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Albany,
NY – March 2025 / NewsmakerAlert: Governor Kathy Hochul has announced
recommendations by the New York
State Board for Historic Preservation to add 20 properties and districts
to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations
include Marcus Garvey Park in New York City, an octagon house in Columbiaville,
a Jewish cemetery in Buffalo and the Colgate-Rochester Crozer Divinity
School in Rochester.
“New
York’s historic places tell the stories of where people have authored the
enduring legacy we cherish,” Governor Hochul said. “With these nominations,
we commit ourselves to protecting that legacy and to sharing these wondrous
monuments of human achievement with future generations. By recognizing
these sites, we honor the diverse communities and rich history that make
New York extraordinary.”
State
and National Register listing can assist owners in revitalizing properties,
making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services,
such as matching state grants and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.
New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)
Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, “In New York, we’re committed
to recognizing our diverse history and expanding the official record of
places of significance. With each slate of nominations, we increase our
knowledge of our past and help ensure access to resources to preserve these
places for the future. When properties are listed in the State and National
Registers of Historic Places, they become eligible for various public preservation
programs and incentives, such as matching state grants and federal and
state historic rehabilitation tax credits. Our future is worth a strong
investment in our past and we are proud to advance this work.”
New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Deputy
Commissioner for Historic Preservation Daniel Mackay said, “At the Division
for Historic Preservation, we are dedicated to researching and documenting
complete histories, to expanding the State and National Registers of Historic
Places, and to connecting communities with the resources they need to help
preserve and promote these unique assets. Listing in the registers is the
first step in connecting property owners with resources that will help
them steward this shared history.”
New
York State continues to lead the nation in the use of historic tax credits,
with $7.17 billion in total rehabilitation costs from 2018-2024. Since
2009, the historic tax credit program has stimulated over $16.4 billion
in project expenditures in New York State, creating significant investment
and new jobs. According to a report, between 2018-2022, the credits
in New York State generated 72,918 jobs and over $1.47 billion in local,
state and federal taxes (PDF file).
The
State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures,
districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture,
archaeology and culture of New York State and the nation. There are more
than 128,000 historic properties throughout the state listed in the National
Register of Historic Places, either individually or as components of historic
districts. Property owners, municipalities and organizations from communities
throughout the state sponsored the nominations.
Once
recommendations are approved by the Commissioner, who serves as the State
Historic Preservation Officer, the properties are listed in the New York
State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register
of Historic Places, where they are reviewed by the National Park Service
and, once approved, entered in the National Register. More information,
with photos of the nominations, is available on the Office
of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation website.
New York City
Church
of St. Edward the Martyr, New York County – The Church of St. Edward the
Martyr is a complex of religious buildings that includes an 1887 church
(with additions in 1902 and 1903), a parish house and rectory (housed in
a 1902 row building) and a 1961 community center. The church is an example
of Late Gothic Revival style religious architecture in East Harlem and
New York City and is the earliest representative example in Harlem of the
Anglo-Catholic architectural program adopted by some Episcopal congregations.
The establishment of the church coincided with the rapid development of
Harlem during the 1880s and was funded by prominent Manhattan Episcopalians,
including John Jacob Astor and “Commodore” Elbridge T. Gerry. The rapid
growth of the congregation and generous funding allowed the church to fully
embrace Anglo-Catholic worship with the construction of a grand Gothic-inspired
reredos and ornate woodwork designed by J. & R. Lamb, under the supervision
of Charles Lamb, whose studio was among the most prominent decorating firms
of the period. The church’s simple, steep-gabled façade, its stained-glass
windows and its central entrance all typify a modest, yet carefully planned,
Late Gothic Revival style religious building.
