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Making History

By Kim Velsey 10/31/12 5:27pm

Making History

Like a rock: the Alice Austen house on Staten Island (the Historic House Trust).

Built To Last: New York’s Historic Houses and Ships Largely Unharmed By Hurricane

Their floors may creak, their plaster may crumble and their halls may be filled with daunting drafts, but New York’s old houses have proved their mettle through many a storm. Hurricane Sandy was no exception. The city’s historic mansions appear to have come through the hurricane basically unscathed, preservationists told The Observer, although at least one Lower Manhattan Landmark remains unaccounted for.

“We’ve been very lucky, none of our 23 houses sustained damage,” said Frank Vagnone, the executive director of the Historic House Trust. “And many of them were right in the path of the storm. The Alice Austen House, in particular. It’s right on the Verrazano Narrows.” Read More

By Kit Dillon 10/24/12 6:17pm

Making History

I'm about to get archival on your... (Wikimedia Commons)

How Deep Is Your Web? The National Archives Opens a New Branch on Bowling Green

Yesterday a room of sharply dressed archivists, librarians and book conservators burst into laughter at a joke about mildew. They’re a funny bunch, these keepers of our national record, excited by different things than you and I. When they mention the billions of records, of which only a sliver has been digitized, currently stored in limestone caves in Lenexa, Kan., their eyes light up like deep-sea explorers contemplating the ocean. They all have stories to tell.

Stories like the time they found a trove of Walt Whitman documents written while he was a clerk in the Attorney General’s office. They were forgotten documents, which were only identified by a scholar who recognized the handwriting and made the connection. Or the photo unearthed of FDR standing beneath the newly laid keel of the USS Arizona in 1913, while the then-secretary of the navy was touring the Brooklyn Navy Yards. The same ship, of course, whose destruction in Pearl Harbor 28 years later would lead to arguably FDR’s most famous speech, and with it a declaration of war. As with any explorers, when they talk about the often serendipitous thrill of discovery, their enthusiasm is infectious. Read More

By Kim Velsey 10/18/12 7:45pm

Making History

The old Gage & Tollner (NYT)

Gage & Tollner Building Now Houses a Garish Purveyor of Costume Jewelry

Landmarking might preserve a piece of history, but unfortunately it cannot stop time. And at Gage & Tollner, one of the few places in the city that is landmarked both inside and out, The Wall Street Journal has discovered a good example of a place that has kept its shell but lost its soul.

The esteemed old Southern restaurant, after having died, been revived and then remade into an Italian restaurant, a TGI Fridays and an Arby’s is now a costume jewelry shop with bare bulbs and sparkling cheap things hung on pink panels that cover the spot’s famed cherrywood and mirrors. Read More

By Matt Chaban 10/16/12 11:33am

Making History

Let's celebrate. (GEI NY)

Rainbow Room Granted Landmarks Status, Paving Way for Restaurant’s Reopening

Despite concerns the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission might not grant the Rainbow Room landmarks status, having denied a request to do so only a few years ago, the commission did exactly that this morning, voting unanimously to add the historic eatery to the city’s list of interior landmarks, making it the 115th. Now Tishman Speyer and the as-yet unnamed restaurateur it has selected to reopen the restaurant atop Rockefeller Center can get on with the task—though any changes to the space would not have to pass muster with the commission. Read More

By Kit Dillon 10/05/12 1:53pm

Making History

Take the ferry to the army... terminal. (NY Waterway)

Oh Yes! Free Ferry Service From Wall Street to Brooklyn Army Terminal for OHNY

For an event that’s already starting to feel like an elaborate first date, Open House New York has now gotten mom and dad to agree to let it use the car for the night. The annual architecture touring bonanza has secured free ferry rides at the last minute from New York Waterway that will provide service between Pier 11 on Wall Street and the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. The terminal, typically dedicated to industrial work, will be open all weekend for guests to peruse. Read More

By Kit Dillon 10/04/12 1:52pm

Making History

Ms. Sullivan, supporting the cause. (PMcM)

Open House New York: A Decade of Showcasing New York’s Secret Spaces

It’s that time of year again when New York flings open its too-often locked and double barred doors for the 10th annual Open House New York (OHNY) weekend. The event promises unprecedented access to the cities myriad of architectural, cultural and historical gems. From the spectacular—The Grand Masons Lodge, which is participating with the event again this year at its historic 23rd street location—to the austere—the Brooklyn Army Terminal, an imposing 5 million square-foot site of criss-crossed steel and exposed concrete—to the just plain obscure and whimsical—come explore the lost streams of New York, which can be observed, using a flashlight, through the ventilation holes of old manhole covers, but normally that’s about it.

It’s a wonderland, this city. Read More

By Kim Velsey 10/03/12 1:12pm

Making History

And here shall rise a 14-story mixed use development.

Soho, Oh No! Preservationists Panic Over Planned South Village Development

It is a story that has been writ repeatedly on the landscape of New York: neighborhood transforms from working class haven to bohemian haunt to the place where every developer in the city wants to build a luxury condo with a bank of boutiques on the bottom floor.

And yet, there are few places that have been assaulted as mercilessly as Greenwich Village, Soho and the enclave nestled between their two historic districts—and thus highly attractive to developers— known as South Village. It is an area flush with building permits, preservation battles—activists have spent the last few months fighting to stop the historic townhouse at 186 Spring Street from being torn down to make way for a condo project—and a languishing landmarks proposal. Read More

By Kim Velsey 9/18/12 1:48pm

Making History

Will the LPC reconsider? (GVSHP)

Beastie Boy’s Townhouse and Gay Rights Landmark Eligible For Historic Register, But That Won’t Save It From the Wrecking Ball

Historic preservationists and gay rights activists have won a skirmish in their campaign to save 186 Spring Street, a SoHo townhouse that sheltered a number of gay rights activists in the post-Stonewall era—earning landmark designation eligibility from the state and national historic registers. But without a designation from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, the house’s demolition still looms as the most likely possibility.

Earning a spot on the State and National registers would be a coup for the preservationists. “It’s truly historic—only one other place in the United States has been placed on the state and national registers in relation to gay and lesbian history,” said Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The other place, also in Manhattan, is the Stonewall Inn. Read More

By Matt Chaban 9/12/12 10:50am

Making History

Dancing into history. (bilde/Angelfire)

Rainbow Room Gets Its Gold: Landlord Tishman Speyer Blesses Plan to Landmark Sky-High Club

One of the big questions surrounding the landmarking of the Rainbow Room was whether or not it would win the support of Tishman Speyer, the august real estate firm that owns Rockefeller Center, home to the famed dance hall and eatery. But the space is lucky as a leprechaun, as the Rainbow Room’s landlord came out in support of landmarking yesterday, according to Crain’s. Read More