district lines1h0ani22bqjx9rwiu3w2now1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/... · p.1~ survival of the...

On September 11, 2001, the sevenbuildings of the World Trade Centercomplex and St. Nicholas Church weredestroyed in terrorist attacks. Ten moresuffered significant structural damageand survived. Of those ten, arguably theworst hit was 90 West Street, a 1907landmark building by the famous archi-tect Cass Gilbert, which suffered directhits by heavy steel debris flying fromthe collapse of the WTC south towerjust to the north (see map on page 2). Itwas the only building outside of theWTC complex to burn extensively, andthere was a point at which it seemedlikely to be demolished. Now, however,because of its rugged original construc-tion and the vision of Peter Levenson,the architect and developer who boughtit in damaged condition, it is likely tosurvive.

Ninety West Street is a Gothic Revivalskyscraper 23 stories high plus attic andpenthouse. It has a three-story granitebase, a shaft clad in terra cotta and a three-story mansard roof of batten seam sheetcopper. Stylistically, the terra cotta of theshaft is quite restrained from floors four to15, while the upper floors form a richlyornamented polychrome cap, a design thatprompted the “AIA Guide to New YorkCity” to comment that it seemed “designed

D I S T RI C T L I N E Snews and views of the historic districts council

Survival of the Fittest—90 West Street Since 9/11

winter 2005 volume XVIII number 3

p.1 ~ Survival of the Fittest—90 West Street Since 9/11 p.2 ~ President’s Column p.3 ~ Byrns Joins LPC; Olcott Returns, Replacing Kane p.4 ~ 2004 Landmarks Lion Award Presented to Beyer Blinder Belle

p.6 ~ City Council Takes Preservation Lead p.6 ~ Citywide Panel Discussions Heldp.7 ~ District Profiles: Greenpoint Historic District, Brooklyn p.9 ~ New Books about Old New York p.11 ~ Recent Gifts and Grants

Historic Districts Council

Original drawing of architect Cass Gilbert shows the cap of 90 West Street just below themansard roof. It is rich in polychrome details of animals and human figures. This area,floors 17 through 20, sustained minor damage. Fire damage and debris hits were above andbelow this level.

The author of this article, Robert J. Korn-feld, Jr., is an HDC director and also an archi-tect with LZATechnology/Thornton-TomasettiGroup who worked on 90 West Street in theaftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.Earlier articles about restoration at GroundZero appeared in issues of District Lines in 2002and 2003.


District Lines ~ Winter 2005 ~ page 2

The recent designation of DouglastonHill in Queens by the Landmarks Preser-vation Commission was not only a welldeserved recognition of an historic dis-trict in an often overlooked borough; itwas significant, too, because it was achange of position by the LPC. It signalednot only flexibility by the LPC but alsothe recognition that the thinking as wellas the evaluation process of the Commis-sion can change over time. This type ofchange is appropriate, for all of us shouldmaintain a degree of flexibility when eval-uating the historical significance ofpotential landmarks and districts.

Along this line, we would like to seethe LPC reconsider Port Richmond inStaten Island, Richmond Hill in Queens toconsider 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan.

D I S T R I C TL I N E S

news and views of thehistorichistoric districtsdistricts councilcouncil

editor ~ Penelope Bareau

layout and production ~ Ross Horowitz

editorial consultant ~ Jack Taylor

contributors ~ Simeon Bankoff, Penelope Bareau,

Eve Kahn, Robert J. Kornfeld, Jr., Annemieke

Beemster Leverenz, Alice Rich

staff ~ Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director;

Alice Rich, Sibyl Young, Preservation Associates

the historic districts council is the

citywide nonprofit advocate for new

york’s designated historic districts,

and for neighborhoods meriting

preservation. the council is dedicated

to preserving the integrity of new

york city’s landmarks law and to

furthering the preservation ethic

P R E S I D E N TP R E S I D E N T ’ S C O L U M NS C O L U M N

for a view from the harbor or the eyries ofan adjacent skyscraper.”

At the beginning of that September,90 West Street was midway through a

program to repair weathered terra cottaand brick. During the attacks on the 11th,airplane explosions showered the build-ing and its neighbors with wreckage, andheavy steel debris from the collapsingsouth tower penetrated about ten areason the building’s north facade, destroyingsections of wall, windows, spandrelbeams and adjacent portions of floor slabranging from one to five floors in height.Steel from 2 WTC also hit the roof, and alarge group of three-story-high triplecolumns emblematic of the tower designcatapulted through the air and into thesidewalk vault in the basement of 90West Street. Burning debris ignited mul-tiple fires, melting steel and glass interiorfurnishings and collapsing ceilings andductwork. Overall, there was moderate tosevere fire damage in about half thebuilding.

Cass Gilbert’s building is constructedof steel frame encased in terra cotta andbrick masonry fireproofing. These ele-ments helped save the building and so didits floor system, which consists of terracotta flat arches spanning from beam tobeam, covered with a cinder concrete fillslab. This construction, a popular systemfor fire-resistive construction in the late19th and early 20th centuries,limited thefire to the floors where debris actuallypenetrated.

As soon as they were aware of the dis-aster, workers in 90 West Street began toevacuate. However, two people, MariaIsabel Ramirez and George J. Ferguson,were trapped in an elevator when thebuilding lost power, and perished—theirabsence was noticed too late to rescuethem. They were the only two people todie in this building, and the memory ofthem is part of its history.

