FALL 2018 [email protected] | 212-886-3742 WWW.VICSOCNY.ORG the new york metropolitan chapter of the victorian society in america Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony Dazzling and varied stained-glass windows at the general public (speaker, venue, and catering costs total Church of the Incarnation, on lower Madison Avenue, $650 per lecture); walking tours; bus tours to Newark, provided the backdrop for the 51st Annual Business Trenton, Bethlehem, and Oyster Bay; brunch at the Meeting and Awards Ceremony of the Victorian Soci- Oscar Wilde Bar; a lecture at the landmark Estonia ety New York on May 30, 2018. The church’s windows House (1899, Thomas A. Gray) on terra cotta by Susan were designed by luminary artists including John La Tunick, in support of the Margot Gayle Fund; and Farge, Henry Holiday, Tiffany Studios, William Morris a tour of a private Aesthetic Movement collection & Company, Clayton & Bell, Guthrie & Davis, Cottin & graciously hosted by Eric Holzenberg and Henry Raine Company, and Heaton, Butler & Bayne. Rev. J. Douglas at their Bronx home. Ousley, the rector, welcomed the annual meeting’s The president praised the Chapter’s energetic return to his church after over a decade. VSNY’s presi- preservation efforts led by Preservation Committee dent and treasurer gave reports and the organization co-chairs George Calderaro and Russell Needham. The elected directors, handed out awards and grants, and VSNY collaborated with other preservation groups At VSNY’s annual meeting, hosted a lively reception. to achieve an individual landmark designation for board leaders, members, Outgoing Chapter President Hilda Regier recounted 827-831 Broadway, twin Civil War-era “marble honorees, and guests enjoyed the history of the Society and the Chapter since incor- palaces” designed by Griffith Thomas and built in spring light through stained- poration in 1966 and 1970, respectively, as well as the 1866-1867 for tobacco heir Pierre Lorillard III. The glass windows at the Church of year’s activities. In fall 2017 through spring 2018, VSNY partly cast-iron buildings are also significant for their the Incarnation. published informative newsletters, and it organized associations with the Abstract Expressionist artists (photo by James Russiello) eight scholarly lectures with receptions, free to the Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Paul Jenkins, Larry Poons, Jules Olitski, and Herbert Ferber, and curator William S. Rubin. These influential figures lived and worked there during the pivotal post- World War II era, as New York City became the center of the art world. Following the site’s designation, VSNY and other groups testi- fied at hearings and were successful in reducing the scale of an approved rooftop tower development. Other collaborative efforts included a call for creating a historic district protecting CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 from left: Andrew Dolkart, Amanda Davis, Jay Shockley, and Ken Lustbader, who lectured on New York’s LGBT historic sites; Kathleen Morris describing Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s musical instruments, furniture, and artworks at Church of the Holy Trinity, Yorkville; attendees at a tour of Aesthetic Movement objects and books at the home of Eric Holzenberg and Henry Raine (photos: James Russiello) Tin Pan Alley on West 28th Street, Manhattan. and designed by C.B.J. Snyder, the legendary raised by the Margot Gayle Fund Program. In October 2017, VSNY supported a “Save Tin superintendent of buildings in NYC from Major expenses were for the annual meeting, Pan Alley Day,” which featured walking tours, 1891-1922. The LPC denied the request, but the tours, and Victorian Summer School Scholar- musical performances, and a display of sheet Chapter has vowed to revisit the issue and ship Grants. The VSNY provides the second music—the event was covered by local media. monitor the building, which is occupied by largest amount of funds for these scholarships The VSNY appealed to the Parks Department two public schools. Similar efforts to get the after the Alumni Association, which is also to properly maintain an individual landmark Kaskel & Kaskel Building (1903, Charles L. considered a chapter of the national VSA. Staten Island house that landscape architect Berg) at 316 Fifth Avenue designated were not The advertised election of directors and offi- Frederick Law Olmsted purchased in 1847 successful, and it was demolished to make way cers was unanimously approved and included and lived in for the next 11 years. The house for a forty-story condominium tower. Vivian Davis, Alice Dickinson, Afsy has been allowed to become derelict since Outgoing Treasurer Frampton Tolbert Kafei, David Mulkins, Caroline O’Connell, the Parks Department purchased it in 2006. reported that the Chapter had ended 2017 in Cameron Robertson, and Nicole Smith as VSNY spearheaded a request for evaluation for the red, but that was due to many donations new directors, and the re-election of Kathleen individual landmark designation for 161 Sixth being received after the