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Albany,
NY – November 2024 / NewsmakerAlert: The New York State Office
of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) announced the
nominations
of 24 properties and districts to the State and National Registers
of Historic Places. The nominations include bank buildings, factories,
historic district updates, and more.
New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner
Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, “New York State’s historic resources
are a real asset for the people of New York. As we continue to expand the
listings in the State and National Registers of Historic Places, these
new additions will be eligible for historic preservation programs and incentives,
such as matching state grants and federal and state historic rehabilitation
tax credits. These resources can be a lifeline for preservation projects
that contribute to the economic vitality and vibrancy of communities across
the state.”
New
York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Deputy
Commissioner for Historic Preservation Daniel Mackay said, “The work
of the Division for Historic Preservation is, necessarily, ongoing as ‘new’
historic resources become eligible for the State and National Registers
every year. Working within the guidelines of the National Park Service,
we aim to consider the varied and rich histories of the state through nominations
and to connect communities with resources to help them preserve and promote
their historic resources.”
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 126,000 historic properties throughout the state listed on 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.
The
nominations were made by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation
and the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at a Board meeting held
on September 12, 2024, at the New York State Museum in Albany. The Deputy
Commissioner, who serves as the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer,
approved the proposals thereby listing the properties on the New York State
Register of Historic Places and then nominating them 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 State continues to lead the nation in the use of historic tax credits,
with $3.96 billion in total rehabilitation costs from 2018-2022. Since
2009, the historic tax credit program has stimulated over $13 billion in
project expenditures in New York State, creating significant investment
and new jobs. According to a report (view
PDF file), between 2018-2022, the credits in New York State generated
72,918 jobs and over $1.47 billion in local, state, and federal taxes.
Capital Region
Center
Square/Hudson-Park Historic District Additional Documentation, Albany County
– The Center Square/Hudson-Park Historic District, a large, primarily residential,
district located just west of Albany’s major commercial and governmental
center, was listed in the National Register in 1980 with a period of significance
ending in 1920. This additional documentation chronicles the last phase
of historic and architectural development in the district and extends the
period of significance to 1957. It also reevaluates nine buildings in the
district constructed during the 1950s; all embody a restrained Modern aesthetic
marked by simple, geometric forms, large windows, and a lack of applied
historicist ornament. They are modest in scale and use similar materials
to the district’s older buildings, while offering an update to the Victorian
period styles that otherwise dominate the district. Most of these buildings
were built to meet the increasing need for office space associated with
the phenomenal growth of New York State government in the period after
World War II. They complete the catalogue of period types and styles documented
in the original district nomination.
General
Electric Building 31, Schenectady County – General Electric (G.E.) Building
31 is a ca. 1887 two-story brick industrial building with Italianate style
detailing that was originally constructed for the Westinghouse Illuminating
Company, an early rival of inventor and businessman Thomas Edison. Located
in downtown Schenectady, it originally faced the Erie Canal before the
canal was filled in to create Erie Boulevard. General Electric acquired
the building to supplement their large Schenectady campus, and it was the
home of their Illuminating Engineering Laboratory, where lighting pioneer
William D’Arcy Ryan led his team in researching and testing new products
and lighting technologies. Ryan is known for designing the lighting scheme
of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and for popularizing the use of floodlighting.
After the demolition of much of GE’s Schenectady campus in the 1980s, G.E.
Building 31 is now one of only a few surviving buildings in the city that
were used by General Electric during its heyday. It is also a rare remaining
late-1800s industrial building in this section of Schenectady.
