Seven to Save 2000

The 2003 Seven to Save list spotlights historic properties that exemplify challenges facing historic places across the state. Sites listed this year draw attention to the importance of preserving modern architecture, the need for Legislative passage of a historic home tax credit, and the threat to New York's historic resource and scenic vistas from inappropriately-sited wind farms. These seven valued historic places are in danger of disappearing because of inappropriate development, lack of funding and financial incentives, insensitive public policies, general neglect, disinvestment, and, in several cases, outright demolition. The Preservation League pledges to work with local partners to provide legal assistance, technical services and advocacy support, with the goals of eliminating the threats to these places and to reaching meaningful solutions.

2003 Seven to Save:

Erie County, Buffalo, Buffalo Central Terminal, 1929. Landmark status: Listed as local landmark and on National Register, 1984. Threat: Deterioration, vacancy.

The Buffalo Central Terminal is a monumental Art Deco style railroad station complex built in 1929 by Fellheimer & Wagner as the passenger station for the New York Central Railroad and later, Amtrak. The steel and brick station is dominated by an imposing 271-foot tall office tower. Deterioration and vandalism have resulted in the decline of the complex which has been vacant since 1979. “Saving” the former station at this stage will mean the stabilization of the structure and finding a suitable adaptive use that not only results in the rehabilitation of the landmark station, but serves as a catalyst for the revitalization of Buffalo’s East Side neighborhood.

Nassau County, Garden City, St. Paul's School, 1883. Landmark status: Listed on the National Register, 1978. Threat: Neglect, possible demolition, vacancy.

Active as a school for 90 years, the property (including the school and 48 acres) was sold by the Episcopal Diocese to the village in 1993. While the village uses the land as playing fields, the school itself has been in danger of being demolished due to a lack of local commitment to developing a viable reuse plan. To save the building, it will be necessary to convince a broad array of community stakeholders that it is architecturally and economically feasible to reuse St. Paul’s School in ways that respect its outstanding High Victorian Gothic design.

New York County, New York, Lower Manhattan neighborhoods: Proposed John Street / Maiden Lane Historic District and Proposed Greenwich Street South Historic District. Landmark status: Some individual sites are listed as local landmarks; eligibility determination for National Register status has been requested for districts. Threat: Demolition and inappropriate redevelopment.

The area is a 3-D record of the city’s birth and growth into the financial capital of the world and includes Federal era residences, “Old Law” tenements, former stables and early 20^th century commercial buildings. Plans for revitalization following the attack on the World Trade Center include a new MTA transportation hub and commercial and residential developments which could threaten the preservation of historic resources. The League will continue its substantial involvement in the area by working with local groups to secure landmark district designation at the local, state and national levels, as well as with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to assure that preservation is part of the redevelopment plan.

New York County, New York, Two Columbus Circle, 1964. Threat: Inappropriate alterations. Landmark status: None; full Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing denied.

Two Columbus Circle represents a milestone in the Modern Architecture movement. Edward Durell Stone’s 1964 museum for Huntington Hartford's art collection broke ground as arguably one of the first post-modern building designs. Current plans for adaptive use would significantly reconfigure the interior and completely replace the building's marble façade. A "save" would result in a modified design that would have less impact on the exterior of the building and respect its historic integrity.

Rensselaer County, Troy: Washington Place, 1838-42. Landmark status: Listed locally and included in a National Register district, 1973. Threat: Further deterioration and disinvestment.

Washington Park is the second oldest private square (1838) in the United States, the first being Gramercy Park in New York City. Years of advocacy on the part of the local neighborhood association has brought new owners to the park neighborhood. However, several of the original, ten Greek Revival-style townhouses located at the south end of the park suffer from abandonment and neglect; one building is only a stabilized façade. Passage of a state historic home tax credit would aid reinvestment in Washington Place and other urban and rural historic neighborhoods across New York State by offering an incentive for economic reinvestment in residential properties and neighborhood renewal.

