The voices of caution suggest that preservationists may have designated too much. “Hasn’t all the really good stuff already been protected?” After all, we don’t want to turn our city into a “Colonial Williamsburg on the Hudson.” A recent studio project at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation examined a distinctive part of New York City lining a different river, the East River. It suggests just how unfinished the task of obtaining landmark protection for key sites is and just how little we we need to worry about turning New York into a “Colonial Williamsburg on the Hudson” or for that matter, on the East River!
The studio looked at Corlears Hook, a place name not familiar to this author, and one might imagine, to most New Yorkers.
Study area image via Columbia Preservation Studio presentation.
Corlears Hook is that “hook” in the East River that runs from the Manhattan Bridge to the Williamsburg Bridge, bounded to the north by Delancy Street, to the West by Essex and Division, and by Market Street at the south. The neighborhood is already home to a number of designated landmarks, among them the Forward Building (173 East Broadway), the Pike Street Synagogue (13-15 Pike Street) and the Bialystoker Synagogue (7-11 Willett Street/Bialystoker Place), with its stunning interior, originally a Methodist Church.
Engine No. 15. Image via Columbia Preservation Studio presentation.
Looking at the area with the freshness that new eyes provide, the students identified over 20 sites that they felt worthy of landmark protection. This list ranges from the 1904 Ritual Bathhouse at 311 East Broadway, to the second oldest Catholic Church in New York City, St. Mary’s, designed by Patrick Keeley at 438 Grand Street, to Napoleon LeBrun & Sons Engine No. 15, 1883, and 269 Henry Street. Among the recommendations, either as individual landmarks or possibly as a fascinating historic district, is a cluster of mid-century housing complexes that tell the story of efforts to improve housing conditions for working class New Yorkers. Included in such a district would be the Amalgamated Dwellings, a 1931 model for housing the working class and the 1949 Hillman Houses.
Hillman Houses, part of a proposed historic district capturing an important chapter in the evolution of housing in NYC. Image via Columbia Preservation Studio presentation.
Even if all these recommendations for landmark protection were followed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (and the odds of that are right up there with snow balls you know where) there would still be no danger of anyone walking through Corlears Hook and mistaking it for a “Colonial Williamsburg” on the East River. Its energy and its urban edginess would remain intact. The more likely danger is someone walking through a Corlears Hook of the future devoid of these buildings.
Instead of urging caution on the Landmarks Preservation Commission, isn’t this the time that we should be urging a preservation version of the “Manhattan Project”–a major public investment of funds to provide the Commission the funds it needs to identify and protect sites out in front of future development pressure? Isn’t this momentary calm in the real estate market (when there are less development oxes to be gored) the perfect time for such an initiative? The experience of the 1980′s (see the recent entry on the battle over the Coty and Rizzoli buildings) should encourage us to take advantage of this moment.
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