Corsi
Houses, New York County – Corsi Houses, a public housing complex in East
Harlem constructed in 1973, is one of a group of mid-20th century government-funded
senior housing complexes in Harlem developed by the New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA). It represents the expansion of federal affordable housing
programs to construct apartments specifically designed for seniors under
the Housing Act of 1956 and later expanded under housing acts in 1961 and
1965. Corsi Houses is also one of a small set of public housing developments
built in collaboration with a local settlement house, the LaGuardia Memorial
House, which had served the neighborhood since 1898. LaGuardia Memorial
House initiated Corsi Houses, thus ensuring direct community participation,
and built on land formerly occupied by the settlement house as part of
an attempt to integrate it into the surrounding neighborhood. The project
was initiated in 1961, but numerous interruptions (including struggles
over financing and design approval) delayed its opening to 1973. Although
Corsi Houses continues to fulfill its purpose of combining affordable elderly
housing with community support programs in East Harlem, the long struggle
to complete construction reveals the tension between well-intentioned programs,
community desires, politics and economic realities
Marcus
Garvey Park, New York County – For almost 200 years, the 20-acre public
green space now called Marcus Garvey Park has been a place of refuge and
cultural expression for Harlem residents. It’s among Manhattan’s oldest
parks, predating Central Park by over twenty years. The relative scarcity
of parks in this part of Manhattan heightened its importance as a community
resource worth defending and advocating for, as local groups have done
for decades. Marcus Garvey Park largely retains its 1930s landscape built
by laborers employed through the Works Progress Administration and designed
by Aymar Embury II and Gilmore Clarke, who worked under Parks Commissioner
Robert Moses. The most defining feature of their plan, the massive terrace
atop the mount, known as the Acropolis, is wholly intact. The park’s redevelopment
in this period was more than an aesthetic change. It introduced equipment
and facilities that supported child-centered play, reflecting changing
trends in public recreation. The park is located on a physical and cultural
nexus – at the historic dividing line between African American Central
Harlem and Spanish East Harlem. This reality gave events held here deep
symbolic meaning, especially the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. This multi-genre,
multi-ethnic musical showcase was designed to celebrate Harlem but also
directly addressed national issues of civil rights, social justice and
Black identity. The 1970 recreation center and amphitheater complex and
the 1971 pool represent the community’s crusade to bring more recreational
facilities to their neighborhood. In 1973 the park was renamed in honor
of the late Black Nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey, recognizing Black
heritage and pride in Harlem as well as the importance of the park in the
Black community. The Marcus Garvey Park National Register nomination was
supported, in part, by an Underrepresented Communities grant from the Historic
Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department
of the Interior.
Morris
Park Senior Citizens Home, New York County – Built in in 1963, the Morris
Park Senior Citizens Home is a remarkable example of a church-led senior
housing project developed under the direct loan program of the Community
Facilities Administration, a part of the US Housing and Home Finance Agency.
This program targeted housing specifically for the elderly at below market
rate; it also allowed faith-based communities to lead these developments.
Churches had long been providers of social services, however, in response
to the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, religious organizations,
particularly urban Black churches, were inspired to pursue housing, feeling
it was their responsibility to impact the socio-political landscape of
the city. The Abyssinian Baptist Church, one of the largest Black churches
in New York City, welcomed the opportunity to develop housing for citizens
in its community. Famed pastors Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Oberia D. Dempsey
established the Morris Park Senior Citizens Housing Council to lead the
development. The partners undertook this project in reaction to the perceived
shortfalls of the public housing produced by the New York City Housing
Authority (NYCHA), which was blamed for driving families out, demolishing
tenements and brownstones and constructing high-rise towers and superblocks
in their place. The Morris Park Senior Citizens Home provided ninety-seven
housing units for senior citizens, most of whom were Black, in Harlem.
Stuyvesant
Gardens I, Kings County – Stuyvesant Gardens I is a public housing complex
in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, which was one of New
York City’s largest Black communities in the early 1900s. Many residents
lived in former row houses and – in spite of racially motivated redlining
practices – the neighborhood was characterized by a high rate of homeownership.
Decades of disinvestment, however, led to the mounting perception of Bedford-Stuyvesant
as an area in need of assistance. In the mid-1960s, the neighborhood’s
network of community groups organized a coordinated opposition to the city’s
proposals to clear the area via demolition. Stuyvesant Gardens I was the
culmination of years of dialogue between the Bedford-Stuyvesant community
and local government officials. Designed by E.N. Turano and completed in
1972 for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), it is an example
of a public housing complex developed under the Model Cities program—a
government initiative to improve the physical condition of urban neighborhoods
that maximized community involvement in the planning process and minimized
displacement of existing residents. The design of Stuyvesant Gardens I
responded to the community’s wishes in a couple of notable ways: it has
a “vest pocket” site plan, spread across portions of two city blocks; and
it is low-rise, standing only four-stories tall and closely matching the
scale of adjacent row houses. Its low-rise design was intended to address
the criticisms of the tower-in-the-park model that was ubiquitous for public
housing developments in post-war New York City.
