Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation

October 20, 2011

Peter Brancato
Dan Keefe
518-486-1868

State Board Recommends 42 Properties for Historic Register Listing

The New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended the addition of 42 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, including the Bowery, one of the oldest and most storied neighborhoods in New York City; a church that pioneered broadcasting religious services; and several properties that reflect the impact that railroads and canals had on the development of the state.

"These properties have been significant in our history and listing them on the State and National Registers of Historic Places can help them play a role in the state's future," said Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. "I'm hopeful that this recognition will advance efforts to preserve and improve these wonderful historic assets across the state."

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

Albany County

Slingerlands Historic District, Bethlehem - reflecting three major stages of development in the hamlet, the district includes the earliest scattered Federal and Greek Revival farmhouses built between c. 1790 and the Civil War, Victorian-era villas built after 1863 when a new railroad allowed for commuting into Albany, and finally suburban development from the 20th century, when widespread commuting by automobile became possible.

House at 698 Kenwood Avenue, Bethlehem - the intact Queen Anne-style residence was built in 1874 at a time the Slingerlands hamlet was growing adjacent to the stop on the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad, (later the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.)

Rowe Farm, Selkirk - the farm's two keynote buildings, a large frame farmhouse of Italianate-style and a large timber-frame hay barn, were erected between 1875 and 1879 for local farmer Solomon C. Rowe.

Bronx County

Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Kingsbridge Memorial Bell Tower, Bronx - built in 1930-31, the 50-foot high English Gothic memorial tower is dedicated to the memory of soldiers who gave their lives during World War I from the Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil and Kingsbridge neighborhoods.

St. Stephen's Methodist-Episcopal Church, Bronx - The 1897-98 church in Marble Hill is a robust and essentially unaltered example of the Shingle Style in late 19th century ecclesiastic architecture.

Cattaraugus County

B'Nai Israel Temple, Olean - the highly intact 1929 synagogue combines a variety of motifs derived from historic Southern and Eastern European styles, as well as Middle Eastern architecture and played an important role as the spiritual, cultural, and social center for the small, but active Jewish community of Olean.

Jefferson Street Cemetery, Ellicotville - upon the death of a child in1817, the new village designated this burial ground, which has come to provide early demographic information not found in surviving town and village records and is the resting place of several veterans of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Chemung County

Alexander Eustace House, Elmira - Built in 1886, the highly intact Second Empire-style residence was built for local lawyer Alexander Eustace, who was active in local and state politics, heading the state tax department and serving as a member of the state Civil Service Commission.

Columbia County

Copake Memorial Clock, Copake - dedicated in October 1944 at the hamlet's primary crossroads to memorialize the death of Copake native Steven McIntyre in World War II, the clock has been adopted as Copake's official emblem and has come to symbolize the sacrifices of all Copake citizens in recent war efforts.

Dutchess County

Smithfield Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, Amenia - The church, an outstanding representation of mature Greek Revival style, was built in 1847-48 as the third religious building erected at the location, which also includes a burial ground dating to 1731.

Erie County

Allentown Historic District, Buffalo - the nomination expands the boundaries of Buffalo's first historic district, which features a diverse stock of stock of residential, commercial, and religious buildings dating from the 19th and 20th centuries and is the neighborhood credited with sparking the historic preservation movement in Buffalo.

Robertson-Cataract Electric Building, Buffalo -Built in 1915-16 as a retail showroom and warehouse for growing electrical supply company, the building featuring detailed brick, cut stone and terra cotta masonry is a fine example of the industrial aesthetic.

Huyler Building, Buffalo - the 1926 construction of the Huyler Building, also known as the Pitt Petri Building, represented a transitional era for Buffalo's Delaware Avenue, as it shifted from fashionable residential street to bustling commercial thoroughfare in the 1920s.

Tishman Building, Buffalo - an excellent example of the curtain wall skyscraper in the International Style, it was the first new building to be built in downtown Buffalo in 30 years when construction began in 1959 and today stands visually prominent in Lafayette Square and the Buffalo skyline.

Pioneer Cemetery, Evans Center - established in 1810, many of town's prominent early settlers are buried in this cemetery - including Asa Ames, an important American folk artist - and the site provides information about their lives, marriages, deaths and interrelationships.

John P. Summers House, Lancaster - built in 1906, the meticulously restored home is an excellent example of Queen Anne-style architecture in Lancaster, a village in which few such buildings survive.

Newton-Hopper Village Site, Erie County - the site of a 16th century Native American village on the Niagara Frontier.

Herkimer County

Little Falls Historic District, Little Falls - the 25-block district on the North side of the Mohawk River reflects the development of the residential and commercial core of the city from 1825, with the opening of the Erie Canal, through 1950, when the opening of the New York State Thruway bypassed the city.

Jefferson County

Amos Wood House, Elisburg - Built by settlers from Connecticut in 1825, the home is a distinctive example of stone construction using local materials and New England building traditions.Storrs' Harbor Shipbuilding Site, Jefferson County, is a significant War of 1812 shipyard site.

Kings County

Old Stone House of Brooklyn - a commemorative monument built in 1935 by Depression-era relief workers from the remains of a Colonial-era house in Washington Park/JJ Byrne Park, the house symbolizes the importance of the Battle of Long Island to the Revolutionary War to the generation that built it and embodies local patriotic sentiments.