Diminished fires in 90 West Streetcontinued to burn and smoulder for days.The portions of the interior that were notfire damaged had been blasted by a stormof smoke, dust, glass and light debris andsoaked with water. The basement wasflooded, and heating oil escaped, coatingevery surface including stairs, handrailsand even the ceiling with slippery filth.Damaged mechanical equipment wasstrewn all around—hot water tanks, pip-ing and more. There was no prospect ofany plumbing, electric or heating servicefor the foreseeable future.

The New York City Department ofDesign and Construction, which nor-

continued on page 9

Major hit by steel from the south tower dam-aged or destroyed terra-cotta and spandrelbeams, leaving much masonry unsupported.

mally only administers construction proj-ects at city buildings, retained the struc-tural engineering and architectural firm Iwork for, the Thornton-TomasettiGroup, to direct the engineering aspects

90 West Street is at the lower left, a dark-ened area. Worst hits were from the southtower, 2 WTC.

map: Thornton-Tomasetti Group



Mr. Byrns grew up in St. Joseph,Michigan, on the eastern shore of LakeMichigan and says that his interest in his-toric preservation started as a very youngchild—“I’m told that as I was carriedaround I pointed out the old buildings inmy neighborhood”—and that his fascina-tion with architecture and buildingstarted almost at the same time. Not only

are sand castles in his history but a seven-story tree house as well.

Mr. Byrns has an undergraduatedegree from Princeton University and agraduate degree in architecture fromColumbia University. During the summerbefore starting at Columbia, Mr. Byrnswon an internship at the National Trustfor Historic Preservation and spent histime preparing nominations for historicdistricts for several Michigan towns.

As a practicing architect, Mr. Byrnshas designed a number of renovation andrestoration projects in Riverdale. Onethat came before the commission showeda stylistic analysis of the building duringvarious periods of time, so that commis-sioners and other interested parties couldbetter understand the development andrationale of the proposal.

His experience as an applicantbefore the commission gives him, he toldDistrict Lines, a sensitivity to what oth-ers have to go through. “I want to makethe process as streamlined as possible,”he said.

In the course of the past year HDChas also recommended a number ofchanges to the procedures followed by theLPC. Foremost among these is that itsDesignation Committee resume func-tioning and do so with open meetings inaccordance with the open-meetings legis-lation—the so-called Sunshine Law. Anopen, public operation is in everyone’sbest interest and will enhance the image

of the LPC with the preservation commu-nity and the general public.

HDC has also advocated a number ofchanges to improve enforcement of theLandmarks Law and to the review processof Certificate of Appropriateness applica-tions. Among our proposals to increasepublic confidence in the process is that anew or reopened public hearing be heldwhen an application undergoes a signifi-cant change, so that new testimony can beheard. Basic fairness requires adoptingthis change.

In the last issue of this newsletter weprinted an article about preservationfacade easements which presented thepros and cons, the advantages and poten-tial pitfal ls of donating easements.Recently The Washington Post and TheNew York Times also published articlesabout preservation easements—and theInternal Revenue Service has issued bul-letins about them. Whereas it is admirablefor an owner to want to protect an historicproperty in perpetuity and natural to wantto take advantage of a tax law permittingdeductions for doing so, there are pitfalls,particularly when a sizable charitablededuction is involved. Leaders of the Sen-ate Finance Committee recently

announced that they are pushing for legis-lation to limit the value of easements andtherefore the allowable deductions, and tocreate fines for those who greatly over-value their properties. So consider the IRSrules carefully—they may be in flux.

Easement-holding organizationsmake their money by accepting paymentfor monitoring the facades year after yearto make sure they are not changed with-out permission. If you are consideringdonating a facade easement, be aware thatinterpretations of laws change and so dothe laws themselves. If you are promisedsomething that appears to be too good tobe true, it probably is too good to be true.

And final ly, some better news.Recently, in two separate court cases,judges have upheld the legality of LPCrulings. In September a federal judgeupheld the October 2000 LPC ruling that“The Wall,” a 1973 abstract sculpture onthe side of 599 Broadway in Manhattan atthe corner of Houston Street, could notbe removed by the building’s owner. Andin December the New York CountySupreme Court upheld LPC’s require-ment that a landmark be kept “in goodrepair” when it ordered the owner of thederelict Skidmore House in Manhattan’sEast Village to repair the building andmaintain it in the future. These are long-awaited and overdue affirmations ofLPC’s positions in these cases.

—David Goldfarb

Byrns Joins LPC;

Olcott Returns,

Replacing Kane

Stephen Byrns, architect and princi-pal of the Manhattan firm BKSK, hasbeen appointed a commissioner of theLandmarks Preservation Commission.Mr. Byrns is a resident of Riverdale, TheBronx, and is representing that borough.

In other changes, Richard Olcott wasreappointed to the commission afterreturning from Italy, where he spent ninemonths at the Rome Academy as recipi-ent of the Rome Prize, awarded by theAmerican Academy in Rome. Mr. Olcottis an architect with Polshek PartnershipArchitects. He replaced Meredith Kane, acommissioner for ten years, who steppeddown. Both Mr. Olcott and Ms. Kane livein Manhattan.

