State Board Recommends 27 Nominations for State & National Registers of Historic Places
ALBANY, NY (06/15/2012)(readMedia)-- The New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended the addition of 27 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places, including the nationally significant home of abolitionist James C. Beecher, the world's oldest pet cemetery, and a modern housing community planned by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
"These latest nominations are representative of New York's rich and diverse heritage," said Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. "The recognition and support given to these landmarks helps highlight our past and preserve irreplaceable resources."
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
Ansco Company Charles Street Factory Buildings, Binghamton – the factory building, power house (1910-11) and warehouse (1953-54) are the only remaining industrial buildings associated with the camera and film company's Charles Street complex, the site of one of Binghamton's largest and most important industries.
The General Cigar Company Building, Binghamton – the exceptionally intact 1927 building is associated with two of Binghamton's most important industries, the city's thriving cigar manufacturing industry of the late 19th and early 20th centuries and, later, the nationally prominent Ansco camera and film company.
Cattaraugus County
Randolph Historic District, Randolph – the district is the core of an early 19th century community that grew into a successful and prosperous village based on its initial profitable lumber industry and access to water transportation, followed by its proximity to the railroad, which attracted other industries.
Clinton County
Pike's Cantonment, Plattsburgh – is the only known surviving portion of Col. Zebulon Pike's winter encampment of November 1812-March 1813. During the War of 1812, U.S. troops under Pike encamped here after an unsuccessful attempt to invade Canada and endured severe winter conditions before their spring invasion and subsequent burning of York (Toronto), Ontario. The nominated site has survived with a remarkable level of integrity for over two hundred years despite being surrounded by intensive development.
Columbia County
North Chatham Historic District, North Chatham – the remarkably intact rural hamlet largely composed of mid- 19th century homes, churches, farms and agricultural and industrial buildings developed along the Chatham & Hillsdale Turnpike, an important overland transportation route which linked North Chatham to outlying areas.
Essex County
Putnam Camp, St. Hubert's – the extremely well-preserved Adirondack summer retreat has maintained its original character since its establishment in the mid-1870s by a group of Boston intellectuals as a 19th-century wilderness destination for distinguished artists, scholars and writers.
Talichito, Schoon Lake – built in the late 1910s for a prominent executive of the Buffalo General Electric Company and largely unaltered since its completion, the camp is purposefully difficult to access in a secluded location away from the bustling resort village to capitalize on the remarkable Adirondack setting.
Herkimer County
Big Moose Community Chapel, Eagle Bay – a distinctive and exceptionally intact example of religious architecture and the work of an Adirondack master builder Earl Covey, the 1931 church exhibits a free blending of Gothic-inspired forms combined with the local Adirondack style.
Jefferson County
Grindstone Island Schoolhouse, Clayton – constructed in 1885, the remarkably intact school building served the residents of Grindstone Island until 1989, making it one of the last operating one-room schools in New York State.
Kings County
Mary A. Whelan, Red Hook – built in 1938, the tanker delivered gasoline to coastal terminals up and down the east coast and, later, home heating fuel and other fuels to terminals in the Gowanus Canal and other restricted waterways in the New York metropolitan area; it's a rare and exceptionally intact example of a tanker from this period that illustrates the transition from riveted to welded construction.
Loew's Kings Theater, Brooklyn – completed in 1929 at the height of the movie palace boom, the Flatbush Avenue theater was one of the five "Wonder Theaters" built in the New York City area by Loew's Inc., one of the nation's largest theater chains, to attract audiences through lavish surroundings.
Monroe County
Holy Rosary Church, Rochester – the 1916 church is an example of Spanish Eclectic inspired Arts and Crafts style, which reflects the intention of Father Arthur Hughes, the parish priest, to create a Mission style church for the parish.
Montgomery County
Fort Plain Historic District, Fort Plain – located at the outlet of the Otsquago Creek at the Mohawk River, the crossroads location helped Fort Plain to thrive as a commercial center, which is reflected in its growth and development, notably, the 19th century commercial streetscape paralleling the creek and the former Erie Canal.
