80d. SoHo Historic District
A.K.A.: SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District
Location: roughly bounded by West Broadway, Houston, Crosby, and Canal Streets
Built: from early 1800s to today; most cast-irons date from 1870s
Architects: multiple
National Register Number: 78001883
Listed: June 29, 1978
Visited: June 21, 24, and 26, 2008
Additional Information: LPC Landmark Designation Report
The headline for Christopher Gray's NYT article on 139 Greene Street called it "The Longest-Running Restoration in New York City."
The article was written in 1989.
And the restoration started in 1974, making it...what? A journey of thirty-four years? YEAH, THIRTY-FOUR YEARS.
Except possibly not really. Another 1997 NYT article referred to it as a site of a 1997 fund-raising auction, which suggests 139 was at least restored enough to hold a public gathering. If so, it went back under construction soon after, as an anonymous tipster to Curbed who wrote that by 2007, it had been boarded up for "10 years at LEAST." There has been progress, though. Compare my photocomposite above with another one from 2006: the dormer windows have been fixed up quite well.
Why is this taking so long? It's a Federal townhouse, not Pompeii! Well, a commenter on the Curbed thread posted above mentioned it was owned by Peter Ballantine--someone connected to the Judd Foundation--and his wife, adding "You just try maintaining a building in SoHo on an art supervisor's wages!" Reason enough, I think!
Still must be maddening to have that building in your everyday life, even if you just walk down its street from time to time. It always troubles the consciousness as a mystery, an occasion to ask oneself "why the fuck is this thing not done yet?" (Must be even more maddening to OWN it, obviously--you have to feel for the Ballantines--but bear with me here.) I say this from my personal experiences living in the city, and living with construction: nothing ever seems to happen as fast as you think it should. There's a townhouse near where I live that's been going through a protracted restoration process since I've moved to New York in 2001. Months, perhaps years go by where nothing seems to happen, then we spectators get a couple days of guys carrying out trash in big bins, then more silence and waiting. It doesn't seem as if there's much left to do. You know, just give the walls a good paint job and install some carpeting, and it's good to go. Like a variation on one of Zeno's paradoxes, we never arrive at the project's completion, slowing ourselves down as we have to finish each task as they become simultaneously become more trivial but more numerous.
Did I say 105 Mercer Street was the second-oldest building in the district? I did. But 143 Spring Street pre-dates it by a year or two, according to the NYC LPC report. Back when the world was young and I just started working in the city, I was oft tempted to dine here, as it was home to a tempting BBQ restaurant; now the horrible horrible shoe-slinger Crocs is scheduled to move in. Fuck you. Seriously, fuck you and your goddamn already-over shoe, Crocs! Stay away from my historic district! Not that I actually live or work in SoHo, but SoHo is still mine because I am a New Yorker and nothing New York is foreign to me and everything New York is a part of me! At least in a certain sense! Or whatever, just piss off!
Location: roughly bounded by West Broadway, Houston, Crosby, and Canal Streets
Built: from early 1800s to today; most cast-irons date from 1870s
Architects: multiple
National Register Number: 78001883
Listed: June 29, 1978
Visited: June 21, 24, and 26, 2008
Additional Information: LPC Landmark Designation Report
The headline for Christopher Gray's NYT article on 139 Greene Street called it "The Longest-Running Restoration in New York City."
The article was written in 1989.
And the restoration started in 1974, making it...what? A journey of thirty-four years? YEAH, THIRTY-FOUR YEARS.
Except possibly not really. Another 1997 NYT article referred to it as a site of a 1997 fund-raising auction, which suggests 139 was at least restored enough to hold a public gathering. If so, it went back under construction soon after, as an anonymous tipster to Curbed who wrote that by 2007, it had been boarded up for "10 years at LEAST." There has been progress, though. Compare my photocomposite above with another one from 2006: the dormer windows have been fixed up quite well.
Why is this taking so long? It's a Federal townhouse, not Pompeii! Well, a commenter on the Curbed thread posted above mentioned it was owned by Peter Ballantine--someone connected to the Judd Foundation--and his wife, adding "You just try maintaining a building in SoHo on an art supervisor's wages!" Reason enough, I think!
Still must be maddening to have that building in your everyday life, even if you just walk down its street from time to time. It always troubles the consciousness as a mystery, an occasion to ask oneself "why the fuck is this thing not done yet?" (Must be even more maddening to OWN it, obviously--you have to feel for the Ballantines--but bear with me here.) I say this from my personal experiences living in the city, and living with construction: nothing ever seems to happen as fast as you think it should. There's a townhouse near where I live that's been going through a protracted restoration process since I've moved to New York in 2001. Months, perhaps years go by where nothing seems to happen, then we spectators get a couple days of guys carrying out trash in big bins, then more silence and waiting. It doesn't seem as if there's much left to do. You know, just give the walls a good paint job and install some carpeting, and it's good to go. Like a variation on one of Zeno's paradoxes, we never arrive at the project's completion, slowing ourselves down as we have to finish each task as they become simultaneously become more trivial but more numerous.
Did I say 105 Mercer Street was the second-oldest building in the district? I did. But 143 Spring Street pre-dates it by a year or two, according to the NYC LPC report. Back when the world was young and I just started working in the city, I was oft tempted to dine here, as it was home to a tempting BBQ restaurant; now the horrible horrible shoe-slinger Crocs is scheduled to move in. Fuck you. Seriously, fuck you and your goddamn already-over shoe, Crocs! Stay away from my historic district! Not that I actually live or work in SoHo, but SoHo is still mine because I am a New Yorker and nothing New York is foreign to me and everything New York is a part of me! At least in a certain sense! Or whatever, just piss off!
Labels: 139 Greene Street, 143 Spring Street, Crocs, Federal Style, SoHo
posted by Michael at
9:42 PM
2 Comments