David Goldfarb, HDC’s president, at theLandmarks Lion Award ceremony

photo: P. Decker

Stephen Byrns, an architect who lives in TheBronx and works in Manhattan, wasrecently named a commissioner of LPC



On a cool, crisp night in early

November, more than 200 people gath-ered at a glittering, brand-new artmuseum in Manhattan to honor BeyerBlinder Belle, an architectural firm knownfor its work in historic preservation. Theoccasion was the Historic Districts Coun-cil’s annual Landmarks Lion Award, and itwas presented last fall to a firm that, since1968—the dark ages of preservation—hasplayed an important role in saving andrenewing landmark buildings and build-ings of landmark quality. Not so coinci-dentally, the celebration took place in aspace recently converted by the sameaward-winning architects into the gleam-ing Rubin Museum of Art, an institutionthat showcases the arts of the Himalayasand surrounding regions of Central Asia.

Some of the more high-profile restora-tions the firm has undertaken in New Yorkare the Immigration Center on Ellis Island,the South Street Seaport, Grand CentralTerminal and the Enid Haupt Conserva-

2004 Landmarks Lion Award Presented to Beyer Blinder Belle

Founders of Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners: John H. Beyer, left, RichardBlinder, with lion, and John Belle. Gladding, McBean, architectural terra-cotta firm, madeand donated the award.

phot

os th

is a

rtic

le: P

. Dec

ker

Jack Beyer with Claire Whittaker and Stewart Klawans of The Kreis-berg Group, a public relations firm specializing in cultural clients.

Daisey Hubbard and Dick Blinder, who cited the inspiration of thelate James Marston Fitch, a BBB partner, in his acceptance speech.

BBB associate Jean Campbell, left, andNorma Barbacci, director of field programsfor the World Monuments Fund.

John Belle during the reception. In hisacceptance speech, he gave credit for theaward to the entire 150-member firm.

Maxinne Leighton, BBB partner, center,with Roger Byrom, HDC vice president,and Peg Breen, president, New York Land-marks Conservancy



John Belle added, “It’s a false opposi-tion...to say that you can have eitherfresh, exciting ideas on the one hand orhistoric preservation on the other. Webelieve that historic preservation can be adesign art. We believe this art is stilldeveloping and that its most innovativeperiod has only begun.”

tory at the New York Botanical Garden inThe Bronx. Other projects range through-out the world, engaging the services ofBBB offices in Washington, D.C., and Bei-jing as well as New York City.

Susan Henshaw Jones, president anddirector of the Museum of the City ofNew York, made opening remarks and

presented the award. In accepting, JackBeyer said, “Dick, John and I originallygot together...looking for a different wayof building, to add life to the city. Insteadof wiping away whole areas and startingover from scratch, we wanted to preserve,and reuse, and reinterpret existing build-ings when it made sense to do so.”

BBB partner Fred Bland, left, with John Stubbs, vice president ,World Monuments Fund, and his wife Linda.

Entrance hall of the Rubin Museum of Art, showing a five-storysteel and marble staircase by Andree Putman in former Barneysdepartment store.

dorris gaines-golomb of the Fort Greene Association in Brooklynwith HDC director and architect, Robert J. Kornfeld, Jr.

Robert B. Tierney, chair of LPC, talks with HDC’s Virginia Park-house, who is also of the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association.

HDC Preservation Associate Alice Rich,right, and interns Carolyn Siegel, center,and Annemieke Beemster Leverenz, wel-come guests.

Murray Hill Neighborhood Association inManhattan was well represented by PaigeJudge, center, Joyce Mendelsohn and archi-tect Minor Bishop

Architect Nancy Owens with EdwardMohylowski of the New York BotanicalGarden, second from left, and WalterMelvin, architect.



City Council Takes

Preservation Lead

City Councilmembers are ultimatelybeholden to their voting constituencies,and since several initiatives undertaken in2004 attempted to answer communityconcerns, the Council has emerged as amajor player in the development of thecity. Following is a brief synopsis of someof these initiatives:

Community facility reform: A muchabused section of the Zoning Resolutiondeals with community facilities—medicaloffices, educational institutions, religioususes and other non-profit entities—whichare granted leeway not permitted to build-ings in the residential areas in which theylie. The ZR awards them additional build-ing bulk, full rear-yard coverage, loosenedparking requirements and the like. Lastyear Councilmember Tony Avella intro-duced the first-ever reform to this text, andit was adopted into the ZR in September.

The major components to theamendment dealt with prohibiting manykinds of health care facilities in low-den-sity residential zones altogether; increas-ing the parking requirements on allowableones; permitting houses of worship to belocated within manufacturing zones butstiffening their parking requirements,particularly in low-density residentialzones; and reducing the rear-yardallowances for community facilities inlow-density residential zones. Althoughcommunity facility reform is a hot-button

topic from New Brighton to Bayside,these changes were not supported by themajority of citizen zoning advocates, whofelt they did not go far enough—that theamendments did not address the primaryconcern of allowing additional bulk “as ofright” for community facilities.

Wide-scale rezoning of residentialareas: The Department of City Planning,spurred in many cases by communitygroups and elected officials, has embarkedon the creation of Lower Density GrowthManagement areas to help curb the out-of-scale development that is overwhelm-ing suburban areas in the city and rapidlychanging their character. MayorBloomberg created a Staten IslandGrowth Management Taskforce, whose

recommendations were adopted into theZR last August. In an effort to retainneighborhood character while allowingfor new development, the specific amend-ments to the ZR created guidelines thatdealt with lot size, parking and yards,street frontage and private roads. Thechanges were largely supported by theStaten Island community.

