What's New in our Making A Museum Exhibit?**
The City Reliquary is taking visitors inside our processes of acquisition, research, and preservation of our collection. As we redesign our permanent collection and bring out some of our rarely exhibited holdings, we’re also adding new objects, studying their history. Every week we’ll be working on new additions, and we invite you to journey with us as we learn new stories of the city.
The [St. Denis Building](https://gvshp.org/blog/2014/08/05/building-profile-st-denis-hotel/), at 80 East 11th Street at Broadway in Manhattan, is a case study of the changing city. Built in 1853 by renowned architect [James Renwick Jr.](https://www.theruin.org/blog/2015/11/18/a-new-york-city-walking-tour-james-renwick-jr-sites-and-buildings), it was the first building in New York to feature terracotta sculpted exterior decoration. At that time, the neighborhood was a fashionable shopping district, and the St. Denis was a [grand hotel](http://www.vidiani.com/large-detailed-st-denis-hotel-and-taylors-saloon-road-map-of-lower-manhattan/) which drew many notable guests: Abraham Lincoln, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Sarah Bernhardt among them. The gentleman's parlor on the second floor saw Alexander Graham Bell's first public demonstration of the telephone in New York.
By 1917, the neighborhood had fallen out of fashion. The building was sold and converted to office space with ground floor retail. The renovations removed Renwick's terracotta detailing, rendering it [ineligible for historic preservation](https://patch.com/new-york/east-village/last-ditch-effort-preserve-st-denis-hotel-building) a century later.
[St. Denis' office tenants](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/03/07/the-death-and-life-of-a-great-american-building/) were just as notable as its hotel guests. From the 1920s to the 1950s, many of its tenants were leftist newspapers and workers' organizations: The Workers Party of America, the American Negro Labor Congress, and the W.E.B. Du Bois-chaired Peace Information Center were among the many groups headquartered there. The [Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives](http://www.alba-valb.org/), the last holdout of this generation of tenants, appears on our Directory board (Room 341). Marcel Duchamp kept a secret, unlisted studio in Room 403, and his deliberately posthumous final work, [Étant Donnés](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/arts/design/now-you-see-him-now-you-dont-duchamp-from-beyond-the-grave.html), was installed there.
In 2016, the St. Denis was sold to developers with plans to demolish the building. The last tenants left in 2018, but remain listed on the historic Directory on view at the Reliquary. The variety and number of businesses listed are a prime example of Jane Jacobs' maxim that [new ideas need old buildings](http://torontodreamsproject.blogspot.com/2012/08/jane-jacobs-on-importance-of-old.html). The comparatively cheap rents, shabbier fixtures, and smaller office spaces in the St. Denis allowed many solo therapeutic practitioners to see low-income patients and small businesses to get an affordable start.
The [current plans](https://therealdeal.com/2018/04/12/normandy-ares-file-plans-for-village-office-project/) for the St. Denis space are for a 12-story glass wall office building with a stacked box design. It is one of a cluster of [new commercial developments](https://ny.curbed.com/2018/7/10/17555104/union-square-new-york-tech-training-rezoning-hearing) in the neighborhood seeking to expand Flatiron's "Silicon Alley" further down Broadway.
By 1917, the neighborhood had fallen out of fashion. The building was sold and converted to office space with ground floor retail. The renovations removed Renwick's terracotta detailing, rendering it [ineligible for historic preservation](https://patch.com/new-york/east-village/last-ditch-effort-preserve-st-denis-hotel-building) a century later.
[St. Denis' office tenants](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/03/07/the-death-and-life-of-a-great-american-building/) were just as notable as its hotel guests. From the 1920s to the 1950s, many of its tenants were leftist newspapers and workers' organizations: The Workers Party of America, the American Negro Labor Congress, and the W.E.B. Du Bois-chaired Peace Information Center were among the many groups headquartered there. The [Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives](http://www.alba-valb.org/), the last holdout of this generation of tenants, appears on our Directory board (Room 341). Marcel Duchamp kept a secret, unlisted studio in Room 403, and his deliberately posthumous final work, [Étant Donnés](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/arts/design/now-you-see-him-now-you-dont-duchamp-from-beyond-the-grave.html), was installed there.
In 2016, the St. Denis was sold to developers with plans to demolish the building. The last tenants left in 2018, but remain listed on the historic Directory on view at the Reliquary. The variety and number of businesses listed are a prime example of Jane Jacobs' maxim that [new ideas need old buildings](http://torontodreamsproject.blogspot.com/2012/08/jane-jacobs-on-importance-of-old.html). The comparatively cheap rents, shabbier fixtures, and smaller office spaces in the St. Denis allowed many solo therapeutic practitioners to see low-income patients and small businesses to get an affordable start.
The [current plans](https://therealdeal.com/2018/04/12/normandy-ares-file-plans-for-village-office-project/) for the St. Denis space are for a 12-story glass wall office building with a stacked box design. It is one of a cluster of [new commercial developments](https://ny.curbed.com/2018/7/10/17555104/union-square-new-york-tech-training-rezoning-hearing) in the neighborhood seeking to expand Flatiron's "Silicon Alley" further down Broadway.
**Get Your Tickets Now for the Panorama Challenge 2019!**
Friday, March 1, 2019 — Doors 6 p.m. — Game at 7 p.m.
At [Queens Museum](https://queensmuseum.org/directions) – Flushing Meadows-Corona Park
[General Admission Tickets: $15 advance](https://www.artful.ly/store/events/17121) / $20 at the door
[City Reliquary and Queens Museum Members: $12 advance](https://www.artful.ly/store/events/17121) / $15 at the door
Mark your calendars and break out your Blue Guides: it’s nearly time for the Panorama Challenge! Now in its 12th year, [The City Reliquary](http://cityreliquary.org/), [Queens Museum](http://queensmuseum.org/), & [The Levys’ Unique New York!](http://levysuniqueny.com/) have partnered for an exciting evening of trivia with the whole city at your feet. Meet us at the world’s largest architectural scale model – [The Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum](http://www.queensmuseum.org/2013/10/panorama-of-the-city-of-new-york)!
The Panorama Challenge has a set of questions for new participants and different, more difficult questions for NYC experts: all skill levels are welcome! The winning team of Panorama Pros will have their name inscribed on the legendary Panorama Trophy housed at the Queens Museum.
As a community museum, new exhibitions and programming are only possible with your support.
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