[UPDATE: The 'Tiles for America' project has been removed from Mulry Square, as the MTA wants to build a ventilation project on the site. It's unknown at present what will happen to the tiles, which are in storage as of September 2012...
Tiles for America Preservation Project]
Mulry Square, at 7th and Greenwich Avenues in the Village, is named for Emigrant Savings Bank President Thomas Mulry (d. 1916), a tireless contributor to Catholic charitable causes, notably the Society of St. Vincent De Paul. The square is across the street from St. Vincent’s Hospital (who hasn’t wound up there late at night at one time…?)
St. Vincent’s Hospital retained a ‘wall of hope and remembrance’ with the fliers of people missing after the towers were destroyed. The hospital closed in the spring of 2010.
Seemingly spontaneously after 9/11/01 the chain link fence surrounding a parking lot on Mulry Square sprouted ceramic tiles (like the ones in your bathroom) with messages of hope and positivity for NYC’s future. Hardly maudlin but heartfelt, the tiles are devoid of calls for revenge but ask for renewal and rebuilding. I thought Forgotten NY should show a few of them on the anniversary of the awful day. In reality, the tiles are sponsored by the Contemporary Ceramic Studios Association, and if you would like to contribute a tile, you’re advised to contact them.
The tiles were removed temporarily in August 2011 because of fears about Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene, but were quickly restored.
9/10/11
“Imagine”: If there were no sanctuary cities,
If America’s ruling class were patriots,
If Americans were educated, not indoctrinated..
In 2012, end The Era of BO
Too bad for you
What a sad commentary on such a wonderful memorial. Were you indoctrinated to be a shallow-minded xenophobe?
This is an exquisite popular memorial. Perhaps FNY might consider making a practice of revisiting the Tiles each year, on the anniversary of 9/11.
Commendations for solving easy access to multiple small “thumbnails” for a simple display such as this one. It works well, a major improvement!
I know this memorial very well. I vividly remember the first time I saw it, and I still walk past it practically every day. One tile in particular leapt off the fence at me. It was simply painted blue with the words “The Sky Was So Blue” painted in black. Nothing evokes the memory of that day for me like those words. I noticed that tile is gone now along with many others. Does anyone have any idea what became of the tiles that were removed? I hope their are going into some appropriate permanent exhibit somewhere.
Here’s a link to the stry about what happened to the tile memorial from the NY Post (9/15/12):
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/tile_tiff_at_shrine_KKoJEXBzn2ReKZEvQQ3FgO
As I recall from growing up on Waverly Place at 11th Street, just West of 7th Ave, there was a Gas Station and later a small Hamburger joint there (later 60′s to mid 70′s). the same guys owned this site as owned another triangle site farther down 7th Ave South below Bleeker.
Both are remnants from when 7th Ave south was pushed thru after WW1. The IRT “H” plan for the subways pushed the city to raze block after block to allow them to use the cut & cover method,
We did have some really odd remnants of buildings with corners cut off and a number of small triangular plots that held newsstands and flower shops.