In northeastern Queens, a new zon-ing designation, R2A, was created as asolution to oversized McMansions. How-ever, many residents said the proposedamendment would actually result in big-ger, bulkier buildings. The Queens pro-posal was corrected in late December inresponse to community and political pres-sure on the Department of City Planning.If the text is passed as currently formu-lated, R2A will be the first zone to encour-a ge appropriately scaled newdevelopment and not the enormous man-sions that have been devouring outer-bor-ough neighborhoods for the past decade.

Strengthening the LandmarksLaw: Intro 403, the Demolition by

Neglect Bill, would enable the LandmarksPreservation Commission to use its civilenforcement powers to ensure that prop-erty owners maintain their landmarks insafe, watertight condition. Afterapprovals in committee, the bill wasscheduled to be adopted by the full Coun-cil in mid-November; but minor technicalconcerns and major opposition from thereligious lobby have stalled it. Strong sup-port from preservation and neighborhoodorganizations (more than 30 groups fromal l f ive boroughs have endorsed it)encourages hope that it will soon beadopted.

Another bill, Intro 317, the Demoli-tion Delay Bill, would empower the LPCto intervene and save qualifying buildingsmore than 50 years old before demolitionpermits are issued. Despite assurances ofinterest by Councilmembers and wide-spread community support, the bill hasnot yet been granted a hearing. It wasintroduced to the City Council on April10, 2004.

Oversight of the Landmarks Com-mission: Finally, responding to commu-nity concerns, the City Council recentlyheld two hearings on the administrativepractices of the LPC. These very wellattended hearings helped focus the Coun-cil’s attention and that of the general pub-lic on a number of process and budgetaryissues at the commission.

All these activities and considera-tions have been undertaken by the Sub-committee on Landmarks, Public Sitingand Maritime Uses, chaired by Coun-cilmember Simcha Felder, which also con-siders and ratifies al l landmarkdesignations.

Citywide Panel

Discussions Held

In the summer of 2002 the HistoricDistricts Council added a new program toits roster of events, a panel entitled “Pre-serving Your Historic Neighborhood”that is intended to bring informationabout the merits of preservation to neigh-borhood groups. The panel typically con-sists of five experts on neighborhoodpreservation, including the leader of alocal non-profit organization and repre-sentatives of the Landmarks Preservation

STOP LANDMARKS ABUSE!CALL 311

As our friends at the MTA say,

“If you see something, say something.”

If you suspect illegal alteration

or demolition of a designated

landmark, or of a building

in a designated historic district,

don’t hesitate to report it.

Call 311

drawing: Ann Walker Gaffney



Commission and other city agencies. Sofar, the panels have played in five neigh-borhoods.

After the first trial summer seriesplayed to standing-room-only audiencesat HDC’s headquarters in Manhattan, theprogram was expanded by means of a gen-erous grant from the New York Commu-nity Trust to other borough venues, thefirst of which was in the Fort Greene His-toric District, Brooklyn. Participantsgathered to discuss the rules governingdesignated neighborhoods and what localresidents have done to pursue historicdesignation for their districts. Followingon the success of that panel, HDC beganto offer several others in different loca-tions each year, and now an annual pro-gram brings together the interestedpublic with experts in preservation andrelated fields. This year’s series is spon-sored in part by a grant from the Indepen-dence Community Foundation.

The most recent panel, on October18, 2004 was held in Sunnyside Gardens,Queens, a neighborhood currently seek-ing designation. Co-sponsored by Sunny-side Gardens Preservation Alliance, thepanel was entitled “Before and AfterLandmark Designation: Real Stories fromNeighbors,” tales told by panelists fromQueens and Staten Island who discussedtheir experiences as residents of historicdistricts and how they went about gainingdesignation status. Their discussion waspertinent to the issues faced by SunnysideGardens but applied equally to effortstaking place throughout the city. One of

the highlights was a discussion about thepractical changes that designation bringsabout in day-to-day life. For example,Wanda Chin, a panelist from JacksonHeights, commented that a ripple effectof beautification occurred after designa-tion, where one neighbor’s improvementswere often followed by others’; and allagreed that designation had enhancedcommunity relations and brought neigh-bors together over a common interest.

As a component of HDC’s educa-tional programs and in keeping with ourgrassroots mandate, the panels are farmore than a mode of community out-reach: they are a means of opening up adialogue between HDC and those wholive in historic neighborhoods in all fiveboroughs. Experts are drawn from diversebackgrounds and focus on interactionwith the audience, fostering the informalatmosphere that characterizes the panels.

On April 20, HDC wil l co-hostanother neighborhood panel, in CrownHeights, Brooklyn, in which employees ofseveral city agencies have been invited toshare information on landmarking.

Within the Preservation Panel Series,more general topics are addressed as well.A series of three panels in 2004, co-hostedby the American Institute of Architects’Manhattan chapter, opened with a panelon urban archaeology which discussed thechallenges of preserving undevelopedland long enough to permit explorationfor historic relics. The same series fea-tured a panel discussion on the role ofcommunity boards in New York City’sland-use process and another on fruitfulpublic relations strategies that can beundertaken by grassroots groups.

In Februar y a three-part lectureseries tied in with HDC’s March Preser-vation Conference theme of public stew-ardship of historic properties (see “Savethe Date” box on page 0) will be held atthe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgen-der Community Center in Greenwich Vil-lage, Manhattan, similar to the successfulprogram there last year. Panelists and top-ics are to be announced. Dates are Febru-ary 10, 17 and 24, 2005.

New Yorkers recognize the sense ofplace that comes from the wealth of his-toric resources they enjoy. It is our hopethe Preservation Panel Series will serve asa step toward maintaining this good for-tune for years to come.

