The New York State Historic Preservation Office recently deemed three brownstones that Columbia plans to demolish as eligible to be added to the state and national registers of historic places.
Yet this designation may mean little to the fate of these buildings, which are located at 408, 410, and 412 W. 115th Street. The announcement, made on Jan. 15, leaves some wondering, “what’s in a name?”
Though naming these three residences eligible for addition to the registers of historic places on both the state and national levels would appear to guarantee their preservation, the protection that the register grants is not absolute. Columbia will use private funds to demolish the buildings and—while the University must notify the preservation office of its plans—it is not obligated to follow the office’s recommendations.
The SHPO considers these brownstones as part of the proposed Morningside Drive Historical District. State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell (D-Morningside Heights) launched a vocal campaign to defend this group of buildings between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. The district includes most of Morningside Heights, extending east to west from Morningside Drive to Riverside Drive, and north to south from Tiemann Place to Cathedral Parkway.
“When you walk down the street, you see the cohesiveness of these buildings,” O’Donnell said of the individual importance of each building to the proposed historical district. “Many are the same style, designed by the same architect.”
Though Columbia has yet to be granted a demolition permit, University officials have expressed a desire to tear down the three buildings due to what they describe as a state of extreme disrepair.
“The condition these buildings are in—it doesn’t make any sense at this point to try to preserve the buildings,” Joseph Ienuso, Columbia’s executive vice president of facilities, said in an interview last September.
Ienuso explained that the University makes every effort to maintain buildings, and that demolition is an unusual course of action.
“It’s really exceptional that we’re actually in a position to take a building down,” he said.
Columbia officials declined to comment directly on the significance of the buildings. Dan Held, director of communications for Columbia facilities, said the University had “no official information about the designation of these properties” by the preservation office.
None of the buildings in O’Donnell’s proposed Morningside Drive Historical District have been granted landmark designation by the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission.
The LPC is separate from the SHPO, and provides binding legal protection from demolition. Buildings can be granted a spot on the register even if they do not have landmark designation, as in the case of the 115th Street brownstones.
O’Donnell said an application to the LPC was submitted on May 24, 1996, and has remained in limbo ever since.
“The proposal for a historical district in Morningside Heights is currently under review,” LPC spokesperson Lisi de Bourbon said, though she declined to comment further.
“The fact these buildings are not a part of a historical district is truly an outrage,” O’Donnell said. “The landmarks commission has been negligent in establishing historical districts in uptown Manhattan since its inception.”
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