Press Release
June 24, 2011
Dan Keefe
518-468-1868
State Board Recommends 27 Properties for Listing on Registers of Historic Places
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended the addition of 27 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, including a number of sites that reflect the evolution of city of Buffalo's historic Black Rock neighborhood and several farmsteads that have been continuous agricultural production for over a century.
"Listing these properties on the State and National Registers of Historic Places will help their owners preserve - and often bring back to life - wonderful historic assets across the state," said Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. "It's fitting that many of the nominated properties highlight the impressive inventory of historic resources in Buffalo, which is the host city for the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Conference in October."
Listing these properties on the State and National Registers can assist their owners in revitalizing the structures, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture, archeology and culture of New York State and the nation.
There are 90,000 historic buildings, structures and sites throughout the state listed on the National Register of Historic Places, individually or as components of historic districts. Property owners, municipalities and organizations from communities throughout the state sponsored the nominations.Once the recommendations are approved by the state historic preservation officer, the properties are listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed and, once approved, entered on the National Register.
STATE REVIEW BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS
Broome County
The Johnson City Historic District, Johnson City - with its strong Main Street spine, surrounding residential streets, and industrial complexes, the district largely represents the vision of a compact industrial town that Harry Lester, founder of Lester Brothers Boot and Shoe Company, planned in 1888 as well as the history of the Endicott-Johnson Company and the village's growth and development through the mid-1960s.
Erie County
Buffalo Smelting Works, Buffalo - the 1891 building is a rare surviving example of waterfront industrial architecture in the Black Rock neighborhood of Buffalo, where Buffalo Smelting Works enjoyed nearly three decades of success in the copper smelting industry, and attracted much business to the region.
Dayton House, Buffalo - the Greek Revival and Italianate-styled brick residence was constructed around 1840, in the years following the construction of the nearby Erie Canal, and is one of the oldest surviving residences in the city's Black Rock neighborhood.
Eberz House, Buffalo - A nearly pristine example of the Queen Anne style, the 1892 home reflects elements of an important historical era of prosperity in the Black Rock neighborhood.
House at 218 Dearborn Street, Buffalo - Constructed around 1880, it is a surviving example of a shotgun worker's cottage, which dominated much of the landscape of the Black Rock neighborhood during the last half of the 19th century as it became a thriving working class neighborhood.
Market Square Historic District, Buffalo - the heart of the historic Black Rock neighborhood, the district includes a few intact late-Federal era frame houses and a variety of architectural styles from the early 19th to early 20th centuries, reflecting a nearly hundred-year period when the neighborhood thrived during the productive years of the Erie Canal.
Robert T. Coles House and Studio, Buffalo - a highly intact example of mid-20th century Modern architecture, the 1961 building used pre-fabricated and pre-cut components in its construction that were drawn from Coles's experience working as an architect for the Techbuilt Company, an innovative midcentury pre-fabricated housing manufacturer.
Essex County
Westport Delaware and Hudson Train Station, Westport - built in 1875-76, and subsequently enlarged, the late-Victorian train station is associated with Westport's emergence as a regional transportation center - and seasonal tourist destination - with its location on Lake Champlain allowing for convenient water and train traffic.
Greene County
Haxton-Griffin Farm, Athens - also known as The Woodburne and Wagner Farm, the 55 acre farmstead with commanding views of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains includes an 1815 stone dwelling built for prominent area merchant Benjamin Haxton.
Herkimer County
Bonfoy-Barstow House, West Winfield - built in 1888, the late Victorian house reflects the middle class homes built in villages that developed on the Cherry Valley Turnpike in the 19th century.
Little Falls City Hall, Little Falls - the 1918 government center that reflects the values of the Progressive Era and the City Beautiful movement of the early decades of the 20th century was built thanks to a significant donation by dairy industry innovator David Hamlin Burrell, Little Falls' most prominent citizen at the turn of the century.