Onondaga County
St. Patrick's Church Complex, Syracuse – the church was constructed in 1872 and the complex grew through the 1920s to serve the large Irish immigrant population of Tipperary Hill; it was the first Syracuse parish developed to serve this group and includes an exceptional complex of religious buildings.
Otsego County
The White House, Hartwick – built ca.1792 by Major James Butterfield, a Revolutionary War veteran, the original house, a small square building, was nearly tripled in size in the same decade and remodeled in the Colonial Revival style in the early 20th century.
Queens County
St. Mathias Roman Catholic Church Complex, Queens – the early 20th Italian Renaissance Revival-style church, rectory, school, and convent represent the work of prominent local architect F. J. Berlenbach and is notable for the church's highly decorated interior.
Rensselaer County
Van Rensselaer High School, Rensselaer – built in 1930-31, the distinctive Art Deco-inspired educational building served as a public school for City of Rensselaer until 2007 and today is home to the private Doane Stuart School.
Brownell Farm, Pittstown – the farm includes a house with large attached woodshed (ca.1800-25; remodeled early 1900s); a threshing barn (ca.1800); a tool barn/grain house (ca.1830); a hen house and associated feed shed (1936); a frame garage (1926); and a wagon shed (1940s) which survive in an intact rural setting.
Cornell Farm, Pittstown – the farmstead includes two houses (ca.1820-40 and ca.1860); a smoke house (ca.1820-40); a tool barn/grain house (ca.1820-40); a blacksmith's shop (built ca.1850); and other agricultural buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that survive in an intact rural setting.
Thomas-Wiley-Abbott Farm, Pittstown – the well-preserved farmstead include a house (ca.1800 with later main block, added ca.1840, and kitchen wing, added ca.1870); two post-and-beam barns (ca.1860-80 and ca.1870-80); and a hen house and corn crib (ca.1930) surviving in an intact rural setting.
Schuyler County
St. James Episcopal Church, Watkins Glen – the intact 1864 church in a primarily residential section is a distinctive example of Gothic Revival church architecture; it is one of many historic buildings in Watkins Glen that represent the period when the village became an important transfer point for shipping coal from Pennsylvania rail lines to boats on Seneca Lake.
Schoharie County
First Presbyterian Church, Jefferson – built in 1837 and now known as the Maple Museum, the building is a substantially intact representative example of a wood-frame, Greek Revival style meetinghouse.
Tioga County
James C. Beecher House, Owego – the 1867 cottage is nationally significant for its association with Rev. James C. Beecher (1828-1886), an important Congregationalist minister and member of the famed abolitionist family whose siblings included Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. Beecher served as colonel of the First North Carolina Colored Troops – one of the first black regiments of the Civil War. The house is also a distinctive example of Gothic Revival design.
Westchester County
Usonia Historic District, Pleasantville – constructed between 1949 and 1964, the outstanding collection of modern residential architecture is nationally significant as one of only three cooperative housing communities in the United States planned by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Hartsdale Pet Cemetery, Hartsdale – founded in 1896, the nationally significant landmark of the American humane movement was the first planned rural cemetery for pets in the United States and is the oldest continuously operated commercial burial ground for animals in the Western world.
Wyoming County
Exchange Street Historic District, Attica – the small intact core of Attica's railroad district, including the 1879 depot, tracks, three railroad hotels, and other railroad-related businesses reflects the important role that the railroad played in linking small isolated communities like Attica to larger urban markets.
Warsaw Downtown Historic District, Warsaw – mid-19th to early-20th-century collection of commercial and religious buildings were built during the peak of Warsaw's growth and prosperity, spurred by its designation as the county seat of Wyoming County in 1841; the advent of rail service between Buffalo and New York City in 1852; and the "salt boom" of 1878-1902.
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