District Lines Spring 2008

D I S T R I C T L I N E S

2008

XXI

no.

3

^{news and views of the}historic districts council^spring

vol.

HDC Annual Conference Eyes Preservation’s Role In The Future of New York City

In Ma r c h 2008, the Historic Districts neighborhoods throughout the ﬁve bor- and infrastructure concerns.

Council’s 14th Annual Preservation oughs were able to admire the recently

A group of respondents to the key-

Conference, Preservation 2030, took a restored rotunda, built on the land where note zeroed in on PlaNYC’s lack of attention to community preservation. Participants included Peg Breen, president of The New York Landmarks Conservancy; Jonathan Peters, a transportation expert from the College of Staten Island; and Anthony C. Wood, author of “Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks.”
“New Yorkers need more than just water to drink and beds to sleep in,” said Mr. Wood. “New York is a city of neighborhoods, and long-term planning for the city has to take that into account.”
“Surviving the Building Boom: Urban
Neighborhoods of the Future,” brought together experts to discuss tools for pre-

HDC Director Leo Blackman, left, moderates “Surviving the Building Boom: Urban Neighborhoods of the Future,” featuring Michael Rebic, Andrew Berman and Brad Lande r .

hIstorIc dIstrIcts councIl

critical look at preservation’s role in shap- George Washington took his oath of serving the city’s historic urban neighing New York’s urban environment for office as the first president of the United borhoods while providing new housing future generations. Rather than lament- States. and services for expanding populations. ing lost battles and reacting to impend- The next day, New York City Mayor Addressing out-of-scale development in ing threats, this year’s program focused Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 was the Village, SoHo and the Far West Vilon establishing long-term tools and used as the basis for the Conference lage, Andrew Berman, executive direcstrategies to protect the city’s historic theme. Rohit Aggarwala, director of the tor of the Greenwich Village Society for resources before they are demolished or Mayor’s Office of Long-term Planning Historic Preservation, attributed recent fall victim to unsympathetic alterations. and Sustainability, presented the keynote loss of neighborhood character to faults
The Opening Night Reception was address outlining the major tenets of the in the community-facilities bonus. By held at Federal Hall National Memorial. Plan. PlaNYC 2030 aims to prepare the granting schools, cultural institutions Nearly 150 people turned out despite the city to accommodate an additional one and hospitals special permission to build unexpected onslaught of rain that eve- million residents over the next 20 years, beyond the dimensions typical of their ning. Once inside, preservationists from specifically emphasizing environmental corresponding zoning envelopes, Mr.

continued on page 6

to enshrine environmentally-beneﬁcent downplays the intense community-based

Cleaner, Greener,

benchmarks in city policy, historic preser- struggle to rescue this beautiful and signiﬁ- vation – as a strategy, tactic or even a phi- cant building from the city’s Department

Fewer Landmarks

losophy – is almost completely absent from of Education, which wanted to demolish it;
Th e o s T e n s I b l e g o a l o f PlaNYC 2030 the document. Its one appearance is under HDC honored this laudable ﬁght in 2000 is to provide a roadmap for the future of the Housing section’s ﬁfth initiative, “Adapt by bestowing a Grassroots Preservation New York City. If the plan is followed, that Outdated Buildings to New Uses,” which Award upon the Coalition to Save P.S. 109 future New York will be more populated solely addresses publicly-owned proper- (Teri Slater, Ray Plumey, Gwen Goodwin, and cleaner with increased transit. It will ties. The sidebar case study, “Re-imagining David Corbin). In fact, this act of preserhave fewer cars and more trees. What it P.S. 109,” is a seemingly-innocuous story vation is back-handedly blamed for creat-

won’t have is more landmarked areas.

about transforming a former public school ing blight. “But in the years following the

Despite PlaNYC’s laudable aim into artists’ housing. This tangent largely decision [to not demolish it], P.S. 109 sat

Historic Districts Council

District Lines ~ Spring 2008 ~ page 2

HDC Tu r n s T h e sp o T l i g h T o n “ne i g h b o r h o o d s a T ri s k ”