Long Island
Lynbrook
Public Library, Nassau County – Built in the village of Lynbrook in 1929,
Lynbrook Public Library is an example of early twentieth century institutional
architecture that reflects the ideals of the Public Library Movement. Designed
by architect Hugh Tallant, a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and well
known for his work in theatre design, the library embodies the Neoclassical
Revival style with its symmetrical design, monumental presence and classical
details, including carved depictions of Pallas Athena, goddess of wisdom
and war. Tallant, who partnered with Henry B. Herts to design major projects
like the New Amsterdam Theatre and Lyceum Theatre, brought his experience
designing grand, decorative architecture to the library. The building’s
design, featuring a formal entrance, large windows and a bright and open
reading room underscore its role as an enduring educational and cultural
resource for the community.
Mid-Hudson
Charles
D. & Elizabeth Lantry House, Ulster County – Located in the city of
Kingston, the Charles D. & Elizabeth Lantry House is an excellent example
of the Queen Anne-style. The rectangular, two-and-one-half-story wood frame
building constructed ca. 1894 has asymmetrical gables, projecting bays,
varied wall cladding and decorative woodwork. The historic interior of
the Lantry House is defined by its original floor plan, original wood staircase
with a carved floral newel post, historic windows and decorative woodwork.
Charles D. and Elizabeth Lantry, the original homeowners, reflected the
neighborhood’s historic middle-class homeownership and the use of architectural
style to demonstrate social standing.
Home
for the Aged in Ulster County, Ulster County – The Home for the Aged in
Ulster County was constructed in 1929 in response to the growing need for
safe, comfortable accommodations for an increasing number of senior residents
in the city of Kingston and the county at large. The Home is a strong example
of Colonial Revival architecture – designed by local architect George E.
Lowe – and is distinguished by its symmetrical design, prominent entrance
pediment and use of cast stone ornamentation. Throughout much of its operation,
the Home was at capacity – offering much needed housing that was supported
through charitable donations, without direct financing from the city or
state. It remained in operation in this capacity until 1974 when a new
owner purchased the building and began operating it as a non-profit organization.
Roosa
House, Ulster County – The Roosa House in the hamlet of High Falls in the
town of Marbletown dates to ca. 1790. It was first owned by Andries Roosa,
a descendant of one of the region’s founding Dutch settlers, Aldert Heymans
Roosa. The home is a notable example of late 1700s Dutch Colonial stone
residence and exhibits the building materials and methods from the early
development period of the Hudson River Valley. The house has additions
from ca. 1810 and later, but its center block is a rare and well-preserved
example of regional stone architecture in Marbletown during the late 1700s.
Capital Region
Hillsdale
Hamlet Historic District Boundary Expansion, Columbia County – Originally
listed in 2010, the Hillsdale Hamlet Historic District includes historic
commercial and residential buildings in the town of Hillsdale dating from
ca. 1790 to 1945. This boundary expansion adds the Hillsdale High House
to the historic district, which was mistakenly left out of the original
nomination. The Craftsman Bungalow style house was built in 1933 by local
architect Roy Van Deusen and was made from materials salvaged from the
nearby Hillsdale High School after it closed.
Smith
Octagon House, Columbia County – Constructed ca. 1860 and located in the
hamlet of Columbiaville, the Smith Octagon House is a rare and early example
of the octagon house-style promoted by phrenologist and reformer Orson
S. Fowler. The home reflects the construction methods and styles described
in Fowler’s 1849 book, A Home for All: or, A New, Cheap, Convenient, and
Superior Mode of Building. Some of the designs espoused in Fowler’s book
that were incorporated into the Smith Octagon House include ample natural
light and ventilation from symmetrical fenestration and a cupola. The overall
plan for the house aimed to reduce room corners, enhance circulation patterns
and limit interior or exterior embellishments. The original Smith family
who built and occupied the home until 1920 were millenarians and enthusiastic
participants in the Spiritualist movement.