General
Electric Building 32, Schenectady County – General Electric (G.E.) Building
32, located between downtown Schenectady and the former headquarters of
General Electric, is one of the earliest surviving examples of “Daylight
Factory” design in the Electric City. Built in 1909 by the A.G. Lindley
Company of Schenectady, the four-story brick building was originally occupied
by the Mohawk Overall Company until G.E. purchased it in 1915. Reinforced
steel cast concrete buildings such as this were revolutionary because they
offered a degree of fireproofing and allowed for uninterrupted floor plans
with large windows. G.E. found this new design advantageous and used the
building initially as a machine shop. From the 1930s to the 1980s, it served
as an educational training center for G.E. employees. It is one of the
few remaining G.E. linked buildings still standing on Erie Boulevard today.
Central New York
Montgomery
Street/Columbus Circle Historic District Boundary Expansion/Boundary Decrease,
Onondaga County – The Montgomery Street/Columbus Circle Historic District
was originally listed in the National Register in 1980 for its architectural
and historical significance as an exceptionally intact historic urban neighborhood
that retained significant streetscapes and buildings chronicling the character
and development of Syracuse’s historic urban core between ca. 1846 and
ca. 1930. The primary purpose of the new nomination is to expand the boundary
of the original district and to extend the period of significance to 1975
to better reflect downtown Syracuse’s development through the post-World
War II and urban renewal eras. The nomination also reduces the boundary
in two places to eliminate the site of a building that has been demolished
and an empty lot that was mistakenly included. The contributing buildings
being added to the district were all constructed within the amended period
of significance (1846-1975) and are similar in architectural character
and historic associations to other buildings in the district. In addition,
there are important examples of Syracuse’s Modern architecture designed
by significant local and regional architects of the day: Horatio Nelson
White, George B. Post & Sons, Gustavus A. Young, King & King, Gordon
Schopfer, I. M. Pei, and Kahn & Jacobs. Three resources within the
expansion area – the Onondaga County War Memorial, Plymouth Congregational
Church & Parish House, and the Hotel Syracuse – were all previously
listed in the register individually.
Finger Lakes
Reed
Manufacturing Company, Wayne County – The Reed Manufacturing Company was
founded in 1890 in the village of Newark. Reed Manufacturing produced rust-resistant
coated containers – including kitchenware and utensils, pans and roasters,
pails, tubs, and wash boilers – which were sold at stores throughout the
country. This 1903 factory building is a notable example of a transitional
industrial building, which shifted from traditional heavy-timber mill construction
to curtain wall “Daylight Factory” design. It includes an H-shaped manufacturing
building and a small, freestanding administration building. The building
was eventually sold in 1946, after the Reed Company vacated it, and was
used by the C.H. Stuart Company to manufacture cosmetics.
Seneca
Chief Shipwreck, Ontario County – The Seneca Chief shipwreck is located
on the bottomlands of Canandaigua Lake in the Town of Canandaigua. This
steam yacht was built by shipbuilder David Bell and launched by the Canandaigua
Lake Steamboat Company in 1887. The Seneca Chief was primarily used for
excursion trips but also was sometimes used to support commercial and agricultural
industries. After nearly ten seasons on the lake, the vessel was salvaged
and then towed out onto the lake and sunk. It has great historic integrity
and is a highly representative example of a steam yacht of its era, a vessel
class important to the tourist, commercial, and agricultural industries
of Canandaigua Lake during the late 1800s.
Mid-Hudson
Kingston
Barrel Factory, Ulster County – The Kingston Barrel Factory is locally
significant as a building central to the industrial development of Kingston.
The two-story brick building was constructed ca. 1914 as a box factory
but transitioned to barrel manufacturing in 1917. Located near the Hudson
River and railroad, the Kingston Barrel Factory served a large New York
market and employed as many as fifty to seventy skilled workers, even during
the economic downturn of the Great Depression. The factory was a “tight
cooperage,” meaning the barrels manufactured there were designed to hold
liquids instead of solids. The plant trained craftsmen to produce the barrels,
which needed to be expertly finished to avoid leaks. Tight barrels were
in demand and required more skill to make; thus, the factory brought a
successful and lucrative business to Kingston at a time when the United
States led barrel production. Despite officially turning from the liquor
industry during Prohibition, the factory had a link to Legs Diamond, a
notorious gangster and bootlegger who bottled and stored ale at the site
until federal agents seized one million dollars’ worth of alcohol and equipment
during a raid there in 1931.
