Property

Status

Niagara Falls High School, Niagara Falls The vacant Niagara Falls High School was abandoned for a new school and faced demolition for a strip mall.

SAVED: The former high school was purchased by Save Our Sites Niagara which plans to renovate the building for use as the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. Several artists are already using space in the building. Through the Preserve New York Grant Program (a joint program by the Preservation League and the New York State Council on the Arts), the League has supported the community group’s efforts toward restoration with funding for an historic structure report. Recently, the State Board for Historic Preservation approved the building’s listing on the State and National Registers and a State Bond Act grant for rehabilitation is pending.

A. Conger Goodyear House, Old Westbury The 1938 Goodyear House, designed by Modernist architect Edward Durell Stone, was once the centerpiece of rolling Long Island countryside. Now, it is surrounded by new luxury homes that are the result of a booming real estate market.

SAVED: For over a year, the Goodyear House has been for sale at prices varying between $1.3 and $1.8 million. In June 2001, the Wheatley Construction Company applied to the town’s board of historic review for a demolition permit for the house, which does not have landmark status. In October 2001, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced that the Goodyear House was included on its "2002 World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites," causing intervention on behalf of the property by the WMF, the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (SPLIA), the Preservation League and others. As of November, SPLIA took title to the property.

132-140 State Street, Albany This intact row of five historic commercial buildings just east of the State Capitol building provides a great opportunity for reuse. However, they are vacant and deteriorating and were threatened with demolition.

STATUS IMPROVED: After years of trying to make the city government see the significance of the five vacant but historic buildings located at the top of State Street hill, local efforts may have begun to pay off. Just one year after being threatened with demolition to make way for a parking lot across from the State Capitol, a plan to save the buildings has begun to take shape. A year ago the city government was publicly in favor of the buildings being demolished, but that policy has changed to one in which the mayor is insisting on "a commitment to proper preservation" in any development proposal for the site. In addition, the buildings may soon have a new owner interested in maintaining at least the five historic facades.

Edgar J. Kaufmann Conference Rooms, New York City The conference rooms are one of only three projects in the U.S. designed by Alvar Aalto, renowned Finnish modernist. The rooms were threatened with demolition for office space.

STATUS IMPROVED: The investors who had planned to convert the conference rooms into office space sold the building in which the rooms are located back to the Institute of International Education. There are no immediate plans to alter Alvar Aalto’s original design.

Glimmerglass/Upper Susquehanna Region, Otsego County The Glimmerglass region is a picturesque tourist attraction in New York State, but too many tourists and inadequate regional planning can destroy precisely what makes this region so attractive.

STATUS IMPROVED: A draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) is expected to be completed for the Glimmerglass/Upper Susquehanna Region by mid-November. The GEIS will assess the Glimmerglass region’s carrying capacity and provide vital information about National Register listed or eligible properties (standing structures only). It is hoped that the GEIS will give local decision makers a better understanding of the region’s existing infrastructure and further preservation of the area’s numerous assets, including its cultural resources and rural character.

Seneca Park, Rochester Seneca Park is not only nationally recognized for its design by Frederick Law Olmsted, it is also locally recognized for its scenic beauty as a quiet refuge in a busy urban center. However, plans to construct an 800-car parking lot and expand the park’s zoo could destroy this environment.

THREATENED: While the county has reduced the size and cost of the proposed zoo expansion, from 36 to 35 acres and from $85 million to $65 million, and the parking lot from 800 cars to 600, the project would still ruin the park. The county issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement in June 2001, but has yet to issue the required Statement of Findings. The county legislature must vote to accept or reject the plan. The legislature requested more financial information before voting, and a new study is expected by the end of the year. The zoo plan came directly from the county executive, and he is backed by the majority of the county legislature so acceptance of a new plan appears to be an uphill battle.

Downtown State Street, Schenectady In 2000, Schenectady’s State Street lost an entire block of historic commercial buildings to make way for a new office building, even though there were alternative sites in the downtown.

THREATENED: Prior to the demolition of the buildings on State Street in 2000, the League joined several residents of Schenectady in a lawsuit that challenged the procedure used to acquire approval for the buildings’ demolition. This suit was dismissed by the Appellate Court. Construction of the new office building has not yet begun on the site that was cleared downtown. The city is now looking into demolition of another historic building on State Street, across from the block that was recently demolished. This building has deteriorated from neglect, but could be restored to help revitalize the downtown. The city has developed and adopted design guidelines for downtown, which will hopefully guide future decisions.