Tuesday, December 18, 2001
East End Temple preserves neglected historic building
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The interesting building at 17th Street west of 2nd Avenue (next to the Rutherford Place apartments, the former Lying-in Hospital, then Manhattan General, then Beth Israel drug trestment center), that has been a bit of an eyesore, is going to be restored to its former glory, as the new home of the East End Temple.
It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1828-95), the flamboyant architect of chateaux for the Vanderbilts (the 660 5th Avenue "Hunting Lodge," the Breakers and Marble House in Newport, the garden-rich Biltmore in Asheville), conservationist Gifford Pinchot and other American grandees. Having brought Beaux-Arts style to New York in 1855, Hunt was also commissioned to design public structures - the base of the Statue of Liberty, the facade of the Metropolitan Museum, the 1873 Tribune skyscraper, not to speak of the extention of the U.S. Capitol and the 1893 Columbian World Exhibition in Chicago. Hunt is celebrated in a memorial in Central Park at East 70th St.
The residence at 245 East 17th Street was built in 1883 for the Harvard-educated lawyer Sidney Webster (1828-1910), private secretary of President Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-57, failed to reconcile the North and South over the admission of Kansas as a slavery state). Webster met Governor Hamilton Fish while the latter was a U.S. Senator (1851-57; NYS Governor 1849-50; Secretary of State under Grant, 1869-77), and married his daughter Sarah in 1860. She bought the property from her father. Webster practiced law in N. Y., was a director of the Illinois Central RR, and wrote Two Treaties of Paris and the Supreme Court (1901), useful as research material for Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. His other important local connection was the ownership of Pen-Craig, a Newport cottage purchased from the George Frederick Jones family, whose daughter Edith spent many months of her childhood and young adulthood, as Mrs Henry Wharton, on the premises.
In the progress of time the building changed, eventually turning into a Beth Israel clinic. The interior was divided into examination rooms and cubicles, preserving only the magnificent front room with its wooden fireplace and wooden ribs across the ceiling. Nevertheless, the Hunt house was one of the prides of the Stuyvesant Square Historic District, when it was established in 1975.
The East End Temple, occupant of a small building and other adjacent valuable underused land on 23rd and 2nd Ave, had a dream, since the 1980s. They hoped to trade their valuable corner real estate to an apartment building developer, reserving for themselves some much improved premises on three floors. When that did not materialize- the 1987 recession intervened, the relationships changed – in 1998 they sold the property to developer Don Zucker, expecting to use $2.9 million of the proceeds to buy a larger mid-block property Meanwhile, their long- time architectural consultant Harry Kendall fitted them up with a temporary temple in a former restaurant at 403 1st Ave.
A few months ago the dreams came to a fruition - the 17th Street property surfaced on the synagogue=s radar screen. The building was researched and found appropriate, it was bought, the plans were presented to Community Board #6 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, all with great urgency, and the synagogue part of the restoration is hoped to be completed by August 2002.
How is that all possible, in the days of environmental impact staements and multi-level reviews and approvals? Well, with good plans that respect original design and good intentions, everybody cooperates. The plan was driven by the the president of the synagogue, Helene Spring, the Board of Trustees and its Chairman, Richard Muskat, and the Rabbi, David S. Adelson.
What, then, is the plan? The building has five stories, of which the ground floor and the next level will be combined, to form a balconied sanctuary, with seating for the 200 families. A lower level, of equal size, will be the social room.The beautiful front parlor, the Library, will be preserved. Directly behind it the present staircase and the elevator will be removed, and a new elevator installed . The sanctuary will fit in the space behind, nearly to the end of the 90-plus foot depth of the building (an L- space in the back will be squared off). The two upstairs floors will serve as offices and Hebrew School.
The landmarked front elevation may be described as French Renaissance Revival, although Hunt was inventive in his use of designs. The building has interesting step-wise dormers. The architect, in researching the design, was able to locate original photographs showing small Ionic columns between the roof structures, lost in the past years as the building was maintained and adapted for use by various owners. They are expected to be restored.
The substoop basement entrance door looks original, with its projecting Abrownstone@ mouldings. Yet, the photographs show that Hunt=s designed door was stylistically matched to the adjacent windows. It is expected to be replaced with a a more delicate double-door, matching the present opening. The doors were never aligned, since Hunt=s design featured a lower than usual stoop, and a basement entrance did not fit under it.
The building=s base line has also suffered.. In the passage of time, the original textured rusticated stone pattern was smoothed out. It will come back, as will the outside fence, which originally was a low meandering shape.
Harry Kendall, the architect, is a preservation expert. Since graduation, in 1985, he has taught in the Department of Historic Preservation of Columbia=s School of Architecture. Among his recent accomplishments, he has combined two historic Tribeca warehouses into the Fisher Mills condo building, restoring the exteriors and adding three floors. The Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association and some neighbors (Jack Taylor, Meryl Stoller and Eric Petterson) have been at the meetings and have expressed their approval of the rehabilitation of the neighborhood’s treasure.
Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V offer their fondest Holiday Greetings to our neighbors. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a Good Kwnzaa!
