Friends of the Lower West Side Downtown Community House & The
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Friends of the Lower West Side Downtown Community House & the Historic Lower West Side Historic Districts Council March 3, 2018 Former Downtown Community House It was sponsored by William H Childs, of Bon Ami Cleanser fame, and run by the Bowling Green Neighborhood Association “for the perpetual welfare of the men, women and children who live and work in lower Manhattan.” Built in 1925-6 and designed by John F Jackson Architect, the cost was $300,000. Governor Al Smith laid the cornerstone in 1925 History At the cornerstone laying ceremony, Governor Al Smith said that “there are few people in the City of New York today that realize really the number of people who live in this section of the city. The (Lower) west side to most people appears principally as a place of business … and to say that there are so many tenement dwellings in the very shade and the very shadow of the great tall buildings that make New York’s famous skyline is only to those familiar with it very apparent.” The community house had a health clinic, milk station, library, pool room, auditorium, classroom, nursery, kitchen, and dressmaking school 105-7 Washington Street, 1929 (NYPL) History At the dedication ceremony, Mayor James J. Walker thanked sponsor William H. Childs for help in “turning back the Bolsheviki, helping God and man, making the Stars and Stripes brighter than ever.” Washington Street, e/s looking south from Rector, 1911, before the community house was built (NYPL) History The building became the Recreation & Training School in 1936. In 1943 it housed government offices for medical services merchant seamen. From the late 1940s through the 1980s it housed a Longshoremen’s Union local. The last incarnation of the building was as a Buddhist Temple and today it is vacant 103 Washington, the former St George’s Syrian Catholic Church, is visible adjacent to 105. Washington Street, e/s looking north from Rector, 105-7 on right in center, 1940 (NYPL) Community The neighborhood , once populated by Irish and German immigrants, was sometimes known in the later 19th century as the SYRIAN COLONY, or Little Syria for its Arab population, mainly Syrians, Lebanese, Greeks, Turks, and Armenians. Immigrants from Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Ruthenia and Moravia arrived around 1900. The neighborhood was also known as Bowling Green Village in the 20th century. 88 Washington Street, c1936 (MCNY) Community The Community House served 16 nationalities in the ethnically diverse neighborhood, according to the New York Times in 1925 109 Washington Street, built in 1885 by architect John P Lee and which still exists, is typical of the housing stock in the neighborhood Washington Street, w/s looking south from Carlisle, 105-7 at far right, 1940, 109 to the left of 105 (NYPL) The building was designed in the Colonial Revival style, Architecture which was popular for settlement houses in this period. The building, with its characteristic red brick façade, limestone base and trim, inset plaques with swag ornament, window lintels with projecting keystones, and mansard roof with dormers over a modillioned cornice embodies the Colonial Revival style. The minor alterations, including replacement windows and easily removed tacked-on ground floor ornament, do not detract from the impact of the building. John F. Jackson Architect The architect John F. Jackson (1867-1948) was a noted YMCA architect and designed more than 70 of the buildings in the northeast US and Canada. Trained in Buffalo, he moved to New York City in 1901 and practiced for 40 years as John F Jackson Architect and with the firms of Jackson & Rosencrans, Jackson, Rosencrans & Canfield, and Jackson, Rosencrans & Waterbury Bergen Avenue YMCA, Jersey City He established the firm of Jackson & (John F Jackson, 1924) Jersey City Public Library Solstad in Passaic, NJ six years before he died at age 81 John F. Jackson Architect Jackson’s YMCA buildings include the Bedford, Prospect Park, Highland Park, and Seamen’s Branch buildings in Brooklyn , the YMCA at 135th Street in Manhattan (1918), the Central branch in Rochester, NY (1919), the Bergen Avenue Poughkeepsie YMCA branch in Jersey City (1924), and (Jackson & Rosencrans, 1908) in Wikipedia branches in Watertown, NY, Montreal and Winnipeg The architect designed homes, churches and public buildings, including the Samaritan Home for the Aged at 440 East 89th Street in 1929, the Boys Club of NY at 321 East 111th Street , the Calvary 135th St YMCA Baptist Church in Westfield, NJ and the (John F Jackson, 1918) Congregational Church in Brookfield, Mass. Lower West Side Neighborhood Resources Lost Since 2001 4 Albany, American Surety, Demolished 21-23 Thames, Demolished 133 Greenwich, Western Electric, ** Demolished ** 98-100 Greenwich, Demolished ** 96 Greenwich, Seriously Altered 68-74 Trinity, Demolished 50-52 Trinity, Demolished 47-49 West, Crystal Building, Demolished ** 32-42 Trinity, Former Adams Express, to be demolished ** - Designated Landmarks Lost Since 2001 Support and Rejection • The Downtown Community House received support from Community Board 1, Councilmember Margaret Chin, Gale Brewer, Henry St Settlement, University Settlement, hundreds of postcards and a Washington St Historical Society petition with over 1000 signatures • The effort was covered in the local press and internationally because of the Little Syria history • Washington Street Historical Society produces report on history of 105-109 Washington St • Landmarks has repeatedly rejected the Community House as being not good enough architecturally Future Steps Expanding the Request for Evaluation to include 5 contiguous 19th century structures Outreach for support: local elected officials, CB1, organizations Press Alternate preservation strategy: Look for a new use and buyer for Community House.