Greenpoint

Historic District,

Brooklyn

Anyone who still thinks historicpreservation is the province of society’selite ought to pay a visit to the Green-point Historic District, a five-minutewalk from the water’s edge on the Brook-lyn side of the East River. Here is a districtwhich, originally settled in 1645 by a shipcarpenter, was built up and thriving by themiddle of the 19th century as an industrialcenter dominated by shipbuilding andpopulated largely by workers in the localshipyards. Later, other industries cameinto prominence—glassworks, porcelainproduction, oil refining, ironwork—andstill, the workers lived within walking dis-tance of their factories. Greenpoint ingeneral and the historic district specifi-cally was then and to a great extentremains a working-class neighborhood.Many houses have been owned for genera-tions by the same families.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

Do your favorite preservationists deserve recognition?

HDC is soliciting nominations for recipients

of our 2005 Grassroots Preservation Awards.

Send suggestions with an explanatory paragraph

to [email protected] our Web site for more

information

D I S T R I C T P RO F I L E SD I S T R I C T P RO F I L E S

Designated in 1982, the Greenpoint His-toric District lies less than a quarter milefrom the East River and is situated roughlyeast of 20th Street in Manhattan.



In the 19th century, ships for theUnited States merchant navy were builton both sides of the East River, Manhat-tan and Brooklyn. In the 1850’s more thana dozen shipbuilding companies werelocated in Greenpoint, one of which wasSneeden & Rowland, ironworkers, whosefirst contract was for the huge wrought-and cast-iron pipes manufactured to carrywater on the Croton Aqueduct. Reorga-nized in 1860 as the Continental Works,the company was commissioned to pro-duce gun carriages and mortar beds forthe Department of the Navy. When theNavy contracted with the redoubtableengineer and inventor, John Ericsson, tobuild a Civil War battleship, he hired Con-tinental Works to construct the hull andanother Greenpoint firm, the NoveltyIron Works, to build a revolving gun tur-ret. These elements crucially assisted thebattleship, the Monitor, in its illustriousencounter with the Merrimac off Nor-folk, Virginia, inaugurating a new era inthe history of naval combat.

Shipbuilding declined after theCivil War, but many other industrieswere already in place in Greenpoint—china, glass, porcelain and oil refiningamong them—and the area remained

vital. As the residential population grew,the need for new institutions was felt,particularly churches. Churches lent asense of permanence to their commu-nity and a moral tone to the neighbor-hood, as they have done throughouthistory, and Greenpoint was no excep-tion. Church societies were formed,each of which wished to contribute anappropriate building to the streets. Inthis small historic district, six churcheswere constructed in the middle of the19th century, ranging from the modestChurch of the Ascension on Kent Streetto the imposing and magisterial Victo-rian Gothic Roman Catholic Church ofSaints Anthony and Alphonsos on Man-hattan Avenue.

The housing stock was built largelybetween 1850 and 1900, especially 1870-1890, and the architectural styles reflectthe popular taste of the time: Italianate,Anglo-Italianate, French Second Empire,Neo-Grec, Queen Anne and RomanesqueRevival. The more elaborate houses werebuilt by masons or carpenters; some of themore modest ones by local workers them-selves. On Franklin Street, for instance, atthe western edge of the district (see map),shipwrights and carpenters built buildings

in the 1850’s that had stores on the groundfloor and apartments above for workersfrom the yards. These buildings are stillthere. Factories of the area provided manyof the architectural elements that embel-lished the houses—foliate brackets,wooden doors and sashes, shutters.

Among the more modest dwellingswere two- and three-story frame housesconstructed in the 1850’s and reclad inthe 1880’s with novelty shingles. Some ofthe ones cited in the designation reportwere re-sided with aluminum during the20th century, one of them 103 Noble

Street (see photo). When the presentowners acquired that house, they toldDistrict Lines recently, they knew rightaway they wanted to remove the greenaluminum siding, and in 2004 they didand found that all architectural detailsunderneath had been stripped to accom-modate it. Because of both their owninclination and the urging of the Land-marks Preservation Commission, theyembarked on a faithful restoration.Through an acquaintance in a building-preservation program, the owners got intouch with a craftsman who was able toreplicate the siding that had been there in

The Gothic Revival Church of the Ascension, incorporated in 1847 and built midblock onKent Street in 1865, is scarcely taller than its neighbors and nestled cosily among them. Itsparish hall was funded largely by the owner of a local ironworks, Thomas Fitch Rowland.

photos this page: Penelope Bareau

A recent restoration took the facade of 103Noble Street back to the 1880’s withstraight-edge, fish-scale and saw-tooth shin-gles, some laid in a diamond patternbetween windows.



the 1880’s, complete with window hoodsand the gable hood over the entrance.Today, sporting straight-edge, fish-scaleand saw-tooth shingles laid in patterns,the facade looks as it did in the 19th cen-tury and causes passersby to stop and sayhow beautiful it is. Other people hate it,but they’re not preservationists.

New Books about

Old New York

“Art Deco New York,” by DavidGarrard Lowe. Watson-Guptill, 214 pp.,$40. This colorful survey explores how aFrench-born craze for streamlining andchevrons shaped New York architecture,especially transit hubs, hotels, stores,apartment spires and nightspots. Lowe, awell known historian of the city, delvesinto icons such as Radio City Music Hallas well as lesser attractions like a glassmosaic in the lobby of Manhattan’s 261Fifth Avenue and a carved marble angel onthe pulpit at St. Bartholomew’s Church.

