Statement of the Historic Districts Council before the Landmarks Preservation Commission
In support of the designation of Misses Errington Day School, 32-34 Townsend Avenue, Staten Island

February 10, 2004

The Historic Districts Council is the citywide advocate for New York’s designated historic districts and for neighborhoods meriting preservation. HDC is pleased to have the opportunity to express our support for the designation of the Miss Errington’s School in Staten Island.

The Historic Districts Council, along with our colleagues at the Preservation League of Staten Island, alerted the Landmarks Preservation Commission to the threat of losing Miss Errington’s School in early December. We are pleased that the Commission acted so quickly in calendaring the building, and we commend the Commission and its staff for its excellent responsiveness.

Dating from 1856, 32 Townsend Avenue has several associations with key institutions and figures in nineteenth century Staten Island history. It was built as the first home of the First Presbyterian Church on Staten Island. The congregation used the building as its lecture room and added the steeple to the building in 1861. In 1864, the First Presbyterian Church sold 32 Townsend Avenue to Benjamin Errington, whose sister, Harriet Errington, opened Miss Errington’s School for Young Ladies in the building. (Miss Errington had formerly traveled with Frederick Law Olmstead as the governess and tutor for his children.) Miss Errington’s School was fashionable school for Staten Island’s upper class until its closure in 1882. Today the school is most famous for educating young Alice Austen until the age of sixteen or seventeen. According to Ann Novtony’s biography on Alice Austen, Alice’s World, Alice met some of her closest friends in her youth at the school.

32 Townsend Avenue’s significance goes far beyond its association with the First Presbyterian Church, Miss Errington’s School and Alice Austen. It was one of the first buildings constructed on Townsend Avenue and thus remains today as evidence of the early development of the Clifton neighborhood. In addition, the building is as old as the Chapel at Snug Harbor and older than most of the other churches designated as individual landmarks on Staten Island. Although the building is in seemingly derelict condition, an examination of historic photographs from the late nineteenth century shows that the building has changed very little over the past century. The church apse, the dormers, and the wooden windows all remain and could easily be repaired. It would be a tragedy to lose this wonderful piece of early Staten Island history to development.

Miss Errington’s School brings to light two major issues with which HDC is gravely concerned: over-development on Staten Island and demolition by neglect. The first, over-development on Staten Island, has received much press recently and also has been a major concern of the Bloomberg Administration. At the end of last year, Mayor Bloomberg announced his support of the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force’s recommendations to prevent over-development on Staten Island. The Historic Districts Council is extremely pleased to see the administration focus on this unfortunate problem. However, one negative consequence of this otherwise commendable re-zoning initiative is that developers on Staten Island are now rushing to
demolish historic structures and put in grandfathered building foundations before the new regulations take effect. HDC commends the Landmarks Commission for doing its part in protecting Staten Island’s historic resources by quickly calendaring both Miss Errington’s School and the H.H. Richardson home at 45 McClean Avenue. We hope the Commission will continue keep a keen eye on Staten Island’s undesignated historic resources so that more is not lost to un-restrained development.

The second issue, that of demolition by neglect, has recently resurfaced on Staten Island due to the demolition yesterday of New Brighton Village Hall, one of Staten Island’s first landmarks. The Commission is more than familiar with this sad story, and HDC hopes that the LPC, the preservation community, and the Staten Island neighbors can work together to ensure that Miss Errington’s School does not succumb to the same fate. That said, HDC urges that Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate Miss Errington’s School, as it is the first step in ensuring that the Staten Island heritage it represents remains for future generations. After designation, HDC looks forward to working with the LPC and the Staten Island community to make the property viable part of the borough’s building fabric.