Wh I l e T h e hI s T o r I c DI s T r I c T s co u n c I l

is dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of all of New York City’s historic resources—be they churches, bridges, apartment buildings or otherwise—our main focus is on districts. More than just a single building, historic districts concern an ensemble of structures, their relationships to one another and the history they tell together.
The New York City Landmarks Law deﬁnes an historic district as an area that has “special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value [representing] one or more periods or styles of architecture” and has been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The LPC is further mandated to pre-

serve and protect buildings and areas “of special distinction or special historical or aesthetic interest or value” through designating and regulating landmarks and historic districts.
However, by no means are all of the Gardens was landmarked in 2007, and deserving historic neighborhoods in New Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park in March of York City landmarked.
Increasingly, the special character and extension had a favorable Public Hearing. sense of place of these areas are under dire A dozen other neighborhoods have been threat or direct assault from demolition, added to the list since its inception, out-of-scale and garish new construction and some of them, such as Brooklyn’s or unsympathetic alterations. Over the DUMBO and Crown Heights North past 15 years neighborhoods whose archi- neighborhoods, have been designated tecture and sense of place were seemingly as well. stable for decades have moved beyond simply being worthy of landmarking to by no means conclusive. Like the initial being seriously at risk. list, it strives for a balance of geography,

The west side of Bower y , between Bond and Great Jones Streets, is include in the proposed NoHo extension in Manhattan.

still cries out for landmarking. Sunnyside

When “Calendar” Is a Verb

2008. Most recently the proposed NoHo

Pr e s e r v a T I o n I s T s a r e o f T e n a c c u s e D

of speaking in tongues, using acronyms and abbreviations such as ULURP, CNE and SHPO in everyday conversation. It sometimes gets even more arcane, with constructions such as NR-eligible and NegDec making their way into meeting notes.

The “Neighborhoods at Risk” list is

But one of the most obscure terms used exclusively by New York City preservationists is “calendar.” The word itself, which is derived from the French and means a reckoning of time in which the divisions of a year are deﬁned, is not at issue; it is the use of the word as a verb that seems odd.

Whereas landmark designation styles, date ranges and building types. One might once have been merely a worth- of the things that the chosen areas have while community goal, all too often now in common, and a primary reason for sucit is a vital ingredient in the continued cess, is an organized neighborhood pres-

life of a community.

ervation campaign behind them. HDC

In 2004, HDC launched a feature on works closely with such local groups to our Web site called “Neighborhoods at further their cause. By building awareRisk” with ﬁve threatened areas —Sunny- ness of these efforts, HDC hopes to push side Gardens, Queens; Stapleton, Staten them forward on the path to designation.

In almost every conversation about a potential landmark designation or an historic building at risk, eventually the question is raised, “Is it calendared?” This odd query is almost always followed immediately by “How can we get it calendared?,” which leads to a strategy session. This conversational turn often leaves landmark laymen somewhat at a loss – What is this “calendaring” that is being referred to? Does it have something to do with ﬁscal years? Or

Island; Grand Concourse, The Bronx;

The threats facing our city’s historic

Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park, Brooklyn; neighborhoods are manifold, but demoliand the undesignated sections of NoHo tion is obviously the most dire. Besides the in Manhattan. The neighborhoods, one irreplaceable loss of historic architecture, from each borough, represent a range demolition can lead to new construction of dates, architectural styles and build- that is often out of scale and at odds with ing types that all speak to the history of existing buildings. While the LPC judges New York City. In the four years since its new structures on how their design, mate-

launch, there has been progress.

rials and scale harmonize with the his-

The part of Stapleton centered on toric district, no such review is required in
St. Paul’s Avenue was designated in 2004, nondesignated areas as long as zoning while the section around Harrison Street

Addisleigh Park: Uncovering African-American History in Southeast Queens

Clockwise, from top left: The homes of former Addisleigh Park residents Jackie Robinson; Rose Murphy and Slam Stewart; Ella Fitzgerald; James Brown and Cootie Williams; Milt Hinton; and Lena Horne.

