Kingston Stockade District

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A street with shops and wooden roofs over the sidewalks
View along Wall Street from the junction with John Street, 2008

The Kingston Stockade District is an eight-block area in the western part of Kingston , New York in the United States , commonly referred to as Uptown Kingston . This is the village of Wiltwyck, originally founded by Dutch settlers in the middle of the 17th century , which only got its current name Kingston when it came under British control .

It is the only one of the original three Dutch settlements in New York that was surrounded by palisades and where the course of these palisades is still visible because of the elevated ground level. Within the area are numerous historic buildings from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the original Courthouse of Ulster County , the Senate House , in which New York State was founded in 1777 , and the Old Dutch Church designed by Minard Lafever , which has been declared a National Historic Landmark . Some of these structures date from before Kingston was burned down by British forces during the American Revolutionary War . At the intersection of Crown Street and John Street, stone houses from Dutch colonial times stand on all four corners; the intersection is the only one in the United States that does.

The area surrounding the Senate House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 as the Clinton Avenue Historic District . Five years later, after the historical value of the entire area had become clearer, the larger Stockade District was created, which included and replaced the original conservation area. The formal recognition of the historical significance led to extensive disputes in the local self-government over new developments in the area.

geography

The Stockade District is shaped like a parallelogram ; its boundaries are defined as the rear property lines of the parcels along North Front Street to the north, Green Street to the west, Main Street to the south, and Clinton Avenue to the east. Crown Street is entirely within the district, including the intersections with Fair, John and Wall Street. The district also stretches a little along Converse Street to include the Lowe Bogardus Ruins and a little bit of the original palisade on the northwest corner of Frog Alley. In total, the district comprises 32  acres (around 13  hectares ).

The district is divided between residential and business areas. Residential buildings dominate its western half, commercial buildings predominate in the eastern part. The densely built block of Wall Street between John Street and North Front Street has flat roofs over its sidewalks, a feature not common in New York. The block of Wall Street to the south is determined by the old Courthouse and the Old Dutch Church, whose graveyard and churchyard form the only significant green space in the district. There are several parking spaces between the individual buildings in this area.

To the north and east of the district, the districts are primarily commercial. The city's football stadium is a little further to the west, where, as in the south, there are more residential areas.

The district is located near two of the main roads to Kingston from the west and the New York State Thruway . Washington Avenue is one block to the east. Both Interstate 587 and New York State Route 28 end a little further east on Albany Avenue ( New York State Route 32 ). There are no major roads through the Stockade District.

history

From its founding in the mid-17th century to the creation of the modern city of Kingston in 1872, Kingston's history and the historic district have been identical. Most of the older buildings were rebuilt and restored in the years after 1777 when the British burned the place down. Its historical character became more diverse when several significant structures were erected during the 19th century. The efforts of the preservationists at the end of the 20th century to preserve the historical character have recently led to disputes between the city administration and the residents.

1652–1783: Colonial Era and American Revolution

Kingston began as a village of Dutch settlers. Wiltwyck was founded in 1652 by Thomas Chambers of Fort Orange (later Albany ). The site on a high ground near the bed of Rondout Creek was chosen because it could be easily defended. Other colonists settled in the area, despite regular Indian attacks .

Six years later, in 1658, the Dutch colonial governor Petrus Stuyvesant ordered all settlers to retreat behind the palisades, the construction of which he personally supervised. The village was burned down and rebuilt in 1663. The road network that still exists today was established at the beginning of the 18th century. On the northwest corner, where the palisades formed a bastion on a cliff that still exists today, the site was particularly well fortified.

The state of New York was founded in the Senate House.

In 1777 Kingston was selected to host the Constituent Assembly that established New York State. George Clinton was elected first Governor of New York and John Jay , who would later become the first Chief Justice of the United States , opened the first session of the New York Supreme Court in Kingston.

Later that year, the British under General John Vaughan took the poorly defended settlement in a surprise attack and burned it down, a total of 326 buildings inside and outside the stockade were destroyed and only a handful, including the Tobias Van Steenburgh House , remained untouched. The city was later rebuilt along its previous layout. Five years later, George Washington visited Kingston. On a sightseeing tour along the city limits, he expressed admiration for Stuyvesant's foresight when he built the palisades. When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, New York proposed Kingston as the capital of the United States.

1784–1908: Development of the city and the beginning of monument protection

At the beginning of the 19th century, the area within the palisades was still growing. New buildings dedicated to commerce and industry were erected in the Federal Style and Neoclassicism popular at the time . A new courthouse, the current structure, was built in 1818 to replace the first courthouse. The First Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston , the oldest parish in the city, was founded in 1659, but initially used two existing buildings before it took its current seat in 1852 in the building by Minard Lafever , also known as the Old Dutch Church . The white church tower rises 60 meters above the district and is a National Historic Landmark .

