C-Squat

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C-Squat
C-Squat letter.jpg
Squatters' notice at C-Squat
C-Squat
General information
Address155 Avenue C
Town or city Manhattan, New York
CountryUnited States
Coordinates 40°43′33″N73°58′40″W / 40.725708°N 73.977791°W / 40.725708; -73.977791
Completed1872;152 years ago (1872)
Known forFormer squat house

C-Squat is a former squat house located at 155 Avenue C (between 9th and 10th Streets) in the Alphabet City neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that has been home to musicians, artists, and activists, among others. After a fire, it was taken into city ownership in 1978 and squatters moved in 1989. The building was restored in 2002 and since then it has been legally owned by the occupants. Its ground-floor storefront now houses the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space.

Contents

History

Founding

Constructed in 1872, this pre-Old Law Tenement housed a pickle shop, cigar factory, cabinetmaker's workshop, [1] saloon, bookbinder, tailor, and Republican meeting hall. [2] The building was ravaged by a fire and New York City assumed possession in 1978. [3] Some tenants, mainly Latino and black people, stayed on as squatters, running an illegal after-hours club. Six years later, they were evicted. The building then stood empty until 1989 when the current squatters arrived. It has remained occupied. [4]

Journalist and author Robert Neuwirth described the situation that gave birth to many of New York's squats, including C-Squat, in the late 1970s through 1980s, "In the 1970s, scores of landlords walked away from old tenement buildings. Many buildings slid into vacancy and rot. By the 1980s, squatters took over many of the structures in fringe areas such as Alphabet City (Avenues A to D) in the Lower East Side and in certain areas of the Bronx and Brooklyn. They had to fight to stay. The city dispossessed hundreds of squatters, sometimes mounting massive paramilitary attacks on their buildings. In the end, 12 squatter buildings survived, and they outlasted official resistance." [5]

After extensive negotiations beginning under Giuliani's administration, New York City granted provisional ownership of C-Squat and 11 other Lower East Side squats to the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) in 2002. The not-for-profit oversaw the squat's renovation and conversion into resident-owned cooperative housing. [6] [7] [8] One squat's residents elected not to participate in the UHAB-managed legalization process and are suing for ownership under adverse possession. [9] [10]

Working in partnership with the squatters, the National Co-Op Bank (NCB), and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), UHAB secured loans to help repair the remaining eleven Lower East Side squats, bringing them up to building and fire code, and forming HDFCs  – a kind of co-op housing, which transfers ownership to the building's occupants. [7] [8] [11] Having completed this process, C-Squat is no longer a "squat," but rather a legally occupied building, purchased by the former squatters in a deal brokered with the city council by the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board in 2002 for one dollar. [9] [12]

Entertainment

Halloween party, 2011 Halloween fun(d)raiser party at C-Squat (6295483048).jpg
Halloween party, 2011

For many years, the building had a half-pipe built from reclaimed materials for skaters in the basement [6] and used to regularly host punk rock shows. [3] [4] [13]

The building has also hosted a number of artists and activists throughout its history, [3] as Neuwirth discovered when he wrote his article, Squatter's Rites for City Limits Magazine, "To climb the steps in C Squat is to walk up a living graffiti artwork. The halls resemble subway cars from a few decades ago. But instead of monikers, these tags are battle cries for revolution, outlaw logos, complaints, and humorous takes on official slogans..." [14]

Restoration

When it was first squatted, the building was falling apart and central joists had to be replaced. These were sourced second-hand and as cheaply as possible. All repairs on the gutted structure were performed by the squatters themselves, transforming the space as they worked on it. [3] [6] [15] The DIY rehabilitation of the building was no small task, as Neuwirth noted in his article, "At C Squat, the beams were so rotted that the building had sunk almost a foot in the center. The squatters replaced the joists one by one. They got their replacement beams from workers at a nearby gut rehab. The workers saved the old but still usable joists they were removing and passed them on to the squatters." [14]

Under the terms of the homesteading agreement made in 2002, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board secured a loan through the National Co-Op Bank to help pay for necessary renovations (bringing the building up to city code regulations for legal occupancy), which the squatters performed themselves, as much as possible, to reduce costs. [7] When construction work was complete, the residents assumed ownership of the building as a limited equity housing cooperative. [6]

Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is a living archive of the Lower East Side's squats and gardens, located in the ground-floor storefront of C Squat at 155 Avenue C. It runs neighborhood tours highlighting the efforts of local residents and organizations to clean up vacant lots and fix up abandoned buildings for community use, also promotes scholarship of grassroots urban space activism by researching and archiving efforts to create community spaces. The exhibitions feature materials that document these actions in order to educate people on the political implications of reclaimed space.

East Village community activists began planning the museum in May 2011 and opened it with public tours in October 2012.

