amNew York Annual Preservation Round-Up
This is amNY’s third annual special report on preservation. Previous coverage can be found here and here.
By Lana Bortolot
Special to amNewYork
Manhattan’s iconic architecture has long given the borough favored-child status at the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Of some 1,210 individual landmark designations in the five boroughs since the commission’s inception in 1965, 779 are in Manhattan, as well as 64 out of 105 designated Historic Districts and extensions.
But today, the outer boroughs are increasingly enjoying the attention their architectural treasures deserve, powered by community activism, even as certain beloved structures still meet the wrecking ball.
“The tone has changed out there,” says Peg Breen, president of New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private advocacy group. “I think there’s been a heightened level of interest and there’s a pent-up demand.”
It’s an area that Robert B. Tierney, Landmarks Preservation chairman, agrees has been out of sight and mind.
“There wasn’t the necessary focus and attention [outside Manhattan],” Tierney said, noting that his commission has redirected its attention to the boroughs. “They’re no longer overlooked. And I think the record of what’s already been done should give people reassurance that we are focused very markedly on issues in those boroughs.”
Indeed, recent data provided by the commission show an increased number of designations outside of Manhattan. Of the 1,158 building designated in fiscal year 2007, 1,114—or 96 percent—are outside of Manhattan.
All three historic districts designated in fiscal year 2008 were in the outer boroughs—two of which, DUMBO and Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, responded directly to concerns over the loss of Brooklyn’s historic industrial waterfront. By the end of fiscal year 2009, the commission will have designated more districts outside of Manhattan than any other administration since its inception, says commission spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon.
Yet, despite the improved record, outer borough residents feel ignored, and voice their frustrations on blogs devoted to politics and preservation. Certainly, losses this year, like that of the Bay Ridge Methodist Church, leave some unconvinced the city is doing enough.
“We’ve had some heartbreaking losses,” says Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council. “Even people who don’t go to church get upset when churches are ripped down.” He noted, “People often are unaware of the special character of a place until it’s threatened: they have their own personal Penn Stations.
The virtual dialogue—often heated and infused with both fact and opinion—links citizen brigades throughout the boroughs so that preservationists in Queens can empathize with (or criticize) like- minded activists in the Bronx. And whether they face the loss of a historic church or the addition of a big-box retailer, they present a unified front to elected officials and the city landmarks commission to make a difference.
Despite the losses of beloved buildings, Tierney says “There’s a whole other narrative of buildings being saved and we don’t want people to lose sight of that. “
So, here, in amNewYork’s third annual look at what might be lost, preservationists post their wish list of sites to be saved.
See
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