Later in the 19th century, the Villages Kingston and Rondout merged to form today's City . Rondout had grown from 1825 on at the northern end of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and its center on the banks of Rondout Creek near its confluence with the Hudson River was known as downtown to distinguish itself from Kingston, which consequently became uptown .

Efforts to protect historical monuments began in the stockade at the beginning of the 20th century. The Henry Sleight House on Crown Street has been used for various purposes since it was built in 1695, but by 1900 it was neglected and threatened with demolition. The local Daughters of the American Revolution raised funds to extensively refurbish the building both inside and out . Today it is the seat of the local association. A few years later, George Clinton , buried for many years in Washington, DC , was brought back to Kingston and reburied with full honors in the courtyard of the Old Dutch Church in 1908.

20th century: planned monument protection

South Smith House on Clinton Avenue

Decades later, the Friends of the Senate House Association was formed in 1965 to protect and preserve this building. The association soon expanded its activities to include the entire historical architecture of the city and was renamed Friends of Historic Kingston (FOHK). The association succeeded in 1969 to have the original Clinton Avenue Historic District, consisting of the street block between Westbrook Lane and Clinton, North Fair and John Street recognized locally as a historic district; the following year, the district was Kingston's first entry on the National Register. Four years later, the conservation area was expanded to become the Stockade District. FOHK worked to ensure that other structures in the district were also recognized as historical structures and took care of the renovation of some more. The association also maintains the area around Frog Alley on the northwest corner of the district.

During the 1970s, roofs were added over the walkways on North Front Street and Wall Street. They were part of the "Pike Plan" (named after Woodstock artist John Pike who designed and built them), the aim of which was to revitalize the area. This lost customers to the malls outside the city. The shops on these streets pay their keep. Some have requested their removal.

21st century: conservation and rebuilding

Early in the 21st century, the county government sponsored an archaeological dig at the site of Persen House, one of four buildings at the intersection of Crown and John Streets, as part of an effort to restore it and turn it into a museum. The excavations revealed a number of artifacts , including some cannonballs . Eight years later, after spending $ 2 million, the county government was still unsure of the building's future. She was hoping to get funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to finish the work.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the preservationists and the city administration got into a dispute over a number of projects affecting areas on the edge of the historic district. The project of a contractor from New Jersey to build a twelve-story apartment building instead of a closed parking garage on North Front Street, which the city wanted to demolish, attracted opposition due to its height. It would have been the tallest structure in the city and would have visually overwhelmed the nearby structures in the historic district. A change in the city's development plan would have been necessary for the implementation of the project , as this prohibits new buildings in the Stockade District from being higher than the base of the steeple of the Old Dutch Church above street level, i.e. higher than 18.9 m. The city treasurer later decided that no change to the development plan was necessary because the parts of the building that were planned higher were outside the boundaries of the historic district.

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation warned the City of Kingston of the negative impact such a tower-like structure would have on the Stockade District, and the state's Historic Preservation League put the historic district on its list of seven because of the construction Historic buildings to be saved for 2007. However, the mayor of the city and supporters within the Stockade District's business community felt that the economic benefit of the construction would have outweighed the negative consequences for the historic character of the district. Finally, the contractor dropped the project because of the resistance to the project. After the project failed, the city administration decided to question the residents about what should be built instead of the parking garage. It found that there was strong opposition to public housing or other types of rental housing at the site. The parking garage was eventually demolished. A temporary parking lot has been set up in its place.

At the time the apartment block failed to build in 2008, CVS applied for permission to build a 1,200 square foot store on the corner of Washington Avenue and Shwenck Drive. FOHK and conservationists collected around 600 signatures against the construction project, stating that a third-party drug store in the area would put one of the independent drug stores on North Front Street out of business and turn the city's western approach into a supermarket strip would no longer differ from those of other cities in the country. One of the city councilors tried to halt the project by imposing a moratorium in Washington, DC, with the support of the Stockade's Association of Traders. The moratorium was imposed, but the city's planning committee eventually approved the project and construction workers began leveling the site in September 2009.

The Kirkland Hotel

City officials and conservationists could work better together on another project, the restoration of the Kirkland Hotel, built in 1899, on the corner of Clinton Avenue and Main Street at the southeast end of the district. The building is a rare example of a timber frame city hotel that had been vacant since the 1970s. Several owners had tried to at least reopen the hotel's restaurant, but none could see their efforts beyond repainting the facade.

In 2003, the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), a local charitable organization devoted to social housing, bought the hotel with the intention of completing the restoration. A total of 4.7 million US dollars was spent over several years to restore the original porch and to install geothermal heating . The project was recognized by the New York Historic Preservation League in 2007.

