BY THE VILLAGE SUN | The Jefferson Market Library finally will be reopening next month.
The iconic Greenwich Village landmark, which was originally a courthouse (the neighboring garden was once home to a women’s prison), will officially reopen on Thurs., July 14.
This follows a significant, $10 million improvement project to provide the building with vital accessibility upgrades.
To celebrate, the library will kick off a week of in-person festivities dubbed The Jefferson Market Jubilee. There will be some interesting in-person readings and discussions, as well.
On Tues., July 12 at 6:30 p.m., author Hugh Ryan, along with Amanda Davis of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, will discuss the Women’s House of Detention, the former occupant of today’s Jefferson Market Garden and subject of Ryan’s latest book, “The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.” Today, nearly 40 percent of women in the prison system identify as queer.
To register, click here.
On Sun., July 17, at 3 p.m., Ada Calhoun will read and discusses her new book, “Also A Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me.”
The memoir by the New York Times-bestselling author and native East Villager traces her fraught relationship with her father and their shared obsession.
To register, click here.
Check the library’s Web page for more upcoming events.
I am so excited it is finally reopening!
I attended the recent preview of the renovations to the Jeff Market Library — my local branch. Upgrades to accessibility were done with respect to the historic architecture and interior design. We were able to see some of the artifacts, like the vintage registers children signed, saying that they would respect the books, including signatures by a 6-year-old Scarlett Johansson and her brother. This renovation is an example of how to modernize without destroying the heritage of the past.
The original Women’s House of Detention was in the same architectural style as the courthouse. The one I knew in the ‘60s was very ugly. Built in the Depression, I think. I remember people on the sidewalks shouting back and forth with prisoners.