Pastures Historic District
The Pastures Historic District is a conservation area in a residential area just south of the downtown of Albany , New York in the United States. It covers an area of 6.8 hectares and comprises 17 road blocks in whole or in part.
This area was the late 17th century by the City Council of Albany as pasture (English pasture reserved) and the Dutch Reformed Church left. When the city, which had in the meantime become the capital of the state, began to grow a century later, the area was divided into parcels , some of which were built with small terraced houses. Many areas of the district are still openly populated today, and the houses have not been significantly changed. In 1972 the historic district was established and inscribed on the National Register of Historic Places . With the exception of two buildings, all structures within the boundaries of the district are considered to contribute to its historical character.
The liveliest in the 19th century district of Albany was the third quarter of the 20th century urban decay suspended because many residents in suburbs covered. Instead of a large-scale demolition as part of the urban renewal measures customary at the time , the city administration tried to preserve and revitalize the city district by temporarily relocating the residents and demolishing some buildings. This move has been criticized for destroying the area by doing just that. However, despite a mortgage fraud case in later years, the area has re-developed into a diverse, fully-used neighborhood.
geography
The Pastures Historic District is on the south side of the South Mall Expressway, which carries traffic from the Dunn Memorial Bridge over the Hudson River to the Empire State Plaza , the modernist complex where the state government has its offices. The area is almost flat and only slightly stands out from the river. In this it differs significantly from the Mansion Historic District , which extends west on the slope.
The district boundaries are Madison Avenue to the north, South Ferry Street to the south, Dongan and Green Street to the east, and South Pearl Street ( NY 32 ) to the west. Bleeker, Franklin, Herkimer, John, South Lansing and Westerlo Streets are between South Pearl and Green Streets within the district. The actual boundaries of the historic district were not determined by the city and state authorities until twelve years after it was entered on the National Register of Historic Places. It does not completely include the streets mentioned, but excludes modern buildings and demolition areas.
As of 1984, none of the houses on South Pearl Street belong to the district. All properties on the south side of Madison Street are included, as well as those on the west side of Green Street. Directly south of Herkimer Street, three properties on the east side of Green Street were also taken into account and one block south of South Lansing Street also includes the row of houses on the east side and the north side of Westerlo Street.
The whole block with the now closed St. John's Roman Catholic Church is one of them. The district boundary then follows Dongan Street to the corner with South Ferry Street, where the district boundary bends west to follow this street. As at the north end, all properties are on the north side of the street within the district. The parcel at the intersection with South Pearl Street is left open. Then the border follows the rear house front of the building up to Franklin Street, so that not only the newer buildings on South Pearl Street do not belong, but also the parking lots behind them. The district boundary then runs along the property lines of the properties on Westerlo Street west of Franklin Street, with the houses on either side of the street, then returning to Franklin Street.
Also included are all houses on either side of Herkimer Street between Franklin and South Pearl Streets. The parking lot that used to be the western block on Bleeker Street is outside the district. The district boundary then returns to the rear property lines on Madison Street.
Within this seven hectare area there are 112 buildings, only two of which are not considered to contribute to the historical character of the district. Many of the buildings are row houses built in the federal style and neoclassical architectural style. These buildings usually do not completely cover the respective parcel, so that a significant proportion of the historic district consists of open spaces. Part of this is taken up by parking areas, part is vacant lawn or garden area and a tennis court has been built on John Street between Franklin and Green Street.
The only non-residential properties within the district are the former St. John's Church, school and synagogue. School No. 15, the district's only educational building, burned down in 1979; During this time the city tried to revitalize the area.
history
The site became available for development shortly after American independence, but it took a while for The Pastures to become a preferred development area. Three quarters of the houses in the district were built between 1815 and 1855. Some of these buildings were demolished in the 1970s.
17th and 18th centuries
The Dutch colonists , who founded today's town of Albany in the mid-16th century, reserved this piece of land outside the town's palisades as common pasture . In 1687, the year after Albany became an English colonial city and received the charter, the city council decided to donate this land to the Dutch Reformed Church . It remained in the Church's possession for almost a century as pastureland.
Today's South Pearl Street was the only way through the area at the time. At that time it was a path along which the cattle were driven to pasture and which was therefore also called "Cow Street". Modest houses were built along the path north of the stockade after the original landowner died in 1766. After George Washington probably used this route to get to the Philip Schuyler Mansion in 1783 , the name Washington Street became common.
After the American Revolutionary War , the city asked the church to divide the property into plots suitable for building houses and to sell them. This process was slow. The first residents of the area were mostly wealthy families who built their homes in the federal style popular in the early years of the republic.
19th century
Spencer Stafford, a successful merchant, built 100 Madison Avenue in 1808. It is now the oldest surviving house in the district and one of the oldest in the city. A few years later, the house at 96 Madison Avenue was built nearby and was considered the most elegant private home in town at the time. Four of the six houses in the row next to it at 82-94 Madison Avenue belonged to Union College founder Dudley Walsh; the six houses were built in 1814. Citizens with more modest means also settled in the area, including merchants, artisans, and free African American people .
Over the next two decades, more and more middle-class citizens settled here, along with carpenters and bricklayers, who often bought several parcels and built a row of houses. They then lived in one of the houses and rented out the rest. Many of these houses still stand on South Ferry Street between Franklin and Green Streets; they were the first buildings in the district with a third floor, gable roof and bay windows . Joseph C. Yates lived at 96 Madison Avenue from 1823-1824 when he was Governor of New York .