Monroe County
Central Trust Bank Building, Rochester - opening to wide acclaim in April 1959 as a significant development in downtown Rochester's post-war resurgence, is the city's best example of 1950s International Style modernism and as an excellent example of intact 1950s curtain-wall construction.
First Baptist Church of Brockport - originally built in 1863, the extensive changes that took place at the church in the 1920s, including the addition of a Social and Educational wing, are historically significant as a distinguished example of Collegiate Gothic church design.
New York County
Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist - today the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation of Washington Heights, the 1831 church is a rare example of an Art Deco-style Christian Science church, and, for that matter, an unusual Art Deco example of any religious denomination in New York City.
Nassau County
House at 52 Frost Mill Road, Mill Neck - an example of a settlement era house that was enlarged in the 19th century and then significantly expanded and restyled in the Colonial Revival style sometime after 1927, the rare survivor of Oyster Bay's early history reflects how the community developed in the early 20th century.
Niagara County
Nathan Comstock, Jr. House - Dating from circa 1823, the vernacular Greek Revival-style home was constructed of Gasport limestone locally quarried around the time of the construction of nearby Erie Canal locks, and built for Nathan Comstock, Jr., one of the founders of the village of Lockport.
Onondaga County
Leavenworth Apartments, Syracuse - the 1912 apartment towers embody a new historical trend in the city, the acceptance of apartment living on the part of the middle class in the city where single-family or two-family houses had proliferated in Syracuse prior to the early 20th century.
New Kasson Apartments, Syracuse - the 1898 building is another example of an early apartment building designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style in Syracuse.Peoples African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Syracuse - built in 1910-11 in a melding of Romanesque and Gothic revival styles, the building is the oldest standing African American church in Syracuse and a center of civil rights activism.
Otsego County
Springfield Center Elementary School, Springfield Center - an important work of local architect Myron Jordan, the distinguished 1985 school in the International Style was commissioned in response to the redistricting that resulted from new laws encouraging school districts to consolidate as well as the increased number of students in the county.
Rensselaer County
Gifford Farmstead, Tomhannock - the 1867 Italianate house, original 1790 house now used as a shop, and collection of barns and rural outbuildings together reflect the evolution of a Rensselaer County farm that has been in production since the 18th century.
Schuyler County
Watkins Glen Commercial District, Watkins Glen - the core of the business district of the village during its years of growth and development as a transportation, industrial, and tourism hub, the downtown district contains buildings that represent the periods of greatest growth and the variety of architectural styles from 1844 to 1961.
Steuben County
Mordecai Stephens House (Willow Bend Farm), Canisteo - built in the 1850s, the home is a largely intact and distinctive example of Italianate residential design illustrating the growing prosperity of mid-19th century Canisteo and vicinity after the opening of the Erie Railroad.
Suffolk County
Josiah Woodhull House, Shoreham - Recognized as one of the oldest houses in Brookhaven, the 1720 Josiah Woodhull House was an early settlement period farmhouse that was expanded to meet the needs of the owners in the mid 19th century and remodeled in the Colonial Revival style in the mid-20th century.
Ulster County
Eliot-Buckley House - the centerpiece of what was once a large Hudson River estate known as "Riverview," it was erected outside of Marlboro in the 1840s as the residence of Daniel Elliot, a successful businessman who took an avid interest in the cultural developments of his era.
Washington County
Maxwell Farm, Jackson - also known as the O'Donnell-Hill farm, the rural property contains seven contributing buildings and structures, including a home built in 1815 and later updated in the Greek Revival style and a large frame barn, the earliest section of which is a timber-framed English barn of pre-1800 date.
Westchester County
West Somers Methodist Church and Cemetery, West Somers - constructed c.1837, and often referred to as Tomahawk Chapel, the Greek Revival-period church is of a kind once common throughout the northeast, but development pressures in Westchester County have seen numerous church buildings of this type disappear from the landscape.
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