City Auctions Off Architectural Salvage Repository
On Monday, the City will auction off the majority of the inventory of the LPC’s Architectural Salvage Warehouse to the single highest bidder*. The Warehouse, established in 1985, was the successor to the LPC’s Salvage of Architecturally Viable Elements (or S.A.V.E.) program, began in 1980 and conceived of five years earlier under the auspices of then-LPC Chair Beverley Moss Spatt. The intention was to rescue architectural elements of buildings, such as cornices, lintels, and iron work, demolished by the City in order to recycle them for use by the public. Over time, the program also accepted donations of architectural salvage from private individuals.
The program was never meant as a profit center; Former LPC Chair Gene Norman characterized the materials as “items far more practical than the chic, SoHo kind”, and former LPC Chair Jennifer Raab stated “it was set up as a resource for lower- and middle-income homeowners, and particularly for people in historic districts”. Over the years, the resources allotted to its maintenance dwindled and access diminished. Originally open once a week, it lessened to once a month, then only by appointment. Since 2000, it hasn’t been officially open at all.
As longtime readers know, the LPC is one of New York City’s smallest agencies and is perennially strapped for resources. It makes budgetary sense for the agency to focus on its core mission of designation and regulation, especially in these dire funding times. And the fact is that the Warehouse hasn’t been active in over 10 years, and even when it was, it was not very successful.
Still, the salvage program was conceived during an economic downturn and attempted to further the preservation ethic in an innovative, practical way. Even if it didn’t work as well as hoped, it was a worthwhile idea and experiment; which begs the question: What are we doing now to develop new tools for preservation and what new ideas do we have which are worth exploring? Preservation in New York has lost one of the rungs of the ladder – what’s going to replace it?
*It should be noted that the property to be auctioned on Monday does not include materials which have restrictions on them – such as the plaster and terra-cotta remnants of the Helen Hayes Theater.