Friday, April 23, 2010
Preservationists have problems in NYC; the Block Beautiful reviewed
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The neighborhood tragedy that the closing of the 161 years old St. Vincent’s Hospital represents finds little response in the media. Are we so inured by hospital closings that we don’t care? Is there a hope of a last minute white knight? Is a multi billionaire going to jump in and rescue the $700M debt (now grown to $1B)? As to the preservationists who sued to stop the proposed $300M sale of the adjoining O’Toole and other properties to Rudin that might have stopped the hospital’s bankruptcy, are they really winning, or do they realize that the liquidators will demolish the entire old neighborhood? As of the moment, the hospital will go down, 3,500 pink slips have been issued and Beth Israel and its Phillips Ambulatory unit, Bellevue and Roosevelt Hospitals are bracing to accept the overload of the poor patients, whose free care was at the root of St. Vincent’s bankruptcy that started in 2005 at $1.1B, was liquidated when the debt was reduced to $700M and resumed when it was found to be back at $1B. Gov Paterson tried to connect St. Vincent’s to such potential rescuers as Continuum Partnership (Beth Israel, Roosevelt, and St. Luke’s) and Mount Sinai Medical Center, to no avail.
Speaking of preservationists, they are not succeeding very well. The former Church of Holy Communion, lately the Limelight, in the Ladies’ Mile Historic district, was sold to a developer. When the trees on the property were cut in one fell swoop, protesters at the Landmarks Preservation Commission found out that the new owner had properly filed a request, based on a report from their arborist, who found that all the trees were diseased and should be removed. This information was not disseminated, and when the preservationists found out, it was too late for the trees.
Another tentative failure, the attempt to landmark the old Tammany Hall headquarters on East 17th Street, corner Union Square. It is owned by Liberty Theatres, who have been given a signed standstill agreement by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, meaning that landmarking will not be pursued, provided the theatre people will not alter the façade and other distinctive features. When the preservationists tried to check further, as interested parties who have been pursuing the designation since 1985, they had to follow the FOIL route to find that there are some 12 standstill agreements issued since 1999, applicable to properties throughout the city.
Which brings us to the Frederick J. Sterner (1862-1939) renovation on Block Beautiful, 139 East 19th Street, his first purchase and residence on Block Beautiful. Finding neglect on the block, he bought and rebuilt a number of the brownstones, beautifying the neighborhood in his imaginative fairyland style, with light pastel tinted stucco, Mediterranean Arts & Crafts tile work, removing high stoops, adding flower boxes, leaded glass and ornaments. The present owners of No 139 want to increase the building’s height by another story or two, installing new rooftop bulkheads. The preservationists protest, finding the change inappropriate and affecting the character of the street. So it’s back to the drawing board.
If you’d like to be guided though the 19th Street Sterner history, take a walk on this short block, Irving Place to 3rd Avenue. I will offer lite advice, from facts as well as personal memories and legend. There’s more info, since the Block Beautiful was given a Historic District designation in 1966 within the framework of the larger Gramercy Park Historic District.
Starting at top SW corner, Irving and 19th, past the big apartment building, No. 124 has a Dutch stepwise gable, looking like a storybook creation. The area allegedly was used to hold carriage houses for the Gramercy Park gentry.
No 128 was the home of Lincoln Kirstein (1907-96), founder of the NYC Ballet, and I have some memory associated with Public Theatre. Feel free to refresh me.
No 132, an apartment building, was once the residence of Ida Tarbell the muckraker journalist (this is disputed, her alternate address given is No.120.. maybe both are correct), painter Cecelia Beaux , stockbroker and collector Chester Dale, and possibly it may have had Theda Bara, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Ethel Barrymore and Helen Hayes staying there, or is that more legend?
Next, a strip of beige and colored houses, with window boxes, until we come to No.146, where painter George Bellows of the Armory Eight lived and painted, 1910-25. The roof studio is visible from the street.
Crossing to the north side, on the NE corner of Irving and 19th, the large red brick ivy-covered beauty (No. 80 Irving Place), was an early birth control clinic. Now owned by a Wall Street broker, it is equipped with an automatic garage and arcane electronics inside.
Next, No. 129, a mysterious fairy palace that originally served as a stable and studio, was once owned by the late photographer Hal Reiff. I have occasionally sat in the paved courtyard, amid Greek statues, with an adult beverage, cherishing my chance to share in the old New York opulence.
Tall No. 131 where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald visited critic Ernest Boyd, still has an original high stoop, and No. 135, Igor Cassini’s decorative glass and Medieval/Oriental architectural treasure, was supposedly originally imported as a wedding gift for a Woolworth heiress.
No. 139, Sterner’s stucco, tile and wrought iron abode is now part of the preservationists’ juggle.
No. 141 has Mediterranean style arts and crafts tile work, jockey figurines and leaded glass windows, for sale at $8M. Inside, it is a millionaire’s toy, including kitchen. Previous owners include sportscaster Ted Husing and designer Abbijane Schifrin.
No 143 has an original Anglo-Italian stoop, and at 145 are zebra tiles, and No. 147 was studio of painter Robert Winthrop Chanler. At No. 151 critic Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) of the Harlem Renaissance fame threw wild parties. Ethel Barrymore claimed that she came to a party there as a young girl, and left next morning as an old woman.
Wally Dobelis thanks NYTimes, Christopher Gray, Andrew Scott Dolkart (regret, I have not seen his new book) and Internet sources. Send comments, corrections and more legends to Wally@ix.netcom.com. Spare nothing.
