Sympathy flowers in Greenwich Village

Sympathy sends in Greenwich Village split between two destinations with very different protocols: the family home and the funeral service. The Village itself has no funeral home inside its landmarked blocks, so service arrangements route to the nearby downtown chapels — Greenwich Village Funeral Home, Provenzano Lanza Funeral Home on Second Avenue, the Frank E. Campbell tradition uptown on the East Side, and the East Village and Lower East Side chapels a few blocks south and east — while condolence bouquets go to the family in a West Village townhouse or brownstone off Bleecker, Christopher, Grove, or Perry. Each destination has its own requirements. A standing spray or wreath for a funeral home must arrive before the service window with the deceased's name and the service time; a condolence arrangement for a grieving family in a landmarked townhouse needs the quiet walk-up vestibule or doorman hand-off, delivered discreetly and without ceremony. The Village houses of worship take memorial arrangements timed to a service — the Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue, the Church of St. Luke in the Fields on Hudson Street, Grace Church at the NoHo edge, and Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South — and the studios covering the Village know each sanctuary's delivery entrance and timing.