Mission Statement
LESPI’s mission is to preserve Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side. Our preservation strategies include documenting and mapping the area’s historic streetscapes, increasing awareness of the community’s important history and architecture, and rallying residents, city officials and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to effect the landmark designation of historic districts and individual buildings.
About This Cause
LESPI is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation in New York State dedicated to preserving the historic areas and buildings of Manhattan's Lower East Side, which includes the East Village, Lower East Side below Houston Street, Chinatown, Little Italy and the Bowery. LESPI's strategy includes documenting and mapping the Lower East Side's historic streetscapes and individual structures, and rallying community residents, city officials and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to effect landmark designation. Without landmark designation the last remaining historic areas of the Lower East Side will be lost to demolition and insensitive development.
The Lower East Side has tremendous architectural, historic and cultural importance to both the city and the country. During the 17th century it was the location of Peter Stuyvesant's farm, in the 19th century the East River waterfront was the center for NYC's shipping and trade, and from the 19th century through the present the area has served as a nationally important community for immigrants. The area has also been a prime source for avant garde art, literature and music, as well as progressive political thought.
The neighborhood's national importance was recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation when in 2008 it listed the Lower East Side as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
We must act quickly to preserve the Lower East Side or the physical evidence of its rich history will disappear - a huge loss for us and for future generations.
LOWER EAST SIDE PRESERVATION INITIATIVE INC
93 Fourth Avenue #1223
NEW YORK, New York 10003
United States
Phone 347-827-1846
Website www.LESPI-nyc.org
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LESPI.org/
Twitter @LESPI_nyc