St.
George’s Lodge No 6, Masonic Temple and Club, Schenectady County –The oldest
continuously operating masonic organization in Schenectady, St. George’s
Lodge No. 6, Masonic Temple and Club traces its origins to the 1700s and
was the largest and most prominent masonic order in the city during the
1900s. The Masonic Lodge and Club was located at 302 State Street from
1919 until the Masonic Association sold the building in 1992, spanning
a time of significant change for masonic orders and traditions. The temple
and “Masonic Club” hosted regular meetings of more than a dozen other masonic
organizations, making the building a regional hub for the full range of
masonic orders and traditions. The building is an excellent example of
a sophisticated, high-style, designed masonic temple and lodge building
type. After its extensive renovation in 1919, 302 State Street was transformed
into a purpose-built masonic lodge of dramatic proportions and detail.
The building retains excellent integrity and numerous features that link
this resource strongly to the tradition and history of Freemasonry. Additionally,
the design of the lodge room at the top level typifies the imagery and
iconography of the masonic lodge tradition.
Western New York
Ahavas
Achim Cemetery, Erie County – Ahavas Achim is a small congregational cemetery
first established in 1917, which evolved over time to suit the needs of
its multi-national membership. Its earliest graves commemorate Eastern
and Central European Jews who immigrated to Buffalo from the 1890s through
the 1920s who chose large, richly ornamented monuments to honor their ancestors
and European heritage. These monuments also reflect the community’s economic
success in the United States, in contrast to the political and social oppression
they faced in Europe. This economic success is underscored by the cemetery’s
impressive gateway and chapel, both designed in the Egyptian Revival style.
Through the synthesis of national origin and customs, the movement of synagogues
to progressively more affluent areas and the continual accretion of congregations,
the Ahavas Achim Cemetery represents the oldest, extant, continuously used
built resource associated with that congregation. As previous synagogue
buildings were demolished or converted into churches, only the cemetery
remains intact, representing the final resting place of Buffalo Jews for
over a century. Its continual use creates a tangible connection to the
congregation’s ancestors and represents the dynamics of immigration in
the United States.
Cattaraugus
County Memorial and Historical Building, Cattaraugus County – In 1908,
Cattaraugus County and a Citizens Committee commissioned the Memorial and
Historical Building in Little Valley to commemorate the county’s centennial.
It opened in 1914 to house “memorial relics and as a memorial to our soldiers
and sailors who enlisted in the Civil War from this County.” The Historical
Society operated the facility until the 1920s; then the building became
the home to the Little Valley Library. In 1953, it opened to the public
as the County Museum. Today the red brick building is the home of the Citizens
Advocating Memorial Preservation.
First
Presbyterian Church, Chautauqua County – Designed by renowned architect
Ralph Adams Cram, the First Presbyterian Church in Jamestown is one of
only three of this master architect’s churches completed in the Neo-Byzantine-Romanesque
style. Erected in 1926 this church is an outstanding example of traditional
building techniques and craftsmanship. The three-aisle, brick and stone
edifice features a five-story bell tower, polychromed roof trusses and
stained-glass windows produced in the studios of Harry Wright Goodhue,
Gabriel Loire and the firm of Otto Heinigke and Thorton Smith. The building
is highly embellished with limestone details, including Classical moldings,
dentils, cornices, scrolls and column capitals. Brick and limestone are
used in combination to create decorative stripes and counterchange patterns
on the surface of the walls. Blocks of limestone laid in an asymmetrical
pattern and bas-reliefs of Christians symbols decorate the street-facing
elevations.