Sailing
Vessel Gitana, Westchester County – The Gitana is a 40-foot Bermuda-rigged
Yawl sailing yacht built in 1936 to the design of respected naval architect
John G. Alden, using entirely traditional materials and techniques. She
is an increasingly rare example of the transitional phase of boat design
of the 1930s and representative of a bygone age of wood boat construction
and the boating culture that flourished around it, which was replaced by
mass produced reinforced plastic boats starting in the 1960s. Gitana’s
builders utilized the plank-on-frame method using shaped planks of Cuban
mahogany fastened onto a skeleton of white oak timbers using bronze screws
and bolts. Belowdecks, she has accommodations for a crew of six, a small
pantry and woodburning stove, and an auxiliary inboard engine. Her furnishings,
down to the kitchen sink, are original. The Gitana is in unaltered condition
and true to the materials, technology, and art of traditional shipbuilding
of her time. The vessel is currently docked in the lower harbor of New
Rochelle.
Sugar
Loaf Historic District, Orange County – The Sugar Loaf Historic District
is comprised of a small group of late 1800s/early 1900s buildings sited
on both sides of Kings Highway in the hamlet of Sugar Loaf. This area was
originally a small commercial center that provided services to local farms
and travelers. Its heyday in the mid to late 1800s coincided with an era
of prosperity for local dairy farmers. However, the rise of large corporate
farms and the onset of the Great Depression caused the area’s agricultural
economy to decline. Then, in 1967, Sugar Loaf was “discovered” by craftsman
Walter Kannon, who spurred the revitalization of the hamlet as a crafts
colony with help from woodcarver Jarvis Boone. Within a short time, the
former single-family houses on Kings Highway were occupied by craftspeople
who made candles, leather goods, wooden objects, metalwork, and pottery
and sold their products out of small, in-home shops. By hosting regular
art shows and craft fairs, Sugar Loaf built a reputation as a hub for handmade
goods that it still enjoys today.
Mohawk Valley
Joseph
Peck House, Otsego County – Located in the hamlet of New Lisbon, the 1852
residence was built by local merchant Joseph Peck. Architecturally, the
two-story, three-bay, double-pile, hip-roofed building shows Peck’s stylistic
preferences and reflects his standing in the community. Notable features
include a prominent Greek Revival portico, with many other Gothic Revival
and Italianate details throughout the building. There is also a ca. 1820
one-story, gable-roofed, wood frame barn on the property.
Schuyler
Lake Stone Church, Otsego County – Located in the hamlet of Schuyler Lake,
the meeting-house style church was built in 1838 as a Union Church for
three different church societies: Free Baptist, Universalist, and Methodist
Episcopal. Constructed with local stone and embellished with interior decorative
paint work, this prominent landmark has both Federal and Greek Revival
architectural characteristics. The church was shared by the three congregations,
which met on different Sundays on a monthly rotation.
New York City
28th
Police Precinct Station House, New York County – The 28th Police Precinct
Station House was constructed 1892-1893 during a period of rapid urbanization
in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. It was designed by Nathaniel
D. Bush, resident architect for the New York City Police Department in
the late 1800s, and exemplifies the mature phase of his later career. With
the expressionism of its façade and the extensive use of sculpted
stone trim, the building stood out amidst the surrounding row houses and
tenement buildings. The interior followed a standardized floor plan that
included offices on the first floor, sleeping quarters and a gymnasium
on the upper levels, with a rear annex for jail cells and lodging for the
unhoused. The 28th Precinct also played a significant role in the community’s
response to police brutality, particularly during the East Harlem uprising
of 1967, which arose amid accusations of racially motivated violence against
the predominantly Puerto Rican and Black residents of the area. Hope Community,
Inc., the current owner since 1981, was established in response to the
housing injustices that helped fueled the unrest.
