The times, they are a changin’ — so much so that city preservationists are moving today to landmark a swath of Greenwich Village that was once home to a legion of writers and musicians, including a young Bob Dylan.
A stretch of the onetime working-class neighborhood that became a center of the counterculture in the latter half of the 20th century will take its first step toward being added to the city’s rapidly growing list of historic districts.
“People think of this area as a big part of Greenwich Village and they are amazed to find out it’s not in the historic district,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “Bleecker Street, Carmine Street, Jones Street — these streets are the heart of the Village.”
It was on Jones Street in 1963 that Dylan and then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo were photographed walking in the snow for the cover of his breakthrough album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.”
The new historic district would cover all or parts of 12 blocks south of West Fourth Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, and stretching roughly to Bedford Street. In all, it includes 210 buildings.
The area is only one of six historic districts being considered by the Landmarks Preservation Commission today. The proposed districts add up to 1,900 buildings.
The projected designations include:
* Prospect Heights, Brooklyn: 850 buildings.
* Upper East Side: Two extensions of the current district, 76 buildings.
* SoHo: An extension of the Cast Iron District, adding 100 buildings.
* Crown Heights North, Brooklyn: Adding 610 buildings to the current district.