Nominations Represent Varied Histories Highlighting Stories Across New York State
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced the nominations of 24 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations include bank buildings, factories, historic district updates, and more.
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Pro Tempore Randy Simons said, “New York State’s historic resources are a real asset for the people of New York. As we continue to expand the listings in the State and National Registers of Historic Places, these new additions will be eligible for historic preservation programs and incentives, such as matching state grants and federal and state historic rehabilitation tax credits. These resources can be a lifeline for preservation projects that contribute to the economic vitality and vibrancy of communities across the state.”
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation Daniel Mackay said, “The work of the Division for Historic Preservation is, necessarily, ongoing as ‘new’ historic resources become eligible for the State and National Registers every year. Working within the guidelines of the National Park Service, we aim to consider the varied and rich histories of the state through nominations and to connect communities with resources to help them preserve and promote their historic resources.”
The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects, and sites significant in the history, architecture, archaeology, and culture of New York State and the nation. There are more than 126,000 historic properties throughout the state listed on the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as components of historic districts. Property owners, municipalities, and organizations from communities throughout the state sponsored the nominations.
The nominations were made by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation and the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer at a Board meeting held on September 12, 2024, at the New York State Museum in Albany. The Deputy Commissioner, who serves as the Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer, approved the proposals thereby listing the properties on the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominating them to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed by the National Park Service and, once approved, entered in the National Register. More information, with photos of the nominations, is available on the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation website.
New York State continues to lead the nation in the use of historic tax credits, with $3.96 billion in total rehabilitation costs from 2018-2022. Since 2009, the historic tax credit program has stimulated over $13 billion in project expenditures in New York State, creating significant investment and new jobs. According to a report, between 2018-2022, the credits in New York State generated 72,918 jobs and over $1.47 billion in local, state, and federal taxes.
Capital Region
Center Square/Hudson-Park Historic District Additional Documentation, Albany County – The Center Square/Hudson-Park Historic District, a large, primarily residential, district located just west of Albany’s major commercial and governmental center, was listed in the National Register in 1980 with a period of significance ending in 1920. This additional documentation chronicles the last phase of historic and architectural development in the district and extends the period of significance to 1957. It also reevaluates nine buildings in the district constructed during the 1950s; all embody a restrained Modern aesthetic marked by simple, geometric forms, large windows, and a lack of applied historicist ornament. They are modest in scale and use similar materials to the district’s older buildings, while offering an update to the Victorian period styles that otherwise dominate the district. Most of these buildings were built to meet the increasing need for office space associated with the phenomenal growth of New York State government in the period after World War II. They complete the catalogue of period types and styles documented in the original district nomination.
General Electric Building 31, Schenectady County – General Electric (G.E.) Building 31 is a ca. 1887 two-story brick industrial building with Italianate style detailing that was originally constructed for the Westinghouse Illuminating Company, an early rival of inventor and businessman Thomas Edison. Located in downtown Schenectady, it originally faced the Erie Canal before the canal was filled in to create Erie Boulevard. General Electric acquired the building to supplement their large Schenectady campus, and it was the home of their Illuminating Engineering Laboratory, where lighting pioneer William D’Arcy Ryan led his team in researching and testing new products and lighting technologies. Ryan is known for designing the lighting scheme of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and for popularizing the use of floodlighting. After the demolition of much of GE’s Schenectady campus in the 1980s, G.E. Building 31 is now one of only a few surviving buildings in the city that were used by General Electric during its heyday. It is also a rare remaining late-1800s industrial building in this section of Schenectady.
General Electric Building 32, Schenectady County – General Electric (G.E.) Building 32, located between downtown Schenectady and the former headquarters of General Electric, is one of the earliest surviving examples of “Daylight Factory” design in the Electric City. Built in 1909 by the A.G. Lindley Company of Schenectady, the four-story brick building was originally occupied by the Mohawk Overall Company until G.E. purchased it in 1915. Reinforced steel cast concrete buildings such as this were revolutionary because they offered a degree of fireproofing and allowed for uninterrupted floor plans with large windows. G.E. found this new design advantageous and used the building initially as a machine shop. From the 1930s to the 1980s, it served as an educational training center for G.E. employees. It is one of the few remaining G.E. linked buildings still standing on Erie Boulevard today.