Dollar
Savings Bank, Bronx County – The Dollar Savings Bank, located in the Fordham
neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, is a monumental example of
classicized Art Deco-style bank architecture. This building was completed
in three phases between 1932 and 1952 and was designed by Adolf F. Muller
of the architecture firm Halsey, McCormack & Helmer. The design of
the earlier sections reflects a transition from Beaux Arts principles to
modernism, featuring a sleek exterior of polished Texas pink granite ashlar,
large double-height openings, and stylized decorative elements like the
“Liberty Head” silver dollar representations above the main entrances.
The 1952 tower addition, while maintaining elements of the original design,
showcases a simpler yet still monumental approach to bank symbolism. The
Dollar Savings Bank is also significant for its association with the commercial
development of the Bronx. Established in 1890 by Bronx business leaders,
the Dollar Savings Bank was the first thrift institution, or mutual savings
bank, created in the Bronx. This location originally housed the Fordham
branch office for the company and later became its headquarters after the
ten-story office tower was completed. This building served as a bank until
2014, having been absorbed into the Emigrant Savings Bank in 1992.
Gaylord
White Houses, New York County – The Gaylord White Houses is a public housing
development for seniors located in the Metro North section of East Harlem,
Manhattan. Planning began in 1957 and the complex was completed in 1964.
It was designed by the firm of Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass. The need
for specialized housing for older Americans became a national priority
in the 1950s due to the rapidly increasing senior population and the advent
of the nuclear family. State and federal laws encouraged local authorities
to build housing with senior-specific accommodations like accessible bathrooms
and kitchens. The White Houses represents the first time the New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA) planned a housing development exclusively for
senior residents. This development is also an example of NYCHA’s early
vest-pocket program, initiated under Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. as a direct
response to the federal Housing Act of 1954. This important housing law
shifted focus from “slum clearance” – the wholesale demolition of areas
determined to be irredeemably blighted – to “urban renewal,” which aimed
to preserve neighborhoods deemed to be declining but salvageable through
smaller, targeted interventions. The Gaylord White Houses was developed
in coordination with Union Settlement, an important community organization
that had long promoted social services in the neighborhood. The building
includes a wing that contains the headquarters for the Union Settlement,
as well as a children’s center and community center.
Louise
Terrace/Colonial Road Historic District, Kings County – The Louise Terrace/Colonial
Road Historic District is an intact, representative example of a Tudor
Revival-style terrace development in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn.
The district consists of three identical blockfronts – two facing Louise
Terrace and one facing Colonial Road. The development was constructed in
1927 to the designs of Swedish-born architect Olaf B. Almgren for local
developer Adam Schumann and named after Schumann’s daughter, Louise Schumann
McCormick. The attached row houses are symmetrically arranged on each blockfront
and feature typical Tudor Revival-style characteristics such as brick-clad
walls laid in English bond, pitched slate roofs, front-facing gables, prominent
chimneys, and decorative half-timbering with stucco.
Dominican
Historic District, New York County – The Dominican Historic District encompasses
40 blocks in northern Manhattan that capture the unique architectural and
cultural history of this immigrant neighborhood. Many significant immigrant
communities shaped the neighborhood over time; substantial communities
of Armenian, Greek, Irish, German, and European Jewish immigrants influenced
the building of Washington Heights during the first part of the 1900s.
By the mid-1900s, Puerto Ricans and African Americans had settled in the
neighborhood and, in the 1960s, a substantial number of Dominicans had
come to call Washington Heights a permanent home. Since then, the Dominican
community has worked to establish a cultural, political, and social center
in the neighborhood. The community’s emphasis on establishing organizations
to teach Dominican history and culture; encouraging political engagement;
addressing social needs such as affordable housing and poverty; and continuing
Dominican lifeways in Washington Heights demonstrate ongoing contributions
to the history of the neighborhood and capture a unique period of immigration
history. The combination of the built environment and the Dominican cultural
use of the space speaks to the vibrant relationship between past, present,
and future in this iconic neighborhood.
