NY HISTORIC PLACES

Submitted by ub on

New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended the addition of 21 properties, resources and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

State and National Register listing can assist property owners in revitalizing buildings, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits. Spurred by the state and federal commercial historic rehabilitation tax credits administered by the State Historic Preservation Office, developers invested $1 billion statewide in 2013 to revitalize properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, while homeowners using the state historic homeowner rehabilitation tax credit invested more than $14.3 million statewide on home improvements to help revitalize historic neighborhoods.

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 more than 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.

Manhattan

Building at 116 John Street, New York – completed in 1931, the Art Deco office building designed specifically for insurance companies in the heart of the insurance district is one of the final group of skyscrapers erected in the city after the building boom of the 1920s and before corporate modernism became the reigning design in the skyscraper explosion of the post-war period.

The Ansche Chesed Synagogue, New York – built in Harlem in 1908-1909 for a German Jewish congregation, and known today as the Mount Neboh Baptist Church, it has served Harlem’s Jewish, Puerto Rican, and African-American communities and is the only known surviving house of worship to have served the city’s three largest religious faiths: Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant.

The West 114th Street Historic District, New York – the 36 residential buildings were erected in seven groups between 1895 and 1899 to attract working-class residents willing to commute on new elevated trains, first attracting white households of various ethnicities and, beginning in the late 1920s, the African American families who made Harlem one of the most important neighborhoods for New York City’s black community.

Westchester

The Manor Club, Pelham Manor – built in 1921-1922 to house a women’s social, literary, and philanthropic club, the Tudor Revival-style building became a social and cultural center for the whole community and provided women with leadership and educational opportunities.

The South Salem Presbyterian Church Cemetery, South Salem – the burial yard contains 373 graves, the earliest of which is recorded as 1739, including two veterans of the French & Indian War, 26 local veterans of the American Revolution, and two veterans of the War of 1812.

These nominations, along with the tens of thousands of buildings already on the State and National Register, highlight the significance, depth and diversity of New York’s history. Celebrating and promoting New York’s historical assets is also a significant economic development driver for the State. The Governor has demonstrated his commitment to showcasing New York’s rich history and cultural significance by launching the State’s Path Through History initiative. The Path Through History initiatives uses 13 themes to organize 500-plus heritage attractions across the State including New York’s vast network of museums, historic sites, and other cultural institutions. Visitors can locate sites by looking for the Path Through History marker on major state highways as well as additional local signage, and online at paththroughhistory.ny.gov.