During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Soho rowhouse sheltered a number of prominent gay rights activists, among them Bruce Voeller (who was a leader in the fight against AIDS), Arnie Kantrowitz and Jim Owles, who was the president of the Gay Activists Alliance at the time he lived there, an influential organization that emerged in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots. Until the spring, it belonged to another notable New Yorker, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz.

But on a rainy morning last week, the building was surrounded by neither city officials nor map-clutching tourists, but by a demolition crew tasked with tearing it down to make way for a seven-story luxury condo.

The crew started its work a few weeks after the Landmarks Commission denied preservationists' most recent plea to landmark and thereby save the building, its eligibility for the National and State historic registers notwithstanding. A banner fastened to the fresh plywood of the construction site announced the new loft-style residences from Canadian developer Nordica Soho, to be wedged into a double lot on the corners of Spring and Thompson streets, a part of the city that is defined as much today by the vast quantities of cash flowing into its real estate as it is by its historic architecture and cobblestones.

"What they did was homophobic, and as Jim Owles was my partner for many years, not only do I consider it an act against the movement, but I take it personally," Allen Roskoff, the president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, told The Observer.

While Mr. Roskoff admitted that it never would have occurred to him to seek landmark designation for the building—"I'm not a preservation person"—he argued the commission should look for opportunities to landmark the community's history. "I think if you had a landmarks commission that is sympathetic to the gay community, they would have supported it," said Mr. Roskoff.

For gay rights activists and preservationists who view 186 Spring Street's historic significance as indisputable, the city's failure to designate it, or any other building, a landmark based solely on its place in the LGBT rights struggle is at best an oversight and at worst a slight. The landmarks commission counters that it already has preserved many important gay rights landmarks, albeit as part of a larger historic districts.

Elisabeth de Bourbon, the commission’s spokeswoman, pointed to the Stonewall Inn, which is located within the boundaries of the Greenwich Village Historic District as a good example of gay rights history being preserved through other means. In fact, the district predates Stonewall. "With Stonewall, we decided that it was already protected," said Ms. de Bourbon. "The primary goal of designation is to protect the bricks and mortar that embody the cultural significance. For us designation is not an honorific, it's a regulatory mechanism that allows the city to protect its historic resources."

Nor has the commission ever approved any applications to landmark individual buildings within existing historic districts.

In rejecting 186 Spring, the commission asserts  that the real monument to the Gay Activist Alliance has already been preserved and that 186 Spring Street's role in the movement was peripheral rather than central. In its letter outlining its reasons for rejecting the house's application for landmark status, the commission notes that its research indicated that Jim Owles and Arnie Kantrowitz lived in the house for only about a year in the early 1970s, when the Gay Activist Alliance was headquarted in The Firehouse at 99 Wooster Street (which is located within the Soho Cast Iron Historic District, and thus protected).

And although Bruce Voeller lived in the home for a decade, the commission contests that his role in the movement's history is not influential enough to warrant landmarking his onetime house: "a review of histories suggests that Dr. Voeller was a later and more of a 'transitional figure'... between the radical post-Stonewall period and a more mainstream professional activism."

Not that such explanations pass muster with all leaders of the gay community, particularly in light of the fact that the city has yet to landmark a building because of its role in gay and lesbian history. The commission also rejected an application to landmark the Pyramid Club at 101 Avenue A, which played a central role in 1980s drag culture, although the building will be included in the soon-to-be created East Village Historic District, giving it a protected status.

Is this a matter of the city practicing ignorance or preservationists and activists ignoring all that has already been saved?

"I think the recognition is important," said Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. "I think it’s important for the commission to say this is an important part of our city’s history, this is an important part of our city’s culture."

The LGBT community has not, however, taken up the cause as vigorously as the preservationists.

Andy Humm, a journalist, activist and the co-host of Gay USA said that while the demolition of 186 Spring Street is a shame, the gay community has been focused on bigger, more important battles than protecting historic sites.

"You can give us some of the blame in the community I suppose,” he said. “Have we been focused on this? I don’t think we have. But look, we’re a movement that has been more about the future... and frankly, we have this huge homeless LGBT community that doesn’t even have basic housing."

kvelsey@observer.com

--a portion of Allen Roskoff's quote has been altered for clarity. "I consider it an act against me personally" has been changed to "I take it personally."

Will the LPC reconsider? (GVSHP)

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.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, gay rights leaders Bruce Voeller, Jim Owles and Arnie Kantrowitz, among others, lived in the house, hammering out the movement's goals after Stonewall and confronting the early years of the AIDS crisis.