Central New York
Syracuse
Boys Club, Onondaga County – Born out of Progressive Era ideals about youth
development and the rise of afterschool programs, the Boys Club of America
established health services, technical skills and safe recreational space
for the nation’s youth. In Syracuse, the need for community-based education
and care was compounded by waves of immigration from Eastern Europe. After
school programs often served the additional function of “Americanizing”
new populations by offering a space to learn language and cultural values
outside of the home. The Syracuse Boys Club is an excellent example of
a Collegiate Gothic style building from the early 1900s. Designed by local
architect Melvin King and built between 1922 and 1923, the architecture
communicates the club’s dedication to its mission of education and social
betterment and the high-style treatment and use of brick, stone and terra
cotta on the façade conveys the building’s prominence within the
community.
Utica
Mutual Insurance Company Office Building, Onondaga County –Designed by
King & King, prominent local architects and the oldest architectural
firm in New York State, the Utica Mutual Insurance Company Building in
Syracuse is an exceptionally intact example of an International Style office
building of the 1950s. Built as part of an expansion effort for the Utica
Mutual Insurance Company in 1956, the building was modeled after the company’s
modernist headquarters that was constructed outside of Utica only two years
prior. King & King – who were also tenants of the building – demonstrated
their fluency with the International Style and this was one of their earliest
commissions in this style, which came to define their architectural practice
in the midcentury. The building at 420 E. Genesee Street stands as a prototypical
example of the firm’s early work in the style, as well as an example of
the firm’s proficiency with the Corporate International Style. The firm
constructed several prominent buildings in this style in Syracuse and was
especially well-known for its dramatic curtain walls and impressive structural
work.
Finger Lakes
Colgate-Rochester
Crozer Divinity School, Monroe County – At the core of this hilltop campus
in the city of Rochester sits an assembly of Collegiate Gothic buildings,
complete with spires, oriel windows, leaded panes and ornate carvings.
Nationally renowned architect James Gamble Rogers – best known for his
designs for Yale University’s original residential colleges – conceived
the campus’s original 1932 components and its pastoral setting was designed
by local landscape architect, Alling DeForest. Another local architect
Charles Carpenter added two Tudor Revival dormitories in 1936; final additions
to the campus were two mid-century Modern dormitories. In 1928, the Colgate
and Rochester seminaries merged and this campus became the center of local
and national discourses around theology, social inclusion and civil rights
for several decades. In response to increasing secularism after World War
II, faculty and administration pioneered Christian ecumenism, as well as
controversial new theologies, like the “death of God” ideas associated
with Professor William Hamilton. They responded to 1960s social movements
and sought to elevate the voices of groups traditionally marginalized by
mainstream religious institutions by merging with the historically female
Baptist Missionary Training Center in 1962; creating the Black Church Studies
program in 1969; and merging with Crozer Theological Seminary – Rev. Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s alma mater – in 1970.
Mohawk Valley
Jefferson
Historic District, Schoharie County – Located in the northern Catskills
region in the town of Jefferson, the historic district consists of over
one hundred resources at the intersection of historic travel routes. The
district embodies a community settled mainly by people from New England,
who brought with them a village plan set around a centralized green space
with commercial, civic and religious buildings surrounding a square. The
creamery trade – especially large-scale butter manufacturing around 1900
– led to a burst of economic prosperity for the area. The architectural
styles and built environment in Jefferson represent its development from
ca. 1805 through 1936, the year when the consolidated Jefferson Central
School was built.
Southern Tier
Walter
Coulter Homestead Farm, Delaware County – Located in the town of Bovina,
the Walter Coulter Homestead Farm represents the development of a family
farm over generations of descendants – starting with Water Coulter, the
son of Lowland Scots who were forced to abandon their leased land in the
Scottish Borders during the late 1700s. Four generations of the Coulter
family operated and developed the farm until it was sold out of the family
in 1948. The residence building is a highly intact wood frame house characteristic
of the regional style in the early 1800s. A three-level barn and other
outbuildings are representative of the move from several commodities produced
on the farm to a focus on dairy by the early 1900s.
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New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)
oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf
courses, boat launches and more, which saw a record 88.3
million visits in 2024. For more information on any of these recreation
areas, visit parks.NY.gov, download
the free NY State Parks Explorer
app or call 518-474-0456. Join us in celebrating our Centennial throughout
2024, and connect with us on Facebook,
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(formerly Twitter) and the OPRHP Blog.
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Contact:
Dan
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Public
Information Officer
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