Press Release
September 21, 2012
Dan Keefe
518-486-1868
State Board Recommends 21 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended the addition of 21 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
"It is a pleasure to recognize these historic properties in New York that are truly worthy of preservation," said Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. "Adding these landmarks to the State and National Registers of Historic Places helps to highlight New York's rich past and gives owners the tools to preserve these important places."
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
Columbia County
The Hand House, New Lebanon - while the original date of construction is unknown, this early house is architecturally significant for the Italianate-style updating to the exterior that took place in the 1860s.
Erie County
Baker Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, East Aurora - completed in 1928, the distinctive Collegiate-Gothic church includes windows designed by the Tiffany studios and installed at the time of construction; it is one few churches in the country with a unified decorative plan by Tiffany.
Clara Brown, Buffalo - the sailboat was built in Maine in 1952 and brought by her first owner, W.R. Christopherson, to Vermont for racing in Lake Champlain's annual boat races; it won several, including the "Free-For-All" in 1956 and the "Long Distance Race" in 1957, before being relocated to Lake Erie in the 1980s.
Elmwood Historic District (West), Buffalo - the primarily residential district of 1,600 properties is a product of the first street-car suburbanization of the city during its golden age following the Civil War and boasts the architecture and streetscapes that illustrate of Buffalo's premier residential neighborhood at the height of the city's prominence as the 8th most populous city in America.
Hamburg Main Street Historic District, Hamburg -- the collection of historic residential, commercial, religious and government buildings represents the evolution of the village from its origins as a frontier hamlet in the early 19th century to its post-World War II expansion as a bedroom suburb for nearby Buffalo.
The Dick Block Building, North Tonawanda - the largely intact 1891 Romanesque Revival multi-use building was an anchor in what was a self-contained, centralized commercial district in North Tonawanda, providing a tangible link to the role of Webster Street as a commercial corridor catering to local residents' needs.
Turner Brothers Building (American Household Storage Company), Buffalo - the property includes the original 1848 Gothic Revival building, constructed when Buffalo was a growing port city and the Turner Brothers distributed their soda and syrup products throughout the world, as well as a 1910 addition that is a significant example of the work of G. Morton Wolfe, a prolific architect in Buffalo and the surrounding region, whose work is no longer well represented.
Essex County
Cure Cottage at 43 Forest Hill Avenue, Saranac Lake - documents show that tuberculosis patients stayed at the small wood-frame house on Forest Hill Road from May 1912 until 1928; the building features an intact cure porch on the rear of the second floor. The porch features a wide door that allowed a bed to be pushed in and out and large sliding glass windows.
Ligonier Point Historic District, Willsboro - the site includes an important collection of historic resources relating to stone quarrying, boat-building, and farming undertaken during the 19th century, including two historic homesteads and the remains of quarries from which Chazy limestone was taken.
Herkimer County
Stuart Perry and William Swezey Houses, Newport - erected adjacent to one another in 1849, the exceptional pair of limestone-walled companion Italian villas were built to the specifications of influential New York City architect Alexander Jackson Davis for successful local businessmen Stuart Perry and William Swezey.
Jefferson County
Grenadier Island Schoolhouse, Cape Vincent -- a rare surviving example of a late 19th century frame schoolhouse that serviced the schoolchildren of the families who lived permanently on Grenadier Island; the school remains in the same rural setting as when it was constructed.
Lewis County
Harry and Molly Lewis house, Beaver Falls - the distinctive colonial revival/neoclassical house built in 1909-10 for industrialist Harry Slocum Lewis and his wife, Molly, reflects the prosperity of a prominent local family and later served as home of the Fiber Products Research Center, where several innovative products were developed.
New York County
Riverside Church, New York - the 1930 neo-Gothic church incorporates the work of nationally preeminent artists and is associated with the modernist Protestant movement of the early 20th century. Important individuals associated with it including its first pastor, nationally renowned preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, principal financial backer John D. Rockefeller Jr., and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, who delivered a total of six sermons on racial and economic justice there.
Niagara County
William Taylor House, Middleport - the ca. 1825 residence reflects Middleport's beginnings as a canal village; it was built with leftover stone quarried for the canal for William Taylor, an early settler and large landowner, in the fashionable Greek Revival style, reflecting his confidence in the anticipated growth and prosperity of the village.
Rensselaer County
Baum-Wallis Farmstead, Pittstown - the historic farmstead includes a threshing barn (built ca.1815) and a sheep barn (built ca.1826) joined in a main barn group; a wagon barn; a milk house (built ca.1900 as an ice house); and a vernacular Federal-era dwelling house (built ca.1811) which survive in an intact rural setting.
Cannon-Brownell-Herrington Farmstead, Johnsonville - the farmstead includes an assemblage of historic agricultural outbuildings such as a bank barn (built ca.1862) and hay barn (built ca.1895) joined in a main barn group; a sheep barn (built 1899); a horse barn (built 1902); and a house incorporating Greek Revival and Italianate details.
Halford-Hayner Farmstead, Pittstown - the threshing barn; sheep barn; two-story hen house and milk house; ice house; vernacular home with Greek Revival-style trim and other agricultural buildings illustrate the variety of farm buildings constructed in the region from about 1800 through the first quarter of the 20th century.
Oakwood Avenue Presbyterian Church, Troy -the 1868 church originated as a mission of Troy's oldest Presbyterian congregation; it is significant in social history for its role in one of Troy's first open conflicts over racial integration, when, in 1963, the Liberty Presbyterian Church, an African American congregation, requested a merger with Oakwood; the merger was rejected after prolonged and fractious debate.
Schuyler County
Montour Falls Union Grammar School, Montour Falls - built in 1921, the school reflects early 20th century standards for elementary school design, as well as the growing demands on educational facilities as both safe and healthy learning environments and as public gathering places to be used by the community at large.
Suffolk County
Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club, Cold Spring Harbor - constructed in 1888 to serve as a casino for nearby hotels when Cold Spring Harbor was a summer resort destination; it later became a center for yachting and tennis when the beach club was established in 1921, as the area transitioned into an affluent suburban enclave.
Ulster County
Shady Brook Farm, Marlboro - Likely built ca. 1850, the house served as a summer boarding house operation, an industry which was important in the region and allowed local property owners to augment their income seasonally, and once hosted the artist Alfred Maurer (1868-1932), an important American modernist painter.