“The City and the Theatre,” byMary C. Henderson. Back Stage Books,382 pp., $24.95. An update of a 1973 edi-tion, this lively chronicle spans the cen-turies from circa-1700 productions for“the notorious transvestite Lord Corn-bury” to the Broadway musical’s surpris-ing 21st centur y popularity despiteastronomical ticket prices and stiff com-petition from TV and movies. Dr. Hen-derson also supplies thumbnail historiesand charming line drawings of 82 theatresbuilt since 1900, about half of which havebeen razed.

“The City Beneath Us: Buildingthe New York Subways,” by the NewYork Transit Museum staff with VivianHeller. W.W. Norton, 248 pp., $45. Vividanecdotes of tunnel excavation collapsesand angry negotiations over the IRT-BMT merger are sprinkled with vintagephotos of workers casting concrete formsor digging out column footings.

“Impressions of New York: Printsfrom the New-York Historical Soci-ety,” by Marilyn Symmes. PrincetonArchitectural Press, 304 pp., $50. Thebook’s 165 views, culled from the society’sunrivaled collection of 175,000 prints,show how printmakers’ image of the cityhas evolved: from Dutch harbors flanked

by windmills to contemporary skylinesmissing the World Trade Center.

“A Maritime Histor y of NewYork,” by the New York City WPA Writ-ers’ Project. Going Coastal, 316 pp., $25.Going Coastal, a two-year-old nonprofitdedicated to promoting awareness andresponsible use of New York’s shoreline,has republished the WPA’s loving 1941tribute to the harbors. An epilogue-update covers the past 60 years’ worth ofport decline, redevelopment and preser-vation struggles.

“New York Changing: RevisitingBerenice Abbott’s New York,” by Dou-glas Levere. Princeton ArchitecturalPress, 192 pp., $40. SoHo-based photog-rapher Douglas Levere retraced BereniceAbbott’s steps, to 100 of the sites she pho-tographed during the Great Depression.He found some unrecognizably altered,some shabby but intact and a few—suchas recently restored streetscapes in FortGreene and Brooklyn Heights—in bettershape than in Abbott’s day.

“New York, Empire City 1920-1945,” by David Stravitz. Abrams, 160pp., $35. Stravitz, a design consultantand photographer, salvaged a trove ofcrumbling negatives 20 years ago at aNew Jersey photo studio’s going-out-of-business sale. This collection of 100large-format photos (representing onlyabout a fifth of his treasures) capturesmid-centur y Manhattan, down to agleam on a taxicab’s chrome trim and apatch of spa l l ing stone work on adoomed Vanderbilt mansion.

“New York Underground: TheAnatomy of a City,” by Julia Solis. Rout-ledge, 252 pp., $35. Solis, an historian-adventurer who likes to explore forgottensteam tunnels and float through aque-ducts on inflatable rafts, poeticallydescribes some of the grimier wonderscoursing below street level. She also care-fully notes which are imminently in dan-ger of being modernized, filled in orcleaned.

“A Passion to Preserve: Gay Menas Keepers of Culture,” by Will Fel-lows. University of Wisconsin Press, 288pp., $30. Gay men have long fought—alongside the equally stereotyped andunsung “ l i tt le old ladies in tennisshoes”—to protect architectural her-itage. Fellows’s fascinating explorationof this little-researched topic includes

first-person reminiscences by gay preser-vationists nationwide.

“Subway Style: 100 Years of Archi-tecture & Design in the New York CitySubway,” by the New York TransitMuseum staff. Stewart, Tabori & Chang,242 pp., $40. The first in-depth study ofthe subway system’s aesthetics, this wel-come volume devotes equal space tovaulted stations, ergonomic train cars andway-finding graphics. “When in doubt aska subway employee,” suggested an opti-mistic 1938 map of the IND.

“Times Square Style: Graphicsfrom the Great White Way,” by VickiGold Levi and Steven Heller. PrincetonArchitectural Press, 144 pp., $20. Theattractions of the “Crossroads of theWorld” have long promoted themselveson advertising ephemera such as tobaccotins, hankies, menus, pulp-fiction coversand ashtrays. This impressive kitsch-festeven shows a dozen variants on 1940’s and’50’s theater ticket stubs.

Survival of the Fittest—

90 West Street Since 9/11

continued from page 2

of the emergency response, to assess thestructural stability of the building anddirect the city’s contractors whereshoring and other tasks were required.Our structural engineers first checked 90West Street on September 13, while thebuilding was still smoking. A few weekslater I went with a team of architects andmechanical engineers to survey the build-ing and prepare an Interim Life SafetyAssessment Report for the city. We iden-tified hazards related to the facade, roofdamage, floor damage from impacts andfire, electrocution hazards, and the like.We were particularly concerned withdamaged pipe scaffolding, unstablemasonry and windows and large amountsof WTC debris, including sheet-metalcolumn covers, concrete, and rebar onthe roofs and ledges. A gust of wind couldsend them flying. We recommendedimmediate measures to remove thisdebris as well as the heavy debris that wasoverloading floors. We advised shoring,erecting a sidewalk bridge and hangingnetting on the north facade to controlfalling material.