The museum's storefront displays materials such as photographs, posters, zines, underground newspapers, comics, banners, and buttons that show how local residents cleaned up vacant lots and buildings in the area and made them organizing spaces for the community. The museum offers three public walking tours that lead participants to the East Village's most legendary community gardens, squats, and sites of social change and explain their complex and often controversial histories. Tour guides are generally longtime activists, squatters, gardeners, academics, and journalists who were directly involved in some aspect of the neighborhood that is relevant to the museum. [16] [17]

Shortly after its opening, The New York Times ran an online feature, proclaiming, "MoRUS Squats on Avenue C" [18]  – though the museum is not technically affiliated with C-Squat (nor are they squatters there), but rather an independently operated space. As another Times article from the period noted, the process of legalization brought many new questions to the fore for the squatters, including how to strike a balance between the building's collective needs and those of the larger community. "Ultimately, a majority decided that the [museum] project made sense [...] [as] a tenant that promised to reflect the philosophy that was an important part of the building and the East Village itself." [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting</span> Unauthorized occupation of property

Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. It has a long history, broken down by country below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avenue C (Manhattan)</span> Avenue in Manhattan, New York

Avenue C is a north-south avenue located in the Alphabet City area of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, east of Avenue B and west of Avenue D. It is also known as Loisaida Avenue. It starts at South Street, proceeding north as Montgomery Street and Pitt Street, before intersecting East Houston Street and assuming its proper name. Avenue C ends at 23rd Street, running nearly underneath the FDR Drive from 18th Street. North of 14th Street, the road forms the eastern boundary of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shanty town</span> Improvised human settlement

A shanty town, squatter area or squatter settlement is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood. A typical shanty town is squatted and in the beginning lacks adequate infrastructure, including proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity and street drainage. Over time, shanty towns can develop their infrastructure and even change into middle class neighbourhoods. They can be small informal settlements or they can house millions of people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC No Rio</span> Formerly squatted cultural centre in New York City

ABC No Rio is a collectively-run non-profit arts organization on New York City's Lower East Side. It was founded in 1980 in a squat at 156 Rivington Street, following the eviction of the 1979–80 Real Estate Show. The centre featured an art gallery space, a zine library, a darkroom, a silkscreening studio, and public computer lab. In addition, it played host to a number of radical projects including weekly hardcore punk matinees and the city Food Not Bombs collective.

Dos Blockos was a squat situated at 713 East 9th Street in Alphabet City, Manhattan, New York City. In active use as a squat from 1992 onwards, the six-story building housed up to 60 people at its peak, including Brad Will. The building funded repairs by being a set for movies. The squatters were evicted in 1999 and the building was converted into a commercial apartment building.

Housing Development Fund Corporation or HDFC is a special type of limited equity housing cooperative in New York City which is incorporated under Article XI of the New York State Private Housing Finance Law (PHFL) and the Business Corporation Law (BCL). Under this law, the city of New York is able to sell buildings directly to tenant or community groups to provide low-income housing. Many HDFCs were created through a process of co-op conversion of a foreclosed, city-owned property. As of 2008, over 1,000 HDFC cooperatives have been developed in the city.

The Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB), formed in 1974, is a city-wide non-profit housing and tenant advocacy group in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in England and Wales</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in England and Wales

In England and Wales, squatting— taking possession of land or an empty house the squatter does not own—is a criminal or civil offense, depending on circumstances. People squat for a variety of reasons which include needing a home, protest, poverty, and recreation. Many squats are residential; some are also opened as social centres. Land may be occupied by New Age travellers or treesitters.

In the United States, squatting occurs when a person enters land that does not belong to them without lawful permission and proceeds to act in the manner of an owner. Historically, squatting occurred during the California Gold Rush and when colonial European settlers established land rights. Squatting also occurred during the Great Depression in Hoovervilles and also during World War II. Shanty towns returned to the US after the Great Recession (2007–2009) and in the 2010s there were incidents of squatting in foreclosed homes, sometimes by people who used fraudulent documents of ownership. In some cases, a squatter may be able to obtain ownership of property through adverse possession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space</span> Museum archive of urban culture

The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS) is a not-for profit museum founded by the Times Up! Environmental Organization in 2012. It is dedicated to archiving the history of community gardens, squatting, and grassroots environmental activism of the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Located in the storefront of C-Squat at 155 Avenue C, the museum documents how neighborhood residents transformed abandoned spaces and lots in the neighborhood into squats and gardens. By preserving the neighborhood's history, the museum aims to educate communities and individuals to keep this form of sustainable, community-based activism alive.

<i>Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992–2000</i>

Kill City: Lower East Side Squatters 1992–2000 is a photography book by Ash Thayer, documenting the squatting scene in New York City's Lower East Side in the 1990s. Kill City was published in 2015 by PowerHouse Books.

CHARAS/El Bohio Community Center was a neighborhood organization and squatted community center in New York's East Village between 1979 and 2001.

