DISTRICT LINES NEWS AND VIEWS OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL WINTER 2002, VOLUME XVI, NUMBER 1 STATEN ISLAND, BOROUGH WHERE LANDMARKING LAGS The Historic Districts Council recently spent a day touring New York City’s least- landmarked borough and concluded that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has a lot of catching up to do. Staten Island, the third-largest borough in land area, has only two designated historic dis- tricts: St. George/New Brighton and New York City Farm Colony – Sea View Hos- pital. These meager designations do an injustice to Staten Island’s varied and interesting architectural communities, many of which are under threat of rapa- cious development. The Preservation League of Staten Island, with HDC’s SANDRA LEVINE encouragement and support, is spear- A row of 1900 neo-Tudor buildings designed by Carrèe & Hastings for developer George heading a boroughwide drive to correct Washington Vanderbilt, best known for his creation of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North this neglect and bring much- needed Carolina. preservation attention to the Island. During the course of the tour, HDC’s hoods, including Stapleton Heights (also Avenue, Westerleigh (also known as Pro- New Districts Committee looked careful- called Mud Lane), the Nook (a section of hibition Park), and an undesignated sec- ly at a number of undesignated neighbor- Stapleton), Snug Harbor East, Vanderbilt Continued on page 5 AFTER THREE DECADES,MURRAY HILL BECOMES A HISTORIC DISTRICT Murray Hill was first developed in the cultural history. In the late-19th and house. Delano also designed a sophisti- 1850s as a fashionable district for some of early-20th centuries, the neighborhood cated French Renaissance facade for a New York’s most distinguished families. was home to some of New York’s more former carriage house at 126 East 38th Over the years, the neighborhood has noteworthy residents. The narrow Ital- Street for use as his office. retained much of its mid-19th-century ianate brownstone at 125 East 36th Street Murray Hill’s 30-year effort to obtain appearance – its predominantly low-scale was the first home of newlyweds Eleanor official historic-district status moved for- residential character of quiet, tree-shaded and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Rhinelanders, ward on January 29, 2002, when the New streets lined with handsome townhouses, Belmonts, Tiffanys, and Havemeyers also York City Landmarks Preservation Com- contiguous brownstone rows, and converted lived in the neighborhood. Architect mission voted unanimously in favor of carriage houses in a variety of architectural Ralph Townsend was commissioned by designation. The boundaries of the dis- styles. Many of the dwellings are set back Todd Lincoln, son of the President, to trict stretch from East 35th to East 38th from the street behind front yards graced design a double Georgian-style house at Street, roughly between Lexington and with ornamental iron fences, adding an ele- 122-124 East 38th Street for his two Park Avenues, encompassing the historic gance and gentility to the area not usually daughters. Another prominent architect, core of Murray Hill, one of Manhattan’s associated with Midtown Manhattan. William Adams Delano, lived in a brown- finest Victorian-era neighborhoods. Sup- In addition to its architectural features, stone at 131 East 36th Street, which he ported by the Historic Districts Council, the area also has its share of interesting transformed to a tasteful Parisian town- Continued on page 9 DISTRICT LINES - Winter 2002 Page 2 TO MARKET, TO MARKET … nent preservationists from the Historic (THE GANSEVOORT, THAT IS) Districts Council, the Municipal Art Society, the New York Landmarks Con- According to Landmarks Preservation servancy, and architectural consultants. Commission Chair Sherida Paulsen, the Guidelines would govern alterations designation of the Gansevoort Market area and new construction in the district, and on the West Side of Manhattan as a historic they would be specific to existing build- district could happen in six to 12 months, ings and streetscapes. “We need to but no one in the Save Gansevoort Market demonstrate that the industrial history of GREENWICH VILLAGE SOCIETY FOR VILLAGE GREENWICH PRESERVATION HISTORIC Task Force is regarding it as a done deal. The Homestead Restaurant on Ninth Avenue, this area as a mercantile district is tied to Although much research has already a true landmark in the heart of the proposed the way the buildings look today,” said been done on the area, commonly known district. Ms. Yowell. “And we need to write guide- as the meatpacking district, more is need- lines that allow change while preserving ed. A major step in the effort for designa- executive director of GVSHP, which is the streetscapes and a sense of place.” tion was the submission to the LPC last overseeing the task force. “The Gan- Few designated historic districts in September of a report