Seneca County, Village of Ovid, Seneca County Courthouse Complex, "The Three Bears," Ovid, (1845-1860). Landmark status: Listed on the National Register, 1976.
Threat: underutilization and/or vacancy of historic public buildings.

The three adjacent Greek Revival style buildings, with their distinctive porticos, have served as courthouse, municipal offices and museum in this half-shire county (the other seat is Waterloo, 17 miles to the north). Consolidation and reduction in municipal services have resulted in excess office space and the buildings face deterioration without new uses. Affectionately known as the “Three Bears,” all are in need of rehabilitation. A "save" requires a realistic reuse and management plan that preserves the buildings and enhances their downtown setting in this small Finger Lakes village.

Statewide: Visual Impacts on Cultural and Scenic Resources from Commercial Scale Wind Energy Development in NYS

Threat: Considered an essential component of New York State’s efforts to develop and promote renewable energy resources, commercial-scale wind energy projects, if not carefully sited, will have significant visual intrusions on historic, cultural and scenic resources in New York State. To counter the threat of poorly sited facilities, the League will be developing wind energy siting criteria that will protect historic, cultural and scenic resources from inappropriately-sited wind projects.

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Three of the League’s Seven to Save listings, Niagara Falls High School, the High Line and the Oswego City Public Library, recently received significant boosts. The League congratulates the local advocates for their tremendous efforts on behalf of these historic places.

In the most recent round of award announcements from the Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, the highlight was a $500,000 grant toward the restoration of the former Niagara Falls High School, now the Niagara Falls Arts and Cultural Center (NACC). This site, listed on the League’s 2000 Seven to Save list and a 2001 Preserve New York grant recipient, was spared the fate of a wrecking ball for yet another strip mall when a local citizens group, Save our Sites in Niagara Falls, Inc., successfully intervened to turn this former school into a community cultural center. Now the building, in addition to being almost fully occupied, has received much- needed funding from the state.

The grant will restore the historic character of the building, with emphasis on repair and rehabilitation work of its roof. Subsequent phases of the project will include repair of the parapets and front steps, replacement of windows with those that are historically compatible and energy efficient, and the restoration of the semicircular front driveway to allow safe and attractive public access.

According to Clinton Brown, president of the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, "It would not have been possible without the Preservation League’s interest and support. When an organization as prestigious as the League took an interest in the project, it gave courage and energy to the citizens who wanted to save the building."

In a very positive development, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced that the City would undertake a four-month feasibility study of the potential reuse of the High Line as a public open space. The High Line, a 1.45 mile elevated rail line on Manhattan’s West Side was named to the League’s 2001 Seven to Save list.

The study will help the City determine whether to support the preservation of the High Line for public reuse through the federal "rails-to-trails" program or to pursue demolition, as proposed by a small group of private property owners with real estate holdings beneath the High Line.

The announcement follows a major legal victory for Friends of the High Line, a local group advocating on behalf of reuse. On March 12, Honorable Justice Diane Lebedeff ruled that demolition plans negotiated during the final days of the Giuliani administration were "undertaken in violation of ‘lawful procedure’ and [were] an ‘error of the law.’"

The Oswego City Public Library, faced with the decision of whether or not to vacate their building, voted in early July to remain in the historic Gerrit Smith-funded building. Located in the heart of Oswego, the library, completed in 1855, is the oldest surviving library in continuous use in New York State.

Due to the prospect of abandonment, the League listed the library on its 2001 Seven to Save list and encouraged the Heritage Foundation of Oswego and community residents to explore options for its continued use. The library is in need of structural repairs and expansion of space. Community outreach led voters to choose a tax increase for the building repairs and to elect new library board members who support rehabilitating the historic building.

A key factor in the library’s decision was a generous offer by a historic property developer, Murray Gould of Gould & Associates of North Carolina. Gould, a former resident of Oswego who grew up using the library, made a special trip to address the board and offer his professional knowledge and resources to help the library at no cost.

Seven to Save 2003