Stuyvesant Town

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Lore & Background

Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village was planned, beginning in 1942, and opened its first building in 1947. It replaced a neighborhood known as the Gas House district. The complex has been sold multiple times, most recently in 2015 when it was sold to Ivanhoé Cambridge and Blackstone for $5.45 billion. The buildings south of 20th Street are known as Stuyvesant Town, or 'Stuy Town'. They were named after Peter Stuyvesant, the last director-general of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, whose farm occupied the site in the 17th century. The buildings north of 20th Street are called Peter Cooper Village, named after the 19th-century industrialist, inventor and philanthropist Peter Cooper, who founded Cooper Union. Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village abuts the Stuyvesant Square and Gramercy Park neighborhoods on the west, the East Village and Alphabet City to the south, and Kips Bay to the north.

In Their Own Story

Before the construction of Stuyvesant Town, the neighborhood contained 18 city blocks, with public schools, churches, factories, private homes, apartments, small businesses and even relatively new modern-style apartment buildings. In all, 600 buildings, containing 3,100 families, 500 stores and small factories, three churches, three schools, and two theaters, were razed. An estimated 3,000 families and 11,000 persons were forced to move from the neighborhood. In 1945, The New York Times called the move from the site 'the greatest and most significant mass movement of families in New York's history.' The last residents of the Gas House district, the Delman family, moved out in May 1946, allowing demolition to be completed shortly thereafter.

Reader's Guide

Stuyvesant Town was controversial from the beginning. In 1943, the National Association of Housing Officials described the fight as 'a battle up to now lacking only in beer bottles and murder.' The $50 million Stuyvesant Town plan was approved by the City Planning Commission on May 20, 1943, by a five to one vote. In the years after it opened, Black people were barred from living in the complex. Metropolitan Life's president, Frederick H. Ecker, stated that 'negroes and whites do not mix.' Lee Lorch, a City College of New York professor, petitioned to allow African Americans into the development, and was fired from his teaching position as a result of pressure from Metropolitan Life. Upon accepting a position at Pennsylvania State University, Lorch allowed a Black family to occupy his apartment, thus circumventing the 'no Negroes' rule. As a result of pressure from Metropolitan Life, he was dismissed from his new position as well. The fight to end the segregation of Stuyvesant Town continued after. The white residents formed the Village Tenants Committee to End Discrimination in Stuyvesant Town, and started subletting their apartments to Black Americans. Metlife attempted to evict the leaders of this committee in retaliation. 1,800 tenants were a part of the committee and, the groups survey found that 2/3rds of all tenant residents

Did You Know?

• Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village was planned beginning in 1942 and opened its first building in 1947.
• The complex replaced a neighborhood known as the Gas House district, named for the many gas storage tanks owned by Consolidated Gas Company.
• In 1945, The New York Times called the move from the site 'the greatest and most significant mass movement of families in New York's history.'
• Metropolitan Life's president Frederick H. Ecker stated that 'negroes and whites do not mix' when defending the exclusion of Black residents.
• The complex was sold most recently in 2015 to Ivanhoé Cambridge and Blackstone for $5.45 billion.