In T h e s o u T h e a s T c o r n e r o f Qu e e n s , Together with the handsome architec- of this case helped open the neighbornot far from the bustling urban heart ture, it is obvious that on its physical hood to all.

of Jamaica, there is a charming, little- merits alone, Addisleigh Park warrants

Lured by the promise of seclusion,

known suburban-type enclave with a rich serious consideration as a potential his- quietude, space and beauty, many of the and distinctive history named Addisleigh toric district. However, the true secret newcomers were world-famous. BeginPark. With approximately 650 houses on and fascination of this neighborhood lie ning with William “Count” Basie, the ample lots with graceful, mature trees, in its social, rather than its architectural, area would eventually become home

the neighborhood is a hidden gem and history.

to notables such as Lena Horne, Ella

one deﬁnitely worthy of preservation protections.
Built when race-restricted covenants Fitzgerald, Illinois Jacquet, Jackie Robdictated the segregation of the city’s inson, James Brown, Joe Louis, Milt
Addisleigh Park was largely de- neighborhoods, Addisleigh Park even- Hinton, Roy Campanella, Cootie Wilveloped in the 1930’s as part of the tually transformed from an exclusively liams and many others. pre-World War II building boom that white neighborhood into one of New shaped large swaths of eastern Queens. York City’s premier African-American be a much-beloved home to a commuThe neighborhood lies in a rough triangle enclaves by the early 1950’s. nity of middle- and upper-middle-class between Linden Boulevard on the south, Beginning in 1946, the NAACP African-American teachers, attorneys,
Today Addisleigh Park continues to the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road sought to challenge the legality of the doctors, politicians, entrepreneurs and on the east, Sayres Avenue on the north area’s racial-ownership restrictions, other professionals.

and Marne Place on the west. Typical of and two years later the New York State

Given Addisleigh Park’s rich and

the era, the area possesses ﬁne examples Court of Appeals handed down a deci- largely unrecognized history, the Historof English Tudor-style and neo-Colonial sion that helped overturn this offensive ic Districts Council has partnered with Revival houses, many of which are quite practice, permitting Mr. Samuel Rich- the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization sizable (some with as many as eight bed- ardson, an African-American merchant to research and document the neighborrooms). Architecturally, the buildings are from Manhattan, to purchase a house hood’s story.

remarkably intact with few examples of from Ms. Sophie Rubin on 177th Street

Generous grants from Preserve New

inappropriate alterations or teardowns. in the neighborhood. Many civic and York, a grant program of the PreservaOriginal materials such as stucco, wood trade organizations, including the Amer- tion League of New York State and the

siding and stone are predominant.

ican Veterans Committee, the American New York State Council on the Arts,

A walk along Murdock Avenue, its Jewish Congress, the National Lawyers and from the National Trust for Historic principal street, reveals a pristine and Guild and the Committee of Catholics Preservation’s Northeast Ofﬁce have enattractive community. The broad, sweep- for Human Rights, submitted amicus abled HDC to hire two consultants to ing, well-manicured lawns, the charming briefs detailing the evils of segregation, study the neighborhood’s social history landscaping and the near complete lack of and although a number of afﬂuent and as well as its physical development. fences combined lend a graciousness not notable African-Americans were already often found in similar neighborhoods. living in Addisleigh Park, the resolution
The historians are currently conduct-

A Preservation Manifesto: TonyWood on His New Book

vI r T u a l l y e v e r y P r e s e r v a T I o n g r o u P but then I realized that the Bard Act,

Writing the book recharged my batin New York City has beneﬁted some- which made landmarks laws possible, teries and gave me tremendous cause for how from Anthony C. Wood’s eloquence was passed in 1956. and generosity during his three-decade

career in preservation advocacy and Who was Bard anyway?

philanthropy. Wood, executive direchope. I realized how many past preservationists didn’t just assume that the political tide was against them; they never gave up. They refused to accept the inevitabil-

tor at the Ittleson Foundation, which

It turns out that Albert S. Bard was ity of losing buildings and neighborhoods

funds projects combating AIDS, foster- a lawyer and civic leader with significant that they cared about so passionately. ing mental health and improving the inherited wealth. In 1913 he proposed This year I’m chairing a yearlong initiaenvironment, spent the 1980’s working an amendment to the state constitution tive called Preservation Vision New York at the Landmarks Preservation Com- allowing the government some control City, to engage the preservation commission, the Municipal Art Society and the J. M. Kaplan Fund. He has headed or served on nonprofit boards including the Historic Districts Council, the Preservation League of New York State, Partners for Sacred Places and the New York Preservation Archive Project. His first book, “Preserving New York: Winning the Right to Protect a City’s Landmarks” (422 pp., Routledge, $45), engagingly explains how varied activists—including bluebloods, architects, artists and hippies—fought side by side from 1913 to 1965 for legislation to protect landmarks. The volume, as Mr. Wood explains in this interview, is part meant as a manifesto, inspiring preservationists to think critically about their past and future. munity in thinking about its future. It’s partly in response to Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030, which barely mentions preservation.
Preservation Vision began with a survey on the internet gathering information from a broad range of preservationists on such concerns as: What threats and opportunities face preservation now? Which ones might emerge in the future? How should preservationists respond? Are there approaches by other cities that we should adopt? Are government incentives for preservation needed? Will we have enough trained restoration craftspeople in the future and if not what do we do about it?