The pastures continued to be built in the 1830s and 1840s. During this time, most of the buildings corresponded to a strictly neoclassical architectural style. They were mostly built of bricks in the Flemish Association , but the runners' association and the American association are also common. Simple pilasters flank the recessed entrances, the front facades are only slightly with ornaments provided. Newer roofing materials and methods made flat roofs possible. Some timber-framed shops have also been built in the neighborhood, but most of them have now been demolished.
The years before, during and after the Civil War marked the end of general building activity within The Pastures. As the district grew, a school was built, and other areas of the city developed during this period. Many new row houses replaced older timber frame houses, 51-55 Westerlo Street being the only significant new group of structures. Newly built houses often served a mixed use with commercial rooms on the ground floor and living rooms on the floors above. Ornate storefronts remain at 79 South Ferry Street and 104 Madison Avenue. Older homes were often given a new, contemporary look with corbels , metal lintels, and ornate friezes . A third floor was added to some of the flat roof buildings.
Scattered around the district are a few houses that were built after this period. The ornate brickwork at 77 Westerlo Street dates back to 1886 and stands out in its immediate vicinity. In contrast, the austerity of 68 and 70 Westerlo Streets reflects the vernacular uses of the architectural styles of the early 20th century. The biggest change in the district during this time was the conversion of some of the apartment buildings on Madison Avenue west of Franklin Street into stores.
20th century
In the first decade of the new century, a Roman Catholic church and synagogue were built in the district . The neo-Gothic stone towers of St. John's at 140 Green Street rose above the district from 1903. The brick synagogue of the Beth El Jewish Community was built in 1907 at 76 Herkimer Street. The district was completely built up.
The Pastures shop fronts became famous for their jazz clubs in the early part of the century and developed into Albany's red light district . In 1940 76 Westerlo Street was built, the newest contributing structure in the historic district. During the war years, the neighborhood remained a lively and ethnically diverse area.
Suburbanization began in the 1950s and wealthy Albanytes began to move out. The construction of the Empire State Plaza during the 1960s displaced even more residents and the central areas of the city, including The Pastures, began to show signs of urban decay. Late that decade, the Historic Resources Commission was established, designated the Pastures Preservation District, and placed it on the National Register in 1972.
After realizing the historical character of the area and its importance, the city had big plans. The Democratic party machine of Daniel P. O'Connell avoided the allocation of most of the federal funds under Title I of the extensive urban regeneration programs of the time because it wanted to keep control of its clientele . With the money they had accumulated, they chose to implement a plan that they hoped would "revitalize" the neighborhood and preserve what was judged to be special. She made sure that the residents moved out, as it was thought temporarily, in order to tear down selected run-down buildings and replace them with new buildings that match the style.
While the neighborhood was so practically vacant, the city was looking for a contractor to take care of the full redevelopment area. Individuals who are, used with individual plans for the purchase and renovation of one or two houses to dwell there to the city, were abgewiegelt while building further were empty and fell into disrepair and individual by arson were destroyed, among them the school .
Around 1980, however, the city administration lowered its expectations and only looked for construction companies that were interested in complete blocks of streets, not the entire district. The low-hanging family units should be reserved for low-income families for rent. Eventually The Pastures was revived, but for some critics the damage has happened to both the displaced population and the architectural character. Spatial planner Roberta Brandes Gratz discovered a quarter of a century later that “the real place ceased to exist when its last residents were displaced into a distant housing project ”. She called the Pastures project "a vivid example of the inappropriateness of monument preservation as the [only] answer". Some of the buildings, Gratz noted, were not properly restored and "the area looks more like a no-vacant suburban enclave than an urban neighborhood".
21st century
At the beginning of the 2000s, the district was completely repopulated and the director of the city planning commission stated that there was “a mix of income and jobs that we would otherwise strive for”. Many of the housing units have been reserved under Section 8 as affordable housing and smaller businesses have set up in the area. 96 Madison Avenue is now a bed and breakfast . The residents of the neighborhood like the proximity to downtown Albany within walking distance.
See also
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d Frances Heins: The Pastures: Diverse and Historic (English) . In: Albany Times-Union , Hearst Corporation , November 7, 2004. Archived from the original on April 28, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k John Mesick: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Pastures Historic District ( English ) New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . June 1971. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d Roberta Brandes Gratz: The Living City: How America's Cities Are Being Revitalized by Thinking Small in a Big Way ( English ). John Wiley & Sons , Hoboken, NJ 1994, ISBN 9780471144250 , pp. 254-57 (accessed September 17, 2010).
- ↑ Streets of Early Albany ( English ) In: Colonial Albany Social History Project . New York State Museum . July 10, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2010: “ Modest homes were laid out along it south to the stockade beginning in the early 1700s. It ran along the foot of Gallows Hill. From the stockade at Hudson Street - south to the Beaverkill, that section of the street first was settled following the death of property owner Hendrick Hallenbeck in 1766. By the end of the War for Independence, it was called Washington Street reputedly because George Washington walked along it to Schuyler Mansion in 1783 "
- ↑ a b Jocelyn Gervasio: The Word on the Streets: Albany Neighborhoods ( English ) State University of New York at Albany . December 9, 2002. Archived from the original on January 24, 2003. Retrieved on September 17, 2010.
Coordinates: 42 ° 38 ′ 37 " N , 73 ° 45 ′ 15" W.