Central New York
Montgomery Street/Columbus Circle Historic District Boundary Expansion/Boundary Decrease, Onondaga County – The Montgomery Street/Columbus Circle Historic District was originally listed in the National Register in 1980 for its architectural and historical significance as an exceptionally intact historic urban neighborhood that retained significant streetscapes and buildings chronicling the character and development of Syracuse’s historic urban core between ca. 1846 and ca. 1930. The primary purpose of the new nomination is to expand the boundary of the original district and to extend the period of significance to 1975 to better reflect downtown Syracuse’s development through the post-World War II and urban renewal eras. The nomination also reduces the boundary in two places to eliminate the site of a building that has been demolished and an empty lot that was mistakenly included. The contributing buildings being added to the district were all constructed within the amended period of significance (1846-1975) and are similar in architectural character and historic associations to other buildings in the district. In addition, there are important examples of Syracuse’s Modern architecture designed by significant local and regional architects of the day: Horatio Nelson White, George B. Post & Sons, Gustavus A. Young, King & King, Gordon Schopfer, I. M. Pei, and Kahn & Jacobs. Three resources within the expansion area – the Onondaga County War Memorial, Plymouth Congregational Church & Parish House, and the Hotel Syracuse – were all previously listed in the register individually.
Finger Lakes
Reed Manufacturing Company, Wayne County – The Reed Manufacturing Company was founded in 1890 in the village of Newark. Reed Manufacturing produced rust-resistant coated containers – including kitchenware and utensils, pans and roasters, pails, tubs, and wash boilers – which were sold at stores throughout the country. This 1903 factory building is a notable example of a transitional industrial building, which shifted from traditional heavy-timber mill construction to curtain wall “Daylight Factory” design. It includes an H-shaped manufacturing building and a small, freestanding administration building. The building was eventually sold in 1946, after the Reed Company vacated it, and was used by the C.H. Stuart Company to manufacture cosmetics.
Seneca Chief Shipwreck, Ontario County – The Seneca Chief shipwreck is located on the bottomlands of Canandaigua Lake in the Town of Canandaigua. This steam yacht was built by shipbuilder David Bell and launched by the Canandaigua Lake Steamboat Company in 1887. The Seneca Chief was primarily used for excursion trips but also was sometimes used to support commercial and agricultural industries. After nearly ten seasons on the lake, the vessel was salvaged and then towed out onto the lake and sunk. It has great historic integrity and is a highly representative example of a steam yacht of its era, a vessel class important to the tourist, commercial, and agricultural industries of Canandaigua Lake during the late 1800s.
Mid-Hudson
Kingston Barrel Factory, Ulster County – The Kingston Barrel Factory is locally significant as a building central to the industrial development of Kingston. The two-story brick building was constructed ca. 1914 as a box factory but transitioned to barrel manufacturing in 1917. Located near the Hudson River and railroad, the Kingston Barrel Factory served a large New York market and employed as many as fifty to seventy skilled workers, even during the economic downturn of the Great Depression. The factory was a “tight cooperage,” meaning the barrels manufactured there were designed to hold liquids instead of solids. The plant trained craftsmen to produce the barrels, which needed to be expertly finished to avoid leaks. Tight barrels were in demand and required more skill to make; thus, the factory brought a successful and lucrative business to Kingston at a time when the United States led barrel production. Despite officially turning from the liquor industry during Prohibition, the factory had a link to Legs Diamond, a notorious gangster and bootlegger who bottled and stored ale at the site until federal agents seized one million dollars’ worth of alcohol and equipment during a raid there in 1931.
Sailing Vessel Gitana, Westchester County – The Gitana is a 40-foot Bermuda-rigged Yawl sailing yacht built in 1936 to the design of respected naval architect John G. Alden, using entirely traditional materials and techniques. She is an increasingly rare example of the transitional phase of boat design of the 1930s and representative of a bygone age of wood boat construction and the boating culture that flourished around it, which was replaced by mass produced reinforced plastic boats starting in the 1960s. Gitana’s builders utilized the plank-on-frame method using shaped planks of Cuban mahogany fastened onto a skeleton of white oak timbers using bronze screws and bolts. Belowdecks, she has accommodations for a crew of six, a small pantry and woodburning stove, and an auxiliary inboard engine. Her furnishings, down to the kitchen sink, are original. The Gitana is in unaltered condition and true to the materials, technology, and art of traditional shipbuilding of her time. The vessel is currently docked in the lower harbor of New Rochelle.