The streets and sidewalks also needed repair. In 2008 Rep. Maurice Hinchey helped the city government raise US $ 1.3 million in federal grants to revitalize the Uptown and Stockade Districts. US $ 1.7 million was set aside to refurbish the walkway canopies. The following spring, the city government announced that it would use some of the money to reverse the direction of traffic on some of the one-way streets within the district so that traffic flow through and around the district would be improved.

Monument protection

A full section of Kingston's Building Regulations governs new construction in what is referred to as the Stockade Area. In the preamble , the city council emphasizes:

“It is in the public interest to ensure that the unique and historical character of this historical and architectural-design district is not negatively affected, that the value to the community of these buildings, which have architectural and historical value, is not to be degraded and that said ... [the D] istrikt is to be maintained and maintained, to be used for the education, enjoyment and prosperity of the citizens of the City of Kingston, New York and others ... The area includes the architecture of the past 300 years and new construction is allowed not be allowed to erode the best of the architectural spaces and the cultural connection with the past. "

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission is reviewing applications for new construction including significant changes to existing structures in the Stockade District. It assesses the project and, in the interests of protecting the historical character of the district, can demand that parts of the construction project be changed, including the shape of the roof, the walls and the way in which the access routes are secured. The height of new buildings is limited to 18.9 m, which corresponds to the height of the base of the steeple of the Old Dutch Church. The Commission can also demand the use of certain stones for the sidewalks if it considers this appropriate for the overall historical impression and order that new buildings be set back from the street and hidden by evergreen vegetation that shields the view. Five percent of all parking spaces are to be reserved for greening measures that provide privacy.

The Friends of Historic Kingston (FOHK), an association formed in the late 1960s to preserve the Senate House, is a defender of the district's historic character. The 400 members have loudly spoken out in the past against projects that they believed would affect the district in a derogatory way, which is why opponents have referred to the group as Friends of Hysteric Kingston or Enemies of Development. The association has bought and restored some of the homes in the district and elsewhere in the city. She runs two museums in the city and gives tours of the Stockade.

Old Dutch Church
Ulster County Courthouse

Significant contributing properties

Some of the buildings on the Stockade are listed independently in the National Register. One of them, the Old Dutch Church, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2008 .

National Historic Landmark

  • Old Dutch Church , 272 Wall Street. Originally known as the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston , founded in 1659, the church building designed by Minard Lafever with the 68.6 m high steeple dominates the skyline of Kingston's uptown. The structure was erected in 1852 and is Lafever's only surviving neo-renaissance church and his only stone church. Vice President George Clinton is buried in the churchyard.

National Register of Historic Places

  • Kirkland Hotel , 2 Main Street. The Tudorbethan style hotelfrom 1899 is one of the newest contributing properties and a rare example of a city hotel built in timber frame construction. After standing empty for nearly three decades, the building was converted by a local nonprofit group for mixed-use commercial and residential use.
  • Senate House , 276 Fair Street. A century after this stone building was constructed in 1676, New York State was incorporated in this structure. It was later burned down by British forces in 1776. It is a state-level historic site.