What trajectory do you think it’s on?
How did you get interested in the topic?

Anthony C. W o od

Personally, I’m interested in strategic issues, like how and when should we take
While I was working at the Land- over a building’s aesthetics, and he kept off our gloves in our battles? How can we marks Commission and the MAS— pushing for that radical concept—it was emphasize our core values while also showlearning about city government, the passed in 1956, when he was 89 years old. ing how preservation advances other social

threats to the Landmarks Law, the

goals? And such questions as what new

clashes between the real-estate commu- What other colorful characters did funding sources and incentives can we crenity and preservationists, the best ways you end up studying? to organize grassroots activism—I kept ate to advance preservation? Also during the project we’ll convene some 20 emergtrying to understand the history that I was becoming part of.
George McAneny; he was a for- ing preservation leaders at the Rockefeller mer borough president who fought for Brothers Fund’s Pocantico Conference a decade against Robert Moses to save Center to help analyze the survey results
Did you ﬁnd anything about preserva- Castle Clinton. And there’s Robert C. and tease out of them an “idea bank”—

tion history?

Weinberg, a planner, architect and lec- actions that preservation needs to take to turer who especially fought for planning be a vital city force in 2030. The idea bank
In the 1980’s, I tape-recorded inter- advances and to protect Greenwich Vil- will be expanded, refined and brought back views with some major early players— lage. I kept finding these wonderful, to the preservation community for develHarmon Goldstone, Geoffrey Platt, creative, witty, often irascible individu- opment, discussion, debate and prioritizMargot Gayle—and some of them were als. The book is meant partly as a fam- ing. We’ll release a final report by the end published in Village Views (a periodical of ily history—these are our preservation of 2008. The goal is to get the preservation the Society for the Architecture of the ancestors. City). I pursued the history of preservation in my every idle moment. I realized community thinking longer-term—beyond next Tuesday’s Landmarks Commission hearing, or the next mayoral administrathere were stories that needed to be told. How did examining preservation tion. History shows that transformational I’d originally thought that everything history change your attitude toward ideas in historic preservation take years to

just dates back to Pennsylvania Station, where the ﬁeld is headed now?

realize.

HDC Auction Highlights Little- Known Modernist Masterwork

Wh I l e ne W yo r k cI T y has achieved a

respectable record of preserving its BeauxArts GildedAge, the masterworks from the post-WWII decades are still greatly unrecognized and unprotected, which is why the Historic Districts Council hosted this year’s Auction for Advocacy at the Edgar J. Kaufmann Conference Center, designed by renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Proceeds from the April 3rd event will support the League of Preservation Voters, an HDC initiative aimed at educating

Attendees at the Auction for Advocacy.

elected officials and candidates about pres- Street Block Association kept the atmo- sioned “Fallingwater” from Frank Lloyd ervation and development issues within sphere lively. their districts.
While enjoying panoramic views of the most important Finnish architects of
Wright. Aalto’s resulting design is typical
Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), one of the of the architect’s best work.
The space is an artistic entirety;
East River and the United Nations, guests the 20th century and a central figure in everything in it was designed and prohad the opportunity to bid on an array of International Modernism, was famous for duced by Aalto to create a harmonious items, ranging from behind-the-scenes his marriage of the naturalism of Finnish effect. Serene and light-filled, the curved tours of historic houses to original art- Romanticism with modernist ideals. The forms of ash and birch create an abstract work to a vacation at a private Puerto Rico Conference Center is the only example of forest-like sculpture of sinuous bent estate. Guest auctioneer George McNeely this master’s work in New York City and wood. Combined with blue porcelain tiles of Christie’s presided over the main event, one of only four of Mr. Aalto’s structures and modern yet humanistic lighting, the

and pianist Arthur Abrams of the East 12th remaining in the United States.

Conference Center is without a doubt an