Sugar Loaf Historic District, Orange County – The Sugar Loaf Historic District is comprised of a small group of late 1800s/early 1900s buildings sited on both sides of Kings Highway in the hamlet of Sugar Loaf. This area was originally a small commercial center that provided services to local farms and travelers. Its heyday in the mid to late 1800s coincided with an era of prosperity for local dairy farmers. However, the rise of large corporate farms and the onset of the Great Depression caused the area’s agricultural economy to decline. Then, in 1967, Sugar Loaf was “discovered” by craftsman Walter Kannon, who spurred the revitalization of the hamlet as a crafts colony with help from woodcarver Jarvis Boone. Within a short time, the former single-family houses on Kings Highway were occupied by craftspeople who made candles, leather goods, wooden objects, metalwork, and pottery and sold their products out of small, in-home shops. By hosting regular art shows and craft fairs, Sugar Loaf built a reputation as a hub for handmade goods that it still enjoys today.
Mohawk Valley
Joseph Peck House, Otsego County – Located in the hamlet of New Lisbon, the 1852 residence was built by local merchant Joseph Peck. Architecturally, the two-story, three-bay, double-pile, hip-roofed building shows Peck’s stylistic preferences and reflects his standing in the community. Notable features include a prominent Greek Revival portico, with many other Gothic Revival and Italianate details throughout the building. There is also a ca. 1820 one-story, gable-roofed, wood frame barn on the property.
Schuyler Lake Stone Church, Otsego County – Located in the hamlet of Schuyler Lake, the meeting-house style church was built in 1838 as a Union Church for three different church societies: Free Baptist, Universalist, and Methodist Episcopal. Constructed with local stone and embellished with interior decorative paint work, this prominent landmark has both Federal and Greek Revival architectural characteristics. The church was shared by the three congregations, which met on different Sundays on a monthly rotation.
New York City
28th Police Precinct Station House, New York County – The 28th Police Precinct Station House was constructed 1892-1893 during a period of rapid urbanization in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. It was designed by Nathaniel D. Bush, resident architect for the New York City Police Department in the late 1800s, and exemplifies the mature phase of his later career. With the expressionism of its façade and the extensive use of sculpted stone trim, the building stood out amidst the surrounding row houses and tenement buildings. The interior followed a standardized floor plan that included offices on the first floor, sleeping quarters and a gymnasium on the upper levels, with a rear annex for jail cells and lodging for the unhoused. The 28th Precinct also played a significant role in the community's response to police brutality, particularly during the East Harlem uprising of 1967, which arose amid accusations of racially motivated violence against the predominantly Puerto Rican and Black residents of the area. Hope Community, Inc., the current owner since 1981, was established in response to the housing injustices that helped fueled the unrest.
Dollar Savings Bank, Bronx County – The Dollar Savings Bank, located in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, is a monumental example of classicized Art Deco-style bank architecture. This building was completed in three phases between 1932 and 1952 and was designed by Adolf F. Muller of the architecture firm Halsey, McCormack & Helmer. The design of the earlier sections reflects a transition from Beaux Arts principles to modernism, featuring a sleek exterior of polished Texas pink granite ashlar, large double-height openings, and stylized decorative elements like the “Liberty Head” silver dollar representations above the main entrances. The 1952 tower addition, while maintaining elements of the original design, showcases a simpler yet still monumental approach to bank symbolism. The Dollar Savings Bank is also significant for its association with the commercial development of the Bronx. Established in 1890 by Bronx business leaders, the Dollar Savings Bank was the first thrift institution, or mutual savings bank, created in the Bronx. This location originally housed the Fordham branch office for the company and later became its headquarters after the ten-story office tower was completed. This building served as a bank until 2014, having been absorbed into the Emigrant Savings Bank in 1992.