Other significant buildings

  • Clermont Building , 295-299 Wall Street. This commercial building, which was built at the end of the 19th century, still has the metal wreath on its slate-covered mansard roof . This is a decorative feature that has been removed from many buildings of the time. The second floor has high ceilings with two murals of David and Goliath by an unknown artist.
  • Houses at 21 and 25 Main Street . A couple of similar houses; one dates from 1883 and is built in the Eastlake version of the Queen Anne style.
  • House at 124 Green Street . Local watchmaker and inventor Charles Paige Carter built this cottage; it is the only Carpenter Gothic house in the historic district.
  • Kingston Trust Company Building , 27 Main Street. Built on a monumental scale, this neoclassical commercial building has unusual carved windows set into the frieze .
  • Frantz Roggon House , 42 Crown Street. One of four pre-American Revolution buildings at the intersection of Crown and John Streets. It was rebuilt in the 19th century.
  • St. Joseph's Church , 242 Wall Street. Built in 1833 in the neoclassical style, the church was first the parish church of the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston . It was later used as an armory during the Civil War and became the city's first Roman Catholic church in 1868 .
  • Tappen House , 106-122 Green Street. The house, built around 1670, is judged to be the oldest existing house in Kingston. Like Roggon House, it was remodeled in the 19th century. It has the striking shape of a salt box .
  • Ulster County Courthouse , 285 Wall Street. This courthouse is the oldest surviving county courthouse in New York. The stone house was built in 1818 in the Federal Style and stands on the site of the previous building, the foundations of which were partly used. The dome was added in 1837.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ellen McDougall: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Kingston Stockade District ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  2. ↑ Henry Sleight House (Wiltwych Chapter DAR) . National Park Service . Retrieved November 28, 2009.
  3. ^ Bonnie Langston: Old Dutch Church marks milestone (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 15, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. “ Clinton's body and monument, which made a stop in New York City before traveling in a flotilla on the Hudson to the Rondout, received full Naval escort during the entire trip, Wells said. " 
  4. ^ A b Paul Kirby: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: Group committed to preserving Kingston's character (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 8, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  5. ↑ a b c d About Us ( English ) Friends of Historic Kingston. 2008. Archived from the original on July 8, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  6. ^ Diana Waite: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Clinton Avenue Historic District ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . January 1970. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved on September 17, 2010.
  7. ^ A b Paul Kirby: Pike past its peak: Uptown Kingston canopies need repair (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , January 22, 2006. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  8. ↑ a b Paul Kirby: Uptown Kingston improvement plan due shortly (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , January 29, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  9. ^ Paul Brooks: Dig opens window to history (English) . In: Times-Herald Record , Ottaway Community Newspapers , January 30, 2001. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  10. ^ William Kemble: Panel seeks new life for Persen House (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , April 1, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  11. ↑ Paul Kirby: Mayor sees Uptown 'rebirth' with project (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , 2005-03-2005. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  12. ↑ a b Kingston City Code, § 264.5 .
  13. ^ Paul Kirby: Condo tower needs variance (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 14, 2006. Retrieved November 29, 2009. 
  14. ↑ Paul Kirby: Mayor rules out condo height limit ( English ) In: Daily Freeman . Journal Register Company . August 18, 2006. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  15. ↑ Paul Kirby: Proposed condo building too tall, state office tells Kingston (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , April 19, 2006. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  16. ↑ Paul Kirby: Rallying to the Stockade (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , January 25, 2007. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  17. ^ Paul Kirby: Merchants divided over proposed Uptown Kingston condos (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , November 15, 2006. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  18. ↑ Paul Kirby: Condo developer having 'second thoughts' about Kingston tower, mayor says (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 8, 2007. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  19. ↑ Paul Kirby: Public will have a say in future of parking garage site ( English ) In: Daily Freeman . Journal Register Company . February 13, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  20. ↑ Paul Kirby: Survey finds opposition to rental and 'affordable' housing at garage site (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , March 16, 2008. Retrieved November 29, 2009. 
  21. ^ Paul Kirby: Demolition begins at Kingston parking garage (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , April 18, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  22. ↑ Paul Kirby: Parking lot opens at site of former parking garage (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , July 9, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  23. ^ Paul Kirby: Uptown Kingston site could be home to CVS store ( English ) In: Daily Freeman . Journal Register Company . July 2, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  24. ↑ Paul Kirby: Petitions oppose Kingston CVS plan (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , September 5, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  25. ↑ Paul Kirby: Kingston lawmaker seeks building ban to stall CVS (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , August 27, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  26. ^ Paul Kirby: Business group backs proposed building ban in Kingston (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , August 29, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  27. ↑ Paul Kirby: Sottile, reversing self, signs Kingston building moratorium (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , January 4, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  28. ↑ Paul Kirby: Kingston planners give OK for Their Uptown CVS . In: Daily Freeman . Journal Register Company . February 10, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  29. ^ Paul Kirby: One building down, one to go at CVS site (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , September 12, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  30. ^ A b John Bonafide: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Kirkland Hotel ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . June 2002. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved on September 17, 2010.
  31. ↑ The Kirkland Hotel: History ( English ) Rural Ulster Preservation Company. Archived from the original on August 15, 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
  32. ^ Paul Kirby: Restoration of old hotel gets financial boost (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , November 7, 2003. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  33. ^ Paul Kirby: Landmark hotel comes back to life in Kingston . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , February 10, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  34. ^ Paul Kirby: Kirkland Hotel restoration lauded by Preservation League (English) . In: Daily Freeman , Journal Register Company , May 7, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  35. ↑ Kingston rehabilitation plan to be unveiled (English) . In: Times-Herald Record , Ottaway Community Newspapers , October 14, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  36. ^ Adam Bosch: Kingston planning street renovations (English) . In: Times-Herald Record , Ottaway Community Newspapers , May 8, 2009. Retrieved September 17, 2010. 
  37. ↑ Kingston City Code, Article 1 § 264.1 ( English ) Ecode. Retrieved September 17, 2010: “ it is in the public interest to ensure that the distinctive and historical character of this Historic and Architectural Design District shall not be injuriously affected, that the value to the community of those buildings having architectural and historical worth shall not be impaired and that said ... [d] istrict be maintained and preserved to promote its use of the education, pleasure and welfare of the citizens of the City of Kingston, New York, and others ... This area contains the architecture of the past 300 years, and new development must not be allowed to erode the best of the architectural spaces and cultural association of the past. "
  38. ^ Kingston City Code, § 264.3.
  39. ^ Kingston City Code, § 264.4.

Web links

Commons : Kingston Stockade District  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 41 ° 56 ′ 1 ″  N , 74 ° 1 ′ 10 ″  W.