The neighborhood tragedy that the closing of the 161 years old St. Vincent’s Hospital represents finds little response in the media. Are we so inured by hospital closings that we don’t care? Is there a hope of a last minute white knight? Is a multi billionaire going to jump in and rescue the $700M debt (now grown to $1B)? As to the preservationists who sued to stop the proposed $300M sale of the adjoining O’Toole and other properties to Rudin that might have stopped the hospital’s bankruptcy, are they really winning, or do they realize that the liquidators will demolish the entire old neighborhood? As of the moment, the hospital will go down, 3,500 pink slips have been issued and Beth Israel and its Phillips Ambulatory unit, Bellevue and Roosevelt Hospitals are bracing to accept the overload of the poor patients, whose free care was at the root of St. Vincent’s bankruptcy that started in 2005 at $1.1B, was liquidated when the debt was reduced to $700M and resumed when it was found to be back at $1B. Gov Paterson tried to connect St. Vincent’s to such potential rescuers as Continuum Partnership (Beth Israel, Roosevelt, and St. Luke’s) and Mount Sinai Medical Center, to no avail.
Speaking of preservationists, they are not succeeding very well. The former Church of Holy Communion, lately the Limelight, in the Ladies’ Mile Historic district, was sold to a developer. When the trees on the property were cut in one fell swoop, protesters at the Landmarks Preservation Commission found out that the new owner had properly filed a request, based on a report from their arborist, who found that all the trees were diseased and should be removed. This information was not disseminated, and when the preservationists found out, it was too late for the trees.
Another tentative failure, the attempt to landmark the old Tammany Hall headquarters on East 17th Street, corner Union Square. It is owned by Liberty Theatres, who have been given a signed standstill agreement by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, meaning that landmarking will not be pursued, provided the theatre people will not alter the façade and other distinctive features. When the preservationists tried to check further, as interested parties who have been pursuing the designation since 1985, they had to follow the FOIL route to find that there are some 12 standstill agreements issued since 1999, applicable to properties throughout the city.
Which brings us to the Frederick J. Sterner (1862-1939) renovation on Block Beautiful, 139 East 19th Street, his first purchase and residence on Block Beautiful. Finding neglect on the block, he bought and rebuilt a number of the brownstones, beautifying the neighborhood in his imaginative fairyland style, with light pastel tinted stucco, Mediterranean Arts & Crafts tile work, removing high stoops, adding flower boxes, leaded glass and ornaments. The present owners of No 139 want to increase the building’s height by another story or two, installing new rooftop bulkheads. The preservationists protest, finding the change inappropriate and affecting the character of the street. So it’s back to the drawing board.
If you’d like to be guided though the 19th Street Sterner history, take a walk on this short block, Irving Place to 3rd Avenue. I will offer lite advice, from facts as well as personal memories and legend. There’s more info, since the Block Beautiful was given a Historic District designation in 1966 within the framework of the larger Gramercy Park Historic District.
Starting at top SW corner, Irving and 19th, past the big apartment building, No. 124 has a Dutch stepwise gable, looking like a storybook creation. The area allegedly was used to hold carriage houses for the Gramercy Park gentry.
No 128 was the home of Lincoln Kirstein (1907-96), founder of the NYC Ballet, and I have some memory associated with Public Theatre. Feel free to refresh me.
No 132, an apartment building, was once the residence of Ida Tarbell the muckraker journalist (this is disputed, her alternate address given is No.120.. maybe both are correct), painter Cecelia Beaux , stockbroker and collector Chester Dale, and possibly it may have had Theda Bara, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Ethel Barrymore and Helen Hayes staying there, or is that more legend?
Next, a strip of beige and colored houses, with window boxes, until we come to No.146, where painter George Bellows of the Armory Eight lived and painted, 1910-25. The roof studio is visible from the street.
Crossing to the north side, on the NE corner of Irving and 19th, the large red brick ivy-covered beauty (No. 80 Irving Place), was an early birth control clinic. Now owned by a Wall Street broker, it is equipped with an automatic garage and arcane electronics inside.
Next, No. 129, a mysterious fairy palace that originally served as a stable and studio, was once owned by the late photographer Hal Reiff. I have occasionally sat in the paved courtyard, amid Greek statues, with an adult beverage, cherishing my chance to share in the old New York opulence.
Tall No. 131 where F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald visited critic Ernest Boyd, still has an original high stoop, and No. 135, Igor Cassini’s decorative glass and Medieval/Oriental architectural treasure, was supposedly originally imported as a wedding gift for a Woolworth heiress.
No. 139, Sterner’s stucco, tile and wrought iron abode is now part of the preservationists’ juggle.
No. 141 has Mediterranean style arts and crafts tile work, jockey figurines and leaded glass windows, for sale at $8M. Inside, it is a millionaire’s toy, including kitchen. Previous owners include sportscaster Ted Husing and designer Abbijane Schifrin.
No 143 has an original Anglo-Italian stoop, and at 145 are zebra tiles, and No. 147 was studio of painter Robert Winthrop Chanler. At No. 151 critic Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) of the Harlem Renaissance fame threw wild parties. Ethel Barrymore claimed that she came to a party there as a young girl, and left next morning as an old woman.
Wally Dobelis thanks NYTimes, Christopher Gray, Andrew Scott Dolkart (regret, I have not seen his new book) and Internet sources. Send comments, corrections and more legends to Wally@ix.netcom.com. Spare nothing.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 2:15 AM 