Gaylord White Houses, New York County – The Gaylord White Houses is a public housing development for seniors located in the Metro North section of East Harlem, Manhattan. Planning began in 1957 and the complex was completed in 1964. It was designed by the firm of Mayer, Whittlesey & Glass. The need for specialized housing for older Americans became a national priority in the 1950s due to the rapidly increasing senior population and the advent of the nuclear family. State and federal laws encouraged local authorities to build housing with senior-specific accommodations like accessible bathrooms and kitchens. The White Houses represents the first time the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) planned a housing development exclusively for senior residents. This development is also an example of NYCHA’s early vest-pocket program, initiated under Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. as a direct response to the federal Housing Act of 1954. This important housing law shifted focus from “slum clearance” – the wholesale demolition of areas determined to be irredeemably blighted – to “urban renewal,” which aimed to preserve neighborhoods deemed to be declining but salvageable through smaller, targeted interventions. The Gaylord White Houses was developed in coordination with Union Settlement, an important community organization that had long promoted social services in the neighborhood. The building includes a wing that contains the headquarters for the Union Settlement, as well as a children’s center and community center.
Louise Terrace/Colonial Road Historic District, Kings County – The Louise Terrace/Colonial Road Historic District is an intact, representative example of a Tudor Revival-style terrace development in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. The district consists of three identical blockfronts – two facing Louise Terrace and one facing Colonial Road. The development was constructed in 1927 to the designs of Swedish-born architect Olaf B. Almgren for local developer Adam Schumann and named after Schumann’s daughter, Louise Schumann McCormick. The attached row houses are symmetrically arranged on each blockfront and feature typical Tudor Revival-style characteristics such as brick-clad walls laid in English bond, pitched slate roofs, front-facing gables, prominent chimneys, and decorative half-timbering with stucco.
Dominican Historic District, New York County – The Dominican Historic District encompasses 40 blocks in northern Manhattan that capture the unique architectural and cultural history of this immigrant neighborhood. Many significant immigrant communities shaped the neighborhood over time; substantial communities of Armenian, Greek, Irish, German, and European Jewish immigrants influenced the building of Washington Heights during the first part of the 1900s. By the mid-1900s, Puerto Ricans and African Americans had settled in the neighborhood and, in the 1960s, a substantial number of Dominicans had come to call Washington Heights a permanent home. Since then, the Dominican community has worked to establish a cultural, political, and social center in the neighborhood. The community’s emphasis on establishing organizations to teach Dominican history and culture; encouraging political engagement; addressing social needs such as affordable housing and poverty; and continuing Dominican lifeways in Washington Heights demonstrate ongoing contributions to the history of the neighborhood and capture a unique period of immigration history. The combination of the built environment and the Dominican cultural use of the space speaks to the vibrant relationship between past, present, and future in this iconic neighborhood.
North Country
Lowville & Beaver River Railroad, Lewis County – The Lowville & Beaver River Railroad (LBRR) is a 10.6-mile short line railroad corridor from Lowville to Croghan that was built between 1903 and 1906. Characterized as a “short line” railroad, it was capitalized, constructed, and operated purely by local and community interests for the development of Lewis County. The district remains as one of the few short lines in the state and is particularly notable as it shows the transition period between canals and railroads, eating rooms and dining cars, ice harvesting and refrigeration, and the development of northern New York communities through locally owned and managed railroads. The railroad is highly unusual in that is virtually intact from its original construction and retains several notable resources such as three depots, a dining house, two Armstrong turntables, largely uninterrupted track, and several historic steel bridges that reflect the engineering standards of the late railroad era. Until 2007, the LBRR transported several important goods to markets near and far, including dairy and maple products, wood products from some of the largest paper manufacturers in the state, ice blocks, potatoes, and passengers.
Southern Tier
Ithaca Downtown Historic District Additional Documentation, Thompkins County – The Ithaca Downtown Historic District, listed in the National Register in 2005, encompasses almost the entire commercial core of the city of Ithaca and is characterized by small-scale multi-story, primarily brick buildings with first-story storefronts and residential or other commercial spaces above. The purpose of this additional documentation is to add areas of significance for LGBT and Women’s History and to document the building at 141-143 East State Street as the headquarters of Firebrand Books, a multiple award-winning lesbian and feminist publishing house. Firebrand, founded by activist, editor, and publisher Nancy K. Bereano in 1984, became a nationally recognized leader in the publishing revolution that occurred during the Second Wave Feminist, Women in Print, and lesbian and gay (today, LGBT) movements of the 1970s and 1980s. The press produced work in a wide variety of genres by ethnically and racially diverse authors, including Dorothy Allison, Alison Bechdel, Cheryl Clarke, Leslie Feinberg, Jewelle Gomez, Audre Lorde, and Minnie Bruce Pratt. Bereano has been recognized by scholars for her contributions to small press publishing, women’s history, and LGBT scholarship. The press was headquartered on the second floor of the building at 141-143 East State Street, and the three rooms in which Bereano and her colleagues worked have remained nearly unaltered since the press closed in 2000. This documentation adds 1984-1993 as an additional period of significance for these areas.