Livingston County

Avon Five Arch Bridge, Avon - Built between 1856 an 1857, the limestone bridge carried the Genesee Valley Railroad across the Conesus Outlet Creek until 1941, and was acquired by the village in 1971 for use a park.

Montgomery County

John Smith Farm, Minden - the intact assemblage of farm buildings dating to as early as 1834, set in a highly-intact rural setting of pastures, woodlands and tilled fields on a pastoral route that hasn't changed substantially since the colonial era, embodies distinctive characteristics of a wealthy farm in the region's history.

Nassau County

Christ Building (Harian's General Store), Sea Cliff - one of the oldest commercial properties in Sea Cliff, the 1880 French Second Empire-style structure was sited to accommodate the needs of seasonal residents along the harbor and serve the permanent residents living further inland.

New York CountyThe Bowery Historic District, New York - the 1.25-mile-long Bowery from Chatham Square to Cooper Square represents four centuries of European-American history. The Bowery itself, established by the Dutch as a wagon road in 1626, is a link to the city's earliest development. The district itself includes buildings dating from the late 18th century through the late 20th century, representing the street's long and diverse architectural, commercial, social and industrial history.

Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Chapel, New York - today the Father's Heart Ministry Center, the 1867 Gothic chapel has provided a place in the community for religious, charitable, educational, and social programs for a succession of unprecedented immigrant populations.

Hotel Albert, New York - Over the course of a century, from the 1880s through the early-1970s, the Albert played a significant role in New York's cultural life, becoming known as a haven for artists, musicians and writers, and eventually for political radicals.

West End Presbyterian Church and Parish House, New York - the 1891 church is one neighborhood's most significant churches, and in 1923, less than three years after the first commercial radio broadcast in the United States, established one of the country's earliest radio ministries to expand its outreach by broadcasting Sunday morning services.

Niagara County

Lower Niagara River Spear Fishing Dock Historic District, Niagara, is a significant for its association with Iroquois spear fishing, a deeply-root part of Iroquoian culture.

Oneida CountyTabernacle Baptist Church, Utica - the Gothic inspired church was built in 1867 for one of the earliest post-colonial Welsh Baptist congregations in the United States, and is representative of the prominence that the city of Utica obtained during the mid-19th century as a major inland port on the Erie Canal.

Queens County

Parkway Village, Queens - conceived by famed builder Robert Moses, the planned suburban community in central Queens was built in 1946-47 to provide non-discriminatory housing for the multi-racial employees of the newly created United Nations during a post-war housing shortage.

Rensselaer County

Backus Farmstead, Pittstown - intact assemblage of historic agricultural outbuildings and farmhouse built in the mid-19th century survive in a rural setting that has been continuously farmed for over century.

Richmond County

Boardman-Mitchell House, Staten Island - constructed in 1848, the early Italianate villa style residence in the Stapleton neighborhood once was owned by Captain Elvin Mitchell, who is credited with saving the lives of 176 passengers aboard the ship Oregon, which sank off the coast of the Sound Island Sound in 1886.

Rockland County

Stony Point District School No. 4 (Pyngyp School), Stony Point - Built around 1915, the one-room Pyngyp School served the needs of Stony Point's District No. 4 students until 1945, at which time the area's schools were centralized and the small district schoolhouses closed.

St. Lawrence County

Knollwood, Star Lake - constructed in 1918-1923 by Dr. Frederic R. Calkins, the camp exhibits a mix of Adirondack Rustic and Arts and Crafts influences and is an important example of an Adirondack recreational retreat that evolved from the era of the "Great Camps."

Norwood Methodist Church and Parsonage, Norwood - the church, originally built in 1866 and twice enlarged, and the historically associated 1869 parsonage, provided a permanent place of worship of the oldest religious organization in the community.

Schenectady County

Mica Insulator Company, Schenectady - a pioneering electrical insulation firm founded in 1893 by Edison Machine Works (later GE) researchers, it became one of Schenectady's leading industries; the nomination includes two adjacent daylight factors: the Micanite Works, constructed in 1915, and the Lamicoid Building, constructed in 1946.

Schoharie County

John Lehman House, Sharon - Constructed about 1855, the highly-intact farmhouse is characteristic of regional building practices and local adaptations of fashionable Greek Revival styles during the mid-19th century in rural New York.

Suffolk County

Elvira, Brookhaven - launched in 1906, the Elvira is an extremely rare surviving example of a class "P" racing sloop designed by master boat builder Gilbert M. Smith, who specifically designed racing sloops to succeed in the shallow, protected waters of the Great South Bay.

Rogers Mansion Museum Complex, Southampton - Beginning in 1951, the Southampton Colonial Society (now known as the Southampton Museum and Research Center) began relocating historic buildings threatened with demolition to the grounds of Rogers Mansion, creating a "colonial village." The district is significant as an example of an outdoor museum.

Washington County

Hebron School District #16, Hebron - the 1847 school, a rare example of stacked plank frame construction, served the educational needs of the hamlet of East Hebron from the mid-point of the 19th century into the mid-1940s, until the consolidation of the town's schools and the abandonment of the rural district system.

Westchester County

St. George's Church, Mohegan Lake - Erected between 1911 and 1912, and now in use as a restaurant, it is a noteworthy example of early 20th century Romanesque Revival-style ecclesiastical architecture patterned loosely after the Norman architecture of northwestern France.