September 2005, Volume 2 Number 9

“Dead in New York”

Learn about New York’s forgotten burial grounds! Discover the challenges of finding long-lost descendents! Explore Brooklyn’s largest graveyard at night!

Join us for an exciting series of lectures, talks and a tour and find out that in New York City, not even death solves your real estate problems.

All events begin at 6pm. Please click here for more information.

“But if we save this building, we’ll never get the whole district”
A Statistical Overview of Landmark Designations

Often, a community group interested in preservation coalesces around a single site in immediate danger rather than looking to preserve an entire neighborhood. In addition to making common sense, this turn of events can help focus a community on a shared, perceptible goal. However, if the preservation campaign is successful and the building in question has been saved (and probably landmarked), there is the lingering fear that the area’s “preservation allotment” has been expended, and the neighborhood will be pushed to the back of the line in terms of future landmark designations. This concern, we are pleased to report, is patently and provably untrue. In researching a recent landmark designation (the Ralph Bunche House in Kew Gardens, Queens), HDC did an analysis of designated historic districts and individual designations that fall within their boundaries or adjacent to them. We thought the results were interesting, and we hope you will too.

First of all, there are no instances of individual landmarks designated after a district and within district boundaries, which makes logical sense with regard to LPC oversight. Therefore, in this survey, all individual landmark designations PREDATE district designations. There are cases of individual buildings being listed on the State & National Registers of Historic Places that are already within NR districts. An example of this would be the former Stonewall Tavern, which was listed on the S/NR because of its social importance to the gay rights movement, even though it was already listed on the S/NR as a building within the Greenwich Village NR district, but we digress.

Of the existing 83 designated NYC historic districts (for purposes of these calculations, extensions are included within the districts):

Number of districts containing individual landmarks within district lines: 31 (37%)

Number of districts with individual landmarks in adjacent blocks: 48 (58%)

Number of districts where a nearby landmark predates or was concurrent with the district: 42 (51%)

Number of districts where a nearby individual landmark was designated after the district: 30 (36%) [there is some overlap with the previous set]

Number of districts with individual landmarks within district boundaries AND on adjacent blocks: 23 (28%) [individuals designated before OR after district]

Number of districts that were designated with landmarks within boundaries or nearby: 52 (63%)

Number of districts that were designated without any individual landmarks within or nearby: 31 (37%)

What does this all mean? Well, statistically speaking, the percentage of districts that get designated with an individual landmark (or landmarks) in or near the district are MUCH (170%) greater than those districts without a landmark included or close by (63% with landmarks, 37% without). Is this a magic bullet? Does these mean that EVERY time an individual landmark gets designated, that its immediate area will soon follow? Of course not. Every landmark designation is in some way unique – one might even say that this is one of the defining qualities of landmark designation. However, this exercise in statistics should lay to bed the fear that the Landmarks Commission only ever designates one building in any given neighborhood. Don’t believe us? Check out the “Guide to New York City Landmarks” for yourself. [You can go to the CityStore to order a copy.] As a final statistical note, one could go out on a limb and theorize that, based on the fact that for 30 historic districts (36%) a nearby individual landmark was designated after the district, the existence of the neighboring historic district actually helped spur further preservation successes.

Walks & Talks on the Grand Concourse—Celebrate this legendary Boulevard’s 100th Anniversary with the Bronx Museum of the Arts
Wednesday, September 21st through Sunday, September 25th

The Grand Concourse will turn 100 in 2009 and The Bronx Museum of the Arts is planning a series of events to celebrate its centennial. From September 21-24, the Museum is sponsoring a series of public programs at both the Bronx Museum and the New School that will explore the rich history and significance of the Grand Concourse. The week’s events include an opening reception at the Bronx Museum with a public presentation of the City’s plans to restore and renovate the Grand Concourse, a community urban design charette and Sunday walking tours of the Concourse which will include conversations with residents. There will also be
two panel discussions entitled “Bends in the Road: Looking Forward and Back Along New York’s Grand Concourse” and “Living Together and Apart: Race and Housing on the Grand Concourse.” And finally, there will be closing reception on Saturday night, co-sponsored by the Historic Districts Council, at the 1929 Loew’s Paradise Theater, designed by the renowned theater designer John Eberson. Noted for its elaborate interior ornamentation and exterior terra-cotta façade, Loew’s is one of New York’s finest theaters, second in size only to Radio City Music Hall. Don’t miss the opportunity to visit this newly restored theater before it re-opens this fall. To find out more information and to make reservations for any of these events, visit the Bronx Museum of the Arts website at: www.bronxmuseum.org/gc.htm or call 718-681-6000, ext. 133.

Endangered Building of the Month–McCarren Play Center, McCarren Park, Greenpoint, Brooklyn

McCarren Play Center in Greenpoint’s McCarren Park is one of the largest public pools in the world and an architectural treasure created under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936. One of ten public pools built with federal funds and opened by Robert Moses, these structures are important not only for their architectural significance, but also their important role in the social history of New York City. All ten of them are eligible for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places and all were considered for landmark designation in 1990. Of the ten, only McCarren in Greenpoint is closed. The legacy of the WPA to New York’s built environment cannot be overstated; the infrastructure and public works that were built cannot be replaced today. Our record of stewardship for this federal largesse is varied and unfortunately, the McCarren Park Play Center has long been neglected and sits vacant, deteriorating. In 2001, a decision was made by the City Council, the Parks Department and Community Board 1 to restore the Center, but after the events of September 11th, the project lost funding. There have been numerous plans for the site, and happily, the Parks Department has allocated some funds for its stabilization this year. These funds are limited though and full restoration and renovation is not currently planned. Such a renovation would not only rescue an architectural treasure, but it would also provide a wonderful amenity to a growing Brooklyn community. In September, the pool will be opened again for use as a production space for a site-specific work by choreographer Noémie Lafrance. While we welcome this interim adaptive reuse, we look forward to a full restoration and its return to the community for use as a pool.

Help save the McCarren Play Center by contacting Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at askmarty@brooklynbp.nyc.gov and asking him to provide the funding necessary to restore this pool, and by contacting the Landmarks Preservation Commission at comments@lpc.nyc.gov and urging them to designate the McCarren Play Center as a New York City Landmark so that the Commission can guide an appropriate restoration.

17th Annual Landmarks Lion!!!

Keep your eyes peeled for your invitation to the 17th Annual Landmarks Lion Award Ceremony, honoring beloved architectural historian and tour guide Barry Lewis on Wednesday, October 26th. Following in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, Barry will present a stirring speech at the Great Hall of Cooper Union, followed by a champagne toast and an intimate dinner at a Greenwich Village restaurant. Tickets to the ceremony are $75, dinner tickets begin at $250. For more information, to join the benefit committee or place a congratulatory ad in the program, please contact Frampton Tolbert at ftolbert@hdc.org or 212-614-9107 x 13.

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The Advocate for New York City’s Historic Neighborhoods
232 East 11th Street New York NY 10003
tel: 212-614-9107 fax: 212-614-9127 email: hdc@hdc.org