Lawrence Memorial Chapel and Cemetery, Schuyler County – The Lawrence Memorial Chapel and Cemetery is located in the rural Town of Catharine. The Gothic Revival chapel and the adjacent Lawrence Cemetery occupy a low knoll along New York State Route 228 on the west side of Cayuta Lake. The Lawrences were one of the founding families of today’s Schuyler County. The cemetery was established sometime before 1832 and contains fifty monuments ranging from plain gravestones to tall obelisks and statuary marking burials of Lawrence family members, friends, and associates. Under the direction of Jane G. Lawrence Campbell, per the wishes of her brother Abraham Lawrence, a one-story Gothic Revival chapel built of local fieldstone was built next to the cemetery in 1880. It is a five-by-three bay building with nature-themed stained-glass windows in lancet openings, a decorative slate roof, and granite-capped buttresses. A well-fashioned dry-laid stone wall surrounds the property, and a series of stone steps leads to the entrance of the chapel. The chapel retains original furnishing throughout and is little changed from the final cemetery interment in 1914.
Western New York
Alden State Bank, Erie County – Located in the village of Alden, the Alden State Bank building was constructed in 1925 to the designs of architect Herbert C. Swain. The building Swain designed was in the Neoclassical style, a style typically used for financial institutions as a way of conveying permanence and stability – all important associations for a bank. In 1963, the building was sold to the Alden Advertiser newspaper; the Alden State Bank constructed a new facility next door. Recently, the Alden State Bank has re-acquired their historic building and is renovating it to be used as a branch bank once again.
Sattler Theater, Erie County – Built in 1914 to the designs of prominent local architects William and Henry Spann, the Sattler Theater, later known as the Broadway Theater, is a notable example of a neighborhood theater in the heart of Buffalo’s East Side. Commissioned by local department store entrepreneur John G. Sattler, the theater served as both a way to promote his business interests and to enhance the community which gave him his start. Neighborhood theaters like the Sattler were designed with the same level of opulence and attention to detail as the grander movie palaces and theater houses sited in larger commercial districts and offered moviegoers the same elevated experience but at a discounted rate. Sattler sold the theater in 1916, and it continued showing movies during the 1920s and 1930s, eventually becoming part of the larger Basil theater chain. Despite some remodeling in 1948, the theater struggled in the post-war era and closed as a motion picture theater around 1963. The building was vacant from 1996 to 2008, when the current owner purchased it and started stabilizing and redeveloping it.
Spencer Kellogg & Sons Elevator, Erie County – The Spencer Kellogg & Sons Elevator is an example of a reinforced concrete grain elevator, located in the heart of Buffalo’s “Elevator Alley” along the Buffalo River. Built in 1910, the elevator is unusual; unlike Buffalo’s other elevators, which housed wheat or barley grains, this elevator housed linseed, which was used by the Spencer Kellogg company to manufacture linseed oil for paints and other industrial uses. The birthplace of the grain elevator, Buffalo is known for its many extant facilities in the 1920s, these sleek, functional, agricultural structures inspired European Modern architects; architect Erich Mendelsohn photographed the Kellogg Elevator for his Amerika: Bilderbuch eines Architekten (1926).
Yeomans House, Erie County – The Yeomans House, located in East Aurora, has been described as "one of the best examples of a 'High Victorian' brick residence in the county." This Queen Anne style house is prominently located among the stately houses on East Main Street and has welcomed visitors to the village since its construction in 1885. Built for James D. Yeomans, a railway executive and Iowa State Senator, the building features elements such as a seventy-five-foot-tall tower, oriel windows, a two-story bay window, and a combination of terra cotta and wood details.
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