The interesting building at 17th Street west of 2nd Avenue (next to the Rutherford Place apartments, the former Lying-in Hospital, then Manhattan General, then Beth Israel drug trestment center), that has been a bit of an eyesore, is going to be restored to its former glory, as the new home of the East End Temple.
It was designed by Richard Morris Hunt (1828-95), the flamboyant architect of chateaux for the Vanderbilts (the 660 5th Avenue "Hunting Lodge," the Breakers and Marble House in Newport, the garden-rich Biltmore in Asheville), conservationist Gifford Pinchot and other American grandees. Having brought Beaux-Arts style to New York in 1855, Hunt was also commissioned to design public structures - the base of the Statue of Liberty, the facade of the Metropolitan Museum, the 1873 Tribune skyscraper, not to speak of the extention of the U.S. Capitol and the 1893 Columbian World Exhibition in Chicago. Hunt is celebrated in a memorial in Central Park at East 70th St.
The residence at 245 East 17th Street was built in 1883 for the Harvard-educated lawyer Sidney Webster (1828-1910), private secretary of President Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-57, failed to reconcile the North and South over the admission of Kansas as a slavery state). Webster met Governor Hamilton Fish while the latter was a U.S. Senator (1851-57; NYS Governor 1849-50; Secretary of State under Grant, 1869-77), and married his daughter Sarah in 1860. She bought the property from her father. Webster practiced law in N. Y., was a director of the Illinois Central RR, and wrote Two Treaties of Paris and the Supreme Court (1901), useful as research material for Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. His other important local connection was the ownership of Pen-Craig, a Newport cottage purchased from the George Frederick Jones family, whose daughter Edith spent many months of her childhood and young adulthood, as Mrs Henry Wharton, on the premises.
In the progress of time the building changed, eventually turning into a Beth Israel clinic. The interior was divided into examination rooms and cubicles, preserving only the magnificent front room with its wooden fireplace and wooden ribs across the ceiling. Nevertheless, the Hunt house was one of the prides of the Stuyvesant Square Historic District, when it was established in 1975.
The East End Temple, occupant of a small building and other adjacent valuable underused land on 23rd and 2nd Ave, had a dream, since the 1980s. They hoped to trade their valuable corner real estate to an apartment building developer, reserving for themselves some much improved premises on three floors. When that did not materialize- the 1987 recession intervened, the relationships changed – in 1998 they sold the property to developer Don Zucker, expecting to use $2.9 million of the proceeds to buy a larger mid-block property Meanwhile, their long- time architectural consultant Harry Kendall fitted them up with a temporary temple in a former restaurant at 403 1st Ave.
A few months ago the dreams came to a fruition - the 17th Street property surfaced on the synagogue=s radar screen. The building was researched and found appropriate, it was bought, the plans were presented to Community Board #6 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission, all with great urgency, and the synagogue part of the restoration is hoped to be completed by August 2002.
How is that all possible, in the days of environmental impact staements and multi-level reviews and approvals? Well, with good plans that respect original design and good intentions, everybody cooperates. The plan was driven by the the president of the synagogue, Helene Spring, the Board of Trustees and its Chairman, Richard Muskat, and the Rabbi, David S. Adelson.
What, then, is the plan? The building has five stories, of which the ground floor and the next level will be combined, to form a balconied sanctuary, with seating for the 200 families. A lower level, of equal size, will be the social room.The beautiful front parlor, the Library, will be preserved. Directly behind it the present staircase and the elevator will be removed, and a new elevator installed . The sanctuary will fit in the space behind, nearly to the end of the 90-plus foot depth of the building (an L- space in the back will be squared off). The two upstairs floors will serve as offices and Hebrew School.
The landmarked front elevation may be described as French Renaissance Revival, although Hunt was inventive in his use of designs. The building has interesting step-wise dormers. The architect, in researching the design, was able to locate original photographs showing small Ionic columns between the roof structures, lost in the past years as the building was maintained and adapted for use by various owners. They are expected to be restored.
The substoop basement entrance door looks original, with its projecting Abrownstone@ mouldings. Yet, the photographs show that Hunt=s designed door was stylistically matched to the adjacent windows. It is expected to be replaced with a a more delicate double-door, matching the present opening. The doors were never aligned, since Hunt=s design featured a lower than usual stoop, and a basement entrance did not fit under it.
The building=s base line has also suffered.. In the passage of time, the original textured rusticated stone pattern was smoothed out. It will come back, as will the outside fence, which originally was a low meandering shape.
Harry Kendall, the architect, is a preservation expert. Since graduation, in 1985, he has taught in the Department of Historic Preservation of Columbia=s School of Architecture. Among his recent accomplishments, he has combined two historic Tribeca warehouses into the Fisher Mills condo building, restoring the exteriors and adding three floors. The Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association and some neighbors (Jack Taylor, Meryl Stoller and Eric Petterson) have been at the meetings and have expressed their approval of the rehabilitation of the neighborhood’s treasure.
Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V offer their fondest Holiday Greetings to our neighbors. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a Good Kwnzaa!
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 2:47 PM 