West
Brighton Plaza, Richmond County – The West Brighton Plaza is federally
funded, low-rent public housing that was developed for the New York City
Housing Authority (NYCHA) on Staten Island and built as two separate projects,
in 1960 and 1965. Historically, it illustrates examples of long-term patterns
of housing segregation and discrimination on Staten Island as the result
of redlining, failed zoning initiatives, and neighborhood disinvestment.
The architect of West Brighton I, Irwin Clavan, designed the first phase
as eight, eight-story brick-faced towers with H-shaped plans. The architects
of West Brighton II, Simeon Heller and George Meltzer, reconceived the
low-income elderly housing as rows of rectangular, one-story brick apartments
with low-pitched hipped roofs, occasional cupolas or decorative gables,
and wide overhanging eaves that form porches supported on decorated iron
posts. The interiors were equipped to meet state requirements for elderly
and disabled occupants. West Brighton I and West Brighton II were unified
by landscape designs from renowned designers Clarke and Rapuano that incorporate
open, parklike space, connecting paths, and specific activity areas. The
West Brighton Plaza has served as public housing since its completion and
has undergone minimal alterations.
North
Country
Lowville
& Beaver River Railroad, Lewis County – The Lowville & Beaver River
Railroad (LBRR) is a 10.6-mile short line railroad corridor from Lowville
to Croghan that was built between 1903 and 1906. Characterized as a “short
line” railroad, it was capitalized, constructed, and operated purely by
local and community interests for the development of Lewis County. The
district remains as one of the few short lines in the state and is particularly
notable as it shows the transition period between canals and railroads,
eating rooms and dining cars, ice harvesting and refrigeration, and the
development of northern New York communities through locally owned and
managed railroads. The railroad is highly unusual in that is virtually
intact from its original construction and retains several notable resources
such as three depots, a dining house, two Armstrong turntables, largely
uninterrupted track, and several historic steel bridges that reflect the
engineering standards of the late railroad era. Until 2007, the LBRR transported
several important goods to markets near and far, including dairy and maple
products, wood products from some of the largest paper manufacturers in
the state, ice blocks, potatoes, and passengers.
Southern Tier
Ithaca
Downtown Historic District Additional Documentation, Thompkins County –
The Ithaca Downtown Historic District, listed in the National Register
in 2005, encompasses almost the entire commercial core of the city of Ithaca
and is characterized by small-scale multi-story, primarily brick buildings
with first-story storefronts and residential or other commercial spaces
above. The purpose of this additional documentation is to add areas of
significance for LGBT and Women’s History and to document the building
at 141-143 East State Street as the headquarters of Firebrand Books, a
multiple award-winning lesbian and feminist publishing house. Firebrand,
founded by activist, editor, and publisher Nancy K. Bereano in 1984, became
a nationally recognized leader in the publishing revolution that occurred
during the Second Wave Feminist, Women in Print, and lesbian and gay (today,
LGBT) movements of the 1970s and 1980s. The press produced work in a wide
variety of genres by ethnically and racially diverse authors, including
Dorothy Allison, Alison Bechdel, Cheryl Clarke, Leslie Feinberg, Jewelle
Gomez, Audre Lorde, and Minnie Bruce Pratt. Bereano has been recognized
by scholars for her contributions to small press publishing, women’s history,
and LGBT scholarship. The press was headquartered on the second floor of
the building at 141-143 East State Street, and the three rooms in which
Bereano and her colleagues worked have remained nearly unaltered since
the press closed in 2000. This documentation adds 1984-1993 as an additional
period of significance for these areas.