Unfortunately the designation—which preservation advocates sought after they learned of Canadian developer Stephane Boivin's plans to knock down the townhouse—would not prevent a structure from being altered or demolished. Nor can it be placed on the Register without the owners' consent, a development that seems unlikely given the owner's plans to knock it to the ground.

A designation from Landmarks Preservation does have the power to protect a building from demolition, but the LPC rejected the building's landmark application, citing the building’s highly-altered state and lack of architectural integrity.

Mr. Berman said that the federal-style row house, which belonged for years to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz before he sold it this spring to Mr. Boivin's company Nordica, has not been significantly altered since it was built. But most importantly, it has really not been altered at all since the 1980s, when the historically significant activities took place inside—a standard he said was used by the state and national register in conferring their designations.

Built in 1824, the federal-style row house lies outside of any existing historic districts. When Mr. Boivin submitted an application to demolish the property earlier this year—most likely to expand the seven-story , mixed-use project that he was planning next door—the Greenwich Village Society jumped into action, touting the structure's significance as the only row house of its kind that had not been significantly altered in the (also unlandmarked) South Village historic district.

The house's role in the gay rights movement—a much stronger argument for preservation—didn't surface until several months later, with the preservationist's cause earning support from politicians like State Senator Tom Duane, who spoke about how the activists who lived there had made possible his achievements as the first openly gay and openly HIV-positive elected official in the New York City Council and the New York State Senate.

Mr. Berman pointed out that the historic designations would make Mr. Boivin eligible for a number of tax benefits and other financial incentives. We doubt, however, that his company, which has displayed a stony resolve thus far, will be swayed, especially considering his plans to replace this and two neighboring townhouses with a seven-story high-end apartment building. Mr. Boivin has not yet returned The Observer's request for comment.

The LPC told The Observer that a national and/or state register designation would not lead it to reconsider its decision because it uses different criteria than the registers, and has a different purpose—to regulate future changes—something that the registers only do in a very limited way.

"When NYC LPC considers a site for designation, it determines whether a site is at least 30 years old, and is architecturally, historically and/or culturally significant to the development and character of New York City, New York state and/or the nation," wrote LPC spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon in an email.

Mr. Berman said that the LPC has never landmarked a building because of its role in gay and lesbian history. The Stonewall Inn, protected because it lies within the Greenwich Village historic district, nonetheless cannot lay claim to its own designation. Preservationists hope the commission will make history this time out.

kvelsey@observer.com

Steve Ashkinazy of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City discusses the house's history at a press conference today. (Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation)

It turns out that the federal-style rowhouse at 186 Spring Street has lots of friends in high places. Unfortunately, it may not have made them soon enough.

Today, in the latest bid to save the Soho townhouse from demolition, gay rights activists and local politicians rallied in front 186 Spring Street, highlighting the building's role in gay rights and AIDS activism. The house served as a kind of gay commune for activists and organizations in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz sold the house earlier this year to Canadian developer Stephane Boivin, who claimed he wanted it for "personal use," then hastily submitted an application to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking to demolish the property. The $5.5 million property is in fine condition, but it seemed that Mr. Boivin never had any plans to live there. It was, after all, right next door to the seven-story, mixed-use property that he was already planning.

The house may be historic, but it's not yet landmarked, and the LPC promptly approved Mr. Boivin's application.

But now gay activists have emerged to urge the house's preservation on grounds of not only architectural history (built in 1824, it’s the last structure of its kind that has remained more or less intact in the also-nonlandmarked South Village area), but social history. Because the building housed both gay rights heavyweights Bruce Voeller and Jim Owles, activists claim that it played a key role in the post-Stonewall gay rights movement and the early days of the fight against AIDS.

“It is deeply disappointing to me that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has deemed 186 Spring Street unworthy of landmarking,” wrote New York State Senator Tom Duane in a statement.  “As the first openly gay and openly HIV-positive elected official in the New York City Council and the New York State Senate, I stand on the shoulders of legendary activists who called this 1824 federal-style row house home. I would not have not been able to accomplish all that I have—and the LGBT rights movement and fight against HIV/AIDS would not have come as far as they have—were it not for the incredible work done at 186 Spring Street by Jim Owles, Arnie Kantrowitz, Bruce Voeller and others who lived here.”

The LPC cited the building's highly-altered state and lack of architectural integrity in declining to landmark it, shortcomings that the house's supporters deny are significant enough to stop the landmarking process.

"The contributions this house and its residents made to shaping our culture and making our society fairer and more just are almost impossible to measure," said Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation director Andrew Berman in a statement.

kvelsey@observer.com