written by architec- sevoort Market district is different. It’s New York City have such guidelines. tural historian Thomas Mellins entitled not your typical rowhouse area. Architec- Spelling out what does and does not con- “The Proposed Gansevoort Market His- tural quality by conventional standards form to regulations helps the LPC to toric District: An Overview.” Among exists, but there is much more here than administer a district. Having them may other material, he used archival research the traditional case for districting, and advance the case for designation. Just as on the riverside buildings below 14th there is untapped potential in regard to important, making guidelines available to Street that had been done for a 1989 doc- what LPC has not touched on.” owners clarifies what alterations are ument called “The Architecture of the To further the designation effort, a acceptable and what may not be, what Greenwich Village Waterfront,” edited by new committee has been formed to advise changes require permits and what do not, architectural historian Regina Kellerman and consult with the LPC about a master thereby demystifying the process. This and published by the Greenwich Village plan to accompany the proposed district’s can go a long way to convincing property Society for Historic Preservation designation report. The master plan owners that the regulations of a historic (GVSHP). New research will bring that would include proposals for design district are not arbitrary or capricious. study up to date, but since the LPC sug- guidelines for area development. Orga- Although not common in New York, in gested expanding the proposed historic nized by Linda Yowell, a member of the other cities throughout the world, preser- district northward to West 16th Street, task force and co-chair of the Preserva- vation districts often have such guidelines. similar research will be done for the tion Committee of GVSHP, the new When the guidelines are ready, says buildings north of 14th Street. The gener- group will be chaired by architect James Ms. Hamilton, the task force will approach al boundaries as proposed are West 16th Stewart Polshek and composed of promi- property owners, hoping to enlist their Street on the north to Horatio Street on support for designation. “We want to listen the south, and from Hudson Street or to owners’ concerns to try to meet them Ninth Avenue west to the Hudson River. intelligently,” she adds. While not legally New research will deal not only with DISTRICT LINES necessary, owner support is always wel- the vital statistics of individual build- NEWS AND VIEWS OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL come in the quest for designation. ings—dates of construction and alter- “There’s a lot up in the air about how Editor Simeon Bankoff ations, uses and owners—but will also Layout and Production Ross Horowitz development and preservation are going examine more broadly how the evolution Editorial Consultant Jack Taylor to be in the future,” says Mr. Berman. of transportation and industry and the Contributors Penelope Bareau, Claire Bier- “We’re not going completely out on a limb links between them have shaped the dis- horst, Minor Bishop, Hal Bromm, Franny here, but we’re moving farther along it.” trict as a whole over the years. Industrial Eberhart, Ann Walker Gaffney, Sandra Other activities of the task force are: Levine, Joyce Mendelsohn, Jack Taylor history is rich in this area, as is the evolu- Creation of a Website—www.savegan- tion of marketing that gives the district its The Historic Districts Council is the city- sevoortmarket.org—which includes Mr. name. In looking at the district’s changes, wide non-profit advocate for New York’s des- Mellins’s report, a fact sheet about the we can better see how the flow of history ignated historic districts, and for neighbor- district and the movement, and a Request is expressed in existing buildings and hoods worthy of preservation. The Council is For Evaluation form which can be down- dedicated to preserving the integrity of New streetscapes, how the layers of history can York City’s Landmarks Law and to furthering loaded, filled out, and sent to the LPC. be read in the present environment. In the the preservation ethic. A self-guided walking-tour brochure, end, says Jo Hamilton, co-chair of the DISTRICT LINES is made possible, in which is being prepared for springtime task force, the goal is “to refine the mean- part, by the New York Department of Cultural strollers. ing of ‘sense of place,’ and to pin it down Affairs. A special tour of Gansevoort Market The Historic Districts Council is supported GREENWICH VILLAGE SOCIETY FOR VILLAGE GREENWICH PRESERVATION HISTORIC with examples and history.” during HDC’s Preservation Conference in ue, by public funds from the New York State “It’s very, very exciting,” says Andrew Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the March. ■ Berman, the new (since January 2, 2002) generosity of its Friends and other donors.