Umbrella House is a former squat and a Housing Development Fund Corporation in New York City's East Village, at 21-23 Avenue C. The squat, formed in 1988, was known for its political engagement and high level of collective organization among its members. In 2010, the building officially became a housing cooperative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Australia</span> Occupation of land or buildings in Australia without permission of owner

Squatting in Australia usually refers to a person who is not the owner, taking possession of land or an empty house. In 19th century Australian history, a squatter was a settler who occupied a large tract of Aboriginal land in order to graze livestock. At first this was done illegally, later under licence from the Crown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Ireland</span> Occupying without permission

Squatting in the Republic of Ireland is the occupation of unused land or derelict buildings without the permission of the owner. In the 1960s, the Dublin Housing Action Committee highlighted the housing crisis by squatting buildings. From the 1990s onwards there have been occasional political squats in Cork and Dublin such as Grangegorman, the Barricade Inn, the Bolt Hostel, Connolly Barracks, That Social Centre and James Connolly House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Netherlands</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Netherlands

Squatting in the Netherlands is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. The modern squatters movement began in the 1960s in the Netherlands. By the 1980s, it had become a powerful anarchist social movement which regularly came into conflict with the state, particularly in Amsterdam with the Vondelstraat and coronation riots.

A squatters union, settlers association, or claimant club, is an organization of homesteaders or squatters established to protect their interests and property rights. They have been formed in the Australia, England, Poland and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in the Czech Republic</span> Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Czech Republic

Squatting became a political phenomenon in the Czech Republic after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Squats in Prague included Sochora, Stary Střešovice and Ladronka. Milada was occupied in 1998 and following its final eviction in 2009, there was a lull in squatting actions. In the 2010s a new social movement squatted houses to highlight the number of derelict properties in Prague and the social centre Klinika was founded in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Brazil</span>

Squatting in Brazil is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. After attempting to eradicate slums in the 1960s and 1970s, local governments transitioned to a policy of toleration. Cities such as Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have large informal settlements known as favelas. A more recent phenomenon is the occupation of buildings in city centres by organised groups. In rural areas across the country, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) arranges large land occupations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Squatting in Cambodia</span> Property squatting in the country of Cambodia

Squatting is common in the country of Cambodia. Following the Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime, the new democratic government introduced land reform. In the capital Phnom Penh, where in 2003 an estimated 25 per cent of the population was squatting, there are informal settlements and occupied buildings.

References

  1. ↑ "BLAMING HIS PARTNER; AN OLD GERMAN, MADE DESPONDENT BY BUSINESS REVERSES, HANGS HIMSELF" (PDF). The New York Times . January 27, 1886. p. 8. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ "The Campaign's Windup: The List of Political Meetings Arranged for This Week" (PDF). The New York Times. November 2, 1905. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bickerknocker, W.D. (2014). Homeo-Empathy 9th & C. New York, NY: Bill Cashman. Archived from the original on April 25, 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Create to Destroy! NYC's C-Squat: Homeo-Empathy 9th & C". Maximum Rock n Roll. July 10, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Neuwirth, Robert (2005) Squatter Cities: A Billion Squatters, A New Urban World, p. 236. (Routledge Press, New York, NY) ISBN   0-415-93319-6
  6. 1 2 3 4 Ferguson, Sarah (August 27, 2002). "Better Homes and Squatters". Archived from the original on February 20, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2024. This process was documented in the documentary film, Your House Is Mine . The Village Voice.
  7. 1 2 3 Steinhauer, Jennifer (August 20, 2002). "Once Vilified, Squatters Will Inherit 11 Buildings". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Strausbaugh, John (September 14, 2007). "Paths of Resistance in the East Village". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Ferguson, Sarah (2014). Bickerknocker, W.D. (ed.). The Struggle for Space: 10 Years of Turf battling on the Lower East Side (PDF). New York, NY: Bill Cashman.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. ↑ Anderson, Lincoln (2008). "Former squats are worth lots, but residents can't cash in" Archived January 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine . The Villager, Volume 78 – Number 31 / December 31, 2008 – January 6, 2009.
  11. ↑ Higgins, Michelle (June 27, 2014). "Bargains With a 'But' – Affordable New York Apartments With a Catch". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  12. ↑ Wilson, Michael (August 21, 2002). "Squatters Get New Name: Residents". New York Times.
  13. ↑ Correal, Annie (June 12, 2015). "Photographs From the History of C-Squat, a Punk Homestead". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  14. 1 2 Neuwirth, Robert (2002). "Squatters' Rites" Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine . City Limits Magazine, September/October 2002.
  15. ↑ Baitcher, Robyn (December 6, 2010). "On Ave. C, 'The Countercultural Squat'". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  16. ↑ Moynihan, Colin (March 5, 2012). "Sharing a Part of Activist History in the East Village". The New York Times.
  17. ↑ Balaban, Samantha (September 13, 2010). "East Village News, Culture & Life - The Local East Village Blog - NYTimes.com". Eastvillage.thelocal.nytimes.com. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  18. ↑ Rajitkul, Remika (December 28, 2012). "MoRUS Squats on Avenue C". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  19. ↑ Moynihan, Colin (March 4, 2012). "Sharing a Part of Activist History in the East Village". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2016.

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