first of the year. The Bennett, Franklin Headley, John Graham Avenue, Manhattan, a four-story block-wide largest sources of income were membership (corresponding secretary), Jessica Baldwin Beaux Arts Classical style school, built in 1905 dues and tours fees, followed by the amount (president), and Alexis Mucha (treasurer). AWARDS An exhibition award went to The New-York material, For Art’s Sake: The Aesthetic Movement Snyder. VSNY is campaigning to protect Historical Society for Hotbed, which featured in Print & Beyond. Snyder schools throughout the city, and the immersive installations and more than 100 The New Media Award went to frequent organization heartily applauds efforts to artifacts and images that explored the vibrant Chapter award-winner Bard Graduate preserve, restore and adaptively reuse these political and bohemian artistic scene of early- Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, beautiful buildings, which were built in an 20th-century Greenwich Village. Joanna Scutts, Material Culture, in recognition of the era of government commitment to enno- one of the N-YHS curators, along with art digitalization of its spring 2017 Focus Project, bling design for educational facilities. Maria director Kira Hwang and exhibition designer New York Crystal Palace 1853. Rev. Thomas Malpica of United American Land LLC Melinda Zoephel, accepted the award. Declan Ahern, the former pastor of Saint Augus- and architect Page Ayres Cowley accepted Kiely, now director of special collections and tine RC Church, Park Slope, and church an award for extensive rehabilitation at 321 exhibitions at the New York Public Library, board member William A. Cahill accepted and 323 Canal Street, two 1821 diminutive accepted an exhibition award on behalf of the Grassroots Award for roof and associated houses with storefronts added in the mid-19th his previous employer, The Morgan Library restoration work at the Parfitt Brothers- century. The American painter and inventor & Museum, for Henry James and American designed transitional English-Gothic style 1888 Samuel F.B. Morse lived at 321 Canal Street in Painting, for which he served as co-curator church, which has recently been designated 1828. In accepting the award, Ms. Cowley espe- with the novelist Colm Tóibín. The exhibi- an individual landmark. cially thanked board member John Graham tion brought together paintings, sculpture Outgoing Awards Committee Chair Alta for his lead efforts with this project before and writings by James and his contempo- Indelman presented two Preservation/Resto- he retired from the Landmarks Preservation raries, providing a rich exploration of the ration Awards. Bruce Nelligan of Nelligan Commission. connections between the visual arts and White Architects accepted a prize for Timothy Bent, senior editor at Oxford literature. Eric Holzenberg, the director of The work at P.S. 158 Manhattan, also known University Press, accepted the Book Award Grolier Club, accepted the Museum Cata- as the Bayard Taylor School. The Beaux on behalf of author Mike Wallace for Greater logue Award for a show that starred his own Arts style school building in Yorkville was Gotham, A History of New York City from 1898 to stunning collection of Aesthetic Movement designed in 1897 with a 1905 addition by C.B.J. 1919, which is the sequel to the Pulitzer Prize 2 Paul Manafort's Brownstone winning Gotham: A History of New York City to On a leafy side street in the Carroll Gardens 1898. Wallace’s sequel focuses on the period of section of Brooklyn, a handsome yet unpreten- growth and dramatic change spanning from tious mid-block brownstone keeps drawing the city’s municipal consolidation through crowds. The circa-1860s Italianate row house, just after World War I. The volume’s range at 377 Union Street, between Smith and Hoyt, of topics includes muckrakers, ethnically has belonged to the disgraced political opera- diverse radicals, Jim Crow segregated housing, tive Paul Manafort. Over the last 150 years, skyscrapers, garbage, child labor, department the building, along with its nearly identical stores, prostitution, birth control, feminists, neighbor at 375 Union Street, has attracted and Tin Pan Alley. curiosity seekers before while engulfed in Indelman, who is also outgoing chair of the public scandal. Margot Gayle Fund Grant, presented three Manafort bought the property in 2012, awards. Victoria Munro, executive director for about $3 million, and started investing of the Alice Austen House, accepted a $500 heavily in renovations and additions—the grant for a digital screen that will display the intended inhabitants were his daughter Staten Island house museum’s letter collec- Jessica and her husband, Jeffrey Yohai (the tion. The award represents continuity in couple has since divorced). The interior had VSNY’s history; starting in the 1960s, Margot retained creamy marble mantles, parquet Gayle herself had helped save the Alice floors and etched glass pocket doors, and Paul Manafort’s padlocked brownstone, 377 Union Austen House—parts of which date to the 17th it was also equipped with a Jacuzzi.