Public Artworks

The Greenwich Village Murals

The iconic Greenwich Village Murals (1993) were commissioned by the MTA’s Arts for Transit for the 1 Christopher Street/Sheridan Square subway station.

These mosaic works depicting the exciting, rebellious and colorful history of NYC’s Greenwich Village went up in 1994 and have inspired subway riders ever since, from NYC icons like Sarah Jessica Parker to commuters, tourists, and urban dreamers.

All of the tiles and drawings were made in collaboration with kids from local public school PS 41. Among other scenes, they show the Stonewall uprising, Washington Square Park’s troubled past as a burial ground and “Potter’s field” for Indigenous peoples, enslaved African Americans, victims of “yellow fever” and peoples historically vulnerable to chronic poverty, as well as bohemian mystics performing seances, communing with creative spirits on the cobblestone streets of the Village.

Founders

Featuring Ira Aldredge in the center panel. Aldredge (1807 -1867) was a noted Shakespearean actor who began his career performing in the African Grove Theatre at the intersection of Mercer and Bleecker Streets.

Providers

Featuring Mary Simkhovitch (1867 - 1951) in the center panel. Simkhovitch was a social worker, city planner and one of the founders of Greenwich House in 1902.

Bohemians

Featuring Mabel Dodge (1879 - 1962) in the center panel. Dodge was a noted patroness of the arts who hosted a famous weekly salon in her fashionable apartment at 23 Fifth Avenue.

Rebels

Featuring Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809) in the center panel. Paine was the author of “Common Sense,"a political pamphlet that fueled America’s War of Independence. Paine lived at what is now known as 309 Bleecker Street.

The House I Live In

In the Essex/Delancey Street Subway station in 1991, Lee Brozgol’s murals of Lower East Side life debuted.

At a time when this now super hip area was an underserved but thriving diverse community, Brozgol brought vibrant art to the often derelict subway station. 

Titled The House I Live In, these murals of tenements and the Hispanic, Black, Jewish and Asian peoples who built the Lower East Side celebrate diversity, the immigrant experience, family and creativity. 

Today, you can find select columns from Brozgol’s legendary murals on permanent display in the lobby of University Settlement on Eldridge Street, the block where Brozgol lived and worked.

A vital piece of New York City history, these are a must see on any Lower East Side tour and for any subway art aficionado.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Memorial

Crossing Delancey Street in 1995, artist Lee Brozgol envisioned a towering, surreal public artwork. 

Similar to Paris’ Eiffel Tower, but for New York’s Lower East Side, this structure covered in flowering trumpet vine would be a living monument to the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. 

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop which exploited immigrant labor and resulted in the tragic deaths of predominantly Jewish women who were locked into the building, forced to sew garments when a deadly fire started.

An homage to his Sephardic Jewish immigrant roots, Brozgol proposed this 984 foot tall memorial, which would also widen Sarah D. Roosevelt Park, plant trees from Forsyth Street all the way to the Williamsburg Bridge and create a green, thriving space that could serve the Lower East Side community while honoring its history. 

This image remains a glorious alternate reality to the glass condos, impersonal wealth and branded fashion which now dominates Delancey. 

Pictured are Brozgol’s wife and two children crossing Delancey Street in 1995.

This piece was originally on display as part of a group show of community artists Henry Street Settlement. It was part of the 2005 Asian American Arts Centre exhibition, Eviction Blues and was most recently on display summer 2022 at HOME Gallery.