Lawrence
Memorial Chapel and Cemetery, Schuyler County – The Lawrence Memorial Chapel
and Cemetery is located in the rural Town of Catharine. The Gothic Revival
chapel and the adjacent Lawrence Cemetery occupy a low knoll along New
York State Route 228 on the west side of Cayuta Lake. The Lawrences were
one of the founding families of today’s Schuyler County. The cemetery was
established sometime before 1832 and contains fifty monuments ranging from
plain gravestones to tall obelisks and statuary marking burials of Lawrence
family members, friends, and associates. Under the direction of Jane G.
Lawrence Campbell, per the wishes of her brother Abraham Lawrence, a one-story
Gothic Revival chapel built of local fieldstone was built next to the cemetery
in 1880. It is a five-by-three bay building with nature-themed stained-glass
windows in lancet openings, a decorative slate roof, and granite-capped
buttresses. A well-fashioned dry-laid stone wall surrounds the property,
and a series of stone steps leads to the entrance of the chapel. The chapel
retains original furnishing throughout and is little changed from the final
cemetery interment in 1914.
Western New York
Alden
State Bank, Erie County – Located in the village of Alden, the Alden State
Bank building was constructed in 1925 to the designs of architect Herbert
C. Swain. The building Swain designed was in the Neoclassical style, a
style typically used for financial institutions as a way of conveying permanence
and stability – all important associations for a bank. In 1963, the building
was sold to the Alden Advertiser newspaper; the Alden State Bank constructed
a new facility next door. Recently, the Alden State Bank has re-acquired
their historic building and is renovating it to be used as a branch bank
once again.
Sattler
Theater, Erie County – Built in 1914 to the designs of prominent local
architects William and Henry Spann, the Sattler Theater, later known as
the Broadway Theater, is a notable example of a neighborhood theater in
the heart of Buffalo’s East Side. Commissioned by local department store
entrepreneur John G. Sattler, the theater served as both a way to promote
his business interests and to enhance the community which gave him his
start. Neighborhood theaters like the Sattler were designed with the same
level of opulence and attention to detail as the grander movie palaces
and theater houses sited in larger commercial districts and offered moviegoers
the same elevated experience but at a discounted rate. Sattler sold the
theater in 1916, and it continued showing movies during the 1920s and 1930s,
eventually becoming part of the larger Basil theater chain. Despite some
remodeling in 1948, the theater struggled in the post-war era and closed
as a motion picture theater around 1963. The building was vacant from 1996
to 2008, when the current owner purchased it and started stabilizing and
redeveloping it.
Spencer
Kellogg & Sons Elevator, Erie County – The Spencer Kellogg & Sons
Elevator is an example of a reinforced concrete grain elevator, located
in the heart of Buffalo’s “Elevator Alley” along the Buffalo River. Built
in 1910, the elevator is unusual; unlike Buffalo’s other elevators, which
housed wheat or barley grains, this elevator housed linseed, which was
used by the Spencer Kellogg company to manufacture linseed oil for paints
and other industrial uses. The birthplace of the grain elevator, Buffalo
is known for its many extant facilities in the 1920s, these sleek, functional,
agricultural structures inspired European Modern architects; architect
Erich Mendelsohn photographed the Kellogg Elevator for his Amerika: Bilderbuch
eines Architekten (1926).
Yeomans
House, Erie County – The Yeomans House, located in East Aurora, has been
described as “one of the best examples of a ‘High Victorian’ brick residence
in the county.” This Queen Anne style house is prominently located among
the stately houses on East Main Street and has welcomed visitors to the
village since its construction in 1885. Built for James D. Yeomans, a railway
executive and Iowa State Senator, the building features elements such as
a seventy-five-foot-tall tower, oriel windows, a two-story bay window,
and a combination of terra cotta and wood details.
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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 84 million visits in
2023. 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,
Instagram,
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(formerly Twitter) and the OPRHP Blog.
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Contact:
Dan
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Public
Information Officer
518-486-1868
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