Our team discovered something thatsurprised us and even made us opti-mistic–although the building was a sceneof biblical devastation, there were goodprospects for a full restoration. Thestructure had received outstanding fireprotection from the terra-cotta encase-ment and flat-arch floor system becauseof terra-cotta’s high resistance to heat.There were two steel support columnsthat had failed and slumped a few inches,but they were at remote areas and didnot portend major structural failure.Most of the structural repairs would berequired only where heavy debris hadhit. The facade damage, which appearedhorrific and extreme in degree, was notactually that bad when the whole build-ing was considered—only one facade hadextensive damage and it was a narrowside of the building. Expensive as thefacade repairs were bound to be, theywere not unlike the ordinary scope ofrepairs for masonr y weathering anddeterioration or corrosion of steel sup-ports. The interiors and mechanical sys-tems were trashed, and the buildingwould not be usable until it had under-gone a gut rehab and had a l l ne wmechanical systems installed. Thesechanges, however, are easier to achieve ina building unoccupied by tenants, and acomplete infrastructure rehab wouldenable 90 West Street to be convertedinto fully modernized office space or tobe adapted to residential use.

In its heyday this building had beenfilled with maritime and other trans-portation offices. On the top floor hadbeen the Garrett Restaurant, the Win-dows of the World of its age, exposed toviews of the city, to the water across themasts and smokestacks of the busy portand in the distance, to the Statue of Lib-erty, Ellis Island and the ferry and bargeterminals across the Hudson. To takethis opportunity to modernize the infra-structure or alter the use of the buildingwould extend its life, and the work, wethought, could be substantially paid forby insurance.

Professionally, we determined in asystematic way what needed to be doneto stabilize and restore the building. Per-sonally, I wondered at first whether torestore the building was appropriate, ifanyone would feel good living or workingthere and if the deaths that took place

there could be respected in a restoration.It was hard to imagine a future for 90West Street when it was a smoke-dark-ened hulk suffused with the fragments ofcountless ruined lives, papers, rolodexcards, financial manuals, computerdiskettes, and family photos that hadblown in from the WTC, as well as theabandoned personal effects of the build-ing’s own tenants and unseeable but ever-present human remains f rom theairplane explosions and pulverizedremains in the dust from the collapsingtowers. Through the battered northfacade the ruins of the collapse zonewere visible, extending for what lookedlike eternity, six blocks deep and threeblocks wide, with the Gothic-lookingremnants of the twin towers reaching tento 15 stories overhead and smoke pouringfrom deep craters. Everywhere was theperpetual motion of the recovery opera-tion, cranes, grapplers, trucks—a cease-less roar of heavy machinery.

Although Thor nton-Toma sett iGroup had been retained as architectsand engineers for the restoration in thefall of 2001 and had spent several months

sur veying and preparing restorationplans, design work was stalled by a stale-mate between the owner and insurersover the insurance settlement. NinetyWest Street sat for a long time in thesame state as such buildings as DeutscheBank, and Fiterman Hall: stabilized andmothballed. Finally developer/architectPeter Levenson, learning that 90 WestStreet was sitting dormant, had a visionof the building restored and converted toresidential use. Together with his ownKibel Companies and other partners,and with assistance from the New YorkCity Housing Development Corporationand other agencies, he purchased thebuilding at a price that was deeply dis-counted to compensate for the restora-tion work required.

I toured the building on September10, 2004, with Mr. Levenson and wasgratified that it is being restored with his-

toric materials: terra cotta, copper roof-ing and granite. The restoration that wasinterrupted by the attacks used substi-tute materials extensively. It is a credit toMr. Levenson and a relief to the rest of usthat they were not proposed for thisrestoration.

Some changes wil l even be animprovement over conditions in 1998when the building was designated—newstorefronts, for example, will more closelyresemble the original street-floor shops.Another improvement will be the mainlobby, where the damaged modern wall-panel veneer and dropped ceiling are

Pre-9/11 post card of 90 West Street withthe top lit up, found in the building.

photo: AMR Shipping Ltd.

View through the north facade showing thecollapse zone beyond, six blocks deep andthree blocks wide.

photo: Robert Kornfeld, Jr./TTG



being removed to reveal portions of theoriginal Gothic style lobby and ceiling.Damage at a few areas will be left unre-paired where it does not affect the sound-ness of the wall. These scars will remain asa visible part of 90 West Street’s history asan office building, maritime headquarters,residence and proud survivor of our city’sworst disaster.

—Robert J. Kornfeld, Jr.

Recent Gifts

And Grants

All the contributions of people whogive to the Historic Districts Councilare very much appreciated. Many thanksto those who gave most recently:

Foundations: Ford Foundation,Fosdick Fund, Gramercy Park Founda-tion, Herzog Family Fund, James A.Macdonald Foundation, Ne w YorkCommunity Trust, Samuel H. KressFoundation, The Slovin Foundation,The Vesper Foundation.

Organizations: City Lore, Insti-tute of Classical Architecture & Classi-cal America, Municipal Art Society,Preservation League of New York State,World Monuments Fund.

Local groups: Brooklyn BridgePark Conservancy, Brooklyn HeightsAssociation, Church of the HeavenlyRest, Douglaston/Little Neck HistoricalSociety, The Drive to Protect the Ladies’Mile Distr ict , Ea st Side RezoningAlliance, The Green-Wood Cemetery,Historic Fort Greene Association, MudLane Society for the Renaissance of Sta-pleton, Prospect Park South Associa-tion, World Monuments Fund.

Corporations: Allee King Rosen &Flemming, Beyer Blinder Belle Archi-

tects & Planners, Bresnan Architects,Durst Organization, Edwards & Zuck,Einhorn Yaffee Prescott, EverGreenePainting Studios, Goldman CopelandAssociates, Hamilton Rabinovitz &Alschuler, Hirani Engineering & LandSur veying, Integrated Conser vationResources, Joseph R. Loring & Associ-ates, Landmark Facilities Group, Leo A.Daly, Making Books Sing, Mary B. Dier-ickx Architectural Preservation Consul-tants, Montalbano Initiatives, ParsonsBrinkerhoff Group Administration,Phillips Nizer, Polshek PartnershipArchitects, Public Garden Design, RBCDain Rauscher, Robert A. M. SternArchitects, Robert Silman Associates,Samuel J. DeSanto & Associates, SBIConsultants, Sommers Consultants,STV, Two Twelve Associates, UnionSquare Hospitality Group, VanderweilEngineers, Winter Hill Associates.

Friends: Alan M. Ades, O. KelleyAnderson Jr. , Edward D. Andrews,Penelope Bareau, Judith I. & J. JoelBerger, Therese & Paul Bernbach, Bron-son Binger, Susan S. Binger, MinorBishop, Leo J. Blackman & Kenneth T.Monteiro, Katy Bordonaro, Ann Bragg,Margaret Breen, Hal Bromm, RogerByrom & Debra Miller, George Calder-aro, Wanda Chin, Lee & Stanley Cogan,Dorothy Croly, Suzanne Davis, EdwinaDeCreny, Georgia Delano, Barbara &

Become a Friend of the Historic Districts Council Today!

Douglaston, Queens; Charlton-King-Vandam, Manhattan; FortGreene, Brooklyn; Longwood, The Bronx are all designated historicdistricts, protected from inappropriate alterations and develop-ment. Unfortunately, many more neighborhoods throughout the cityare not, though they are seeking designation. That’s where the His-toric Districts Council can help.

It’s a big city, and our advocacy is never finished. Our agendawould not be possible without you and preservation partners likeyou. You are the backbone of HDC.

Yes, consider me a Friend of HDC!

Enclosed is my gift of

$50 ___ $100 ___ $250___ $500 ___ Other $ ________________Please make check payable to Historic Districts Council and

mail to: 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003. For information,call 212-614-9107.

The Historic Districts Council is a 501(c)(3) organization, andcontributions to it are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. Afinancial report may be obtained upon request from the New YorkState Department of State, 41 State Street, Albany, NY 12231.

name

address

city/state zip

telephone

fax

e-mail(for news and electronic alerts)

Credit card payments:

If your billing address does not correspond with your address above,please provide it below your signature.

_____American Express _____MasterCard _____Visa

card number__________________________

expiration date_________

signature______________________________

Part of a polychrome terra-cotta arch emerg-ing from the current, ongoing restoration.

photo: Robert Kornfeld Jr.


Carroll McGroarty, Marcia McHam,Ronald Melichar, Joyce A. Mendelsohn,Pauline Metcalf, Edward T. Mohylowski,

H I S T O R I C D I S T R I C T S C O U N C I L

the advocate for new york city’shistoric neighborhoods

232 East 11th Street

New York NY 10003

tel 212- 614- 9107 fax 212- 614- 9127

e-mail [email protected]

www.hdc.org

D I S T R I C TL I N E S

news and views of the

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDNEW YORK, NYPermit No. 3732

Alan Delsman, Wally Dobelis, MichaelDuffy, Florence D’Urso, Frances A.Eberhart, Carole DeSaram & Ray Erick-son, Stephen Facey, Mary Ann Fastook,Naomi Freistadt, Ann Walker Gaffney,Margot Gayle, Richard George, LindaGillies, Elizabeth & David Goldfarb,Howard Goldman, Douglas Gonzalez,Michael Gotkin, Ann Harakawa, KellyHarris, Mark Holden, William Huxley,Dan Icolari, Alice Marie Jacobson, JudieJanney, John S. Jurayj, Edward S. Kirk-land, Celia & Robert Kornfeld Sr. ,Sharon Daniel Kroeger, Sarah BradfordLandau, Lay la Law- Gis iko, LoisLazarus, Ynes Leon, Kathleen Logan,Christopher W. London, Kristine &Herbert Maletz, Joan F. Mangones, Eliz-abeth & Peter Manos, Joyce Matz, Jane

Craig Morrison, Michael Noone Jr., LoisN. Osborne, Nancy Owens, Virginia L.Parkhouse, Nancy & Otis Pearsal l ,William E. Pfeiffer, Rosamond & DavidF. Putnam, Encarnita & Robert C.Quinlan, Jennifer J. Raab, Dorothy &Leo Rabkin, Harold Reed, Christa Rice,Trilby Schreiber, Edith & Martin E.Sega l , Be ver l y Moss Spatt , FrankSteindler, Jack Taylor, Susan & PaulTunick, Merin El izabeth Urban,Roberta F. & James S. Vaughan, Louise& Fred Vinciguerra, Elizabeth Watson,Margo Wellington & Albert Saunders,Earl & Gina Ingoglia Weiner, Elissa F.Winzelberg, Joanne Witty & EugeneKeilin, Kevin Wolfe, Kate Wood &Da vid Sprouls , Richard & MelmieYoung.

SAVE THE DATE

Eleventh Annual Preservation Conference

“Preserving Public Places”March 4-6, 2005

Reception Friday, March 4Panels Saturday, March 6

Walking tours Sunday, March 7Visit our Web site, www.hdc.org,

for details

district lines1h0ani22bqjx9rwiu3w2now1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/... · p.1~ survival of the...

Documents