Two Bridges Undertakes Nomination of New York’s Chinatown and Little Italy Neighborhoods as an Historic District

Steps Taken Toward Nominating Chinatown and Little Italy as a Single Historic District to the State and National Registers of Historic Places

NEW YORK, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ – Two Bridges Neighborhood Council (TBNC) has learned that the NYS Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) supports the eligibility of the historic core of Manhattan’s Chinatown and Little Italy for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as a single historic district. The SHPO’s opinion results from the preliminary assessment, which TBNC commissioned from Ms. Kerri Culhane-Black, an Architectural Historian, in August 2008, and confirms the significance and justification of the eligibility of the area to be nominated by TBNC as an historic district.

“We were very pleased to learn this information. Such an honorific designation provides some measure of protection toward preserving these two very distinct historic corridors as testimonies to the thousands of Chinese and Italian immigrants that settled here. Ultimately designating Chinatown and Little Italy to the State and National Registers, however honorific that is, may actually save hundreds of these very familiar tenement buildings from being demolished, a phenomenon we are sadly witnessing in all parts of the Lower East Side.” Said Mr. Victor Papa, President/Director of the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council.

The State and National Registers are the official lists of properties significant in American history and worthy of preservation. The registers are actively used by individuals, organizations, and all levels of government to promote planning, economic development, tourism, education, and an increased appreciation of our heritage. In New York, the State and National Registers are administered by the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation through the State Historic Preservation Office. Ms. Kathy Howe is the SHPO Historic Preservation Specialist assigned to work with TBNC in this nominating process.

The results of listing properties in the State and National Registers are:

1. Registered properties and properties determined eligible for the Registers receive a measure of protection from the effects of federal and/or state agency sponsored, licensed or assisted projects through a notice, review, and consultation process.

2. Owners of depreciable, certified historic properties may be eligible to take a 20% federal income tax credit for the costs of substantial rehabilitation as provided for under the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

3. Municipal and not-for-profit owners of listed historic properties may apply for matching state historic preservation grants. There are no restrictions placed on private owners of registered properties. Private property owners may sell, alter or dispose of their property as they wish, although an owner who demolishes a certified registered property may not deduct the costs of demolition from his/her federal income tax.

TBNC officially commissioned the Statement of Significance in August 2008 and submitted it to the NYS Historic Preservation Office on September 5, 2008. TBNC submitted additional census research and mapping of the proposed district in October.

According to the Statement of Significance, the Little Italy and Chinatown neighborhoods in Manhattan were forged in the same dynamic period of American history, the mid and late nineteenth century; a time when waves of immigrants from all corners of the world came to New York seeking opportunity. The Chinese and Italians settled along Mott and Mulberry Streets and the neighboring cross streets, bringing food, culture, and their respective unique sensibilities to New York. Separately and together, these two groups helped create an American cultural history that still resonates — and has relevance, today. The cultural fabric of the Little Italy and Chinatown communities remain largely intact. The tenements, churches, cultural institutions, benevolent societies, businesses and restaurants remain central to each community. A community’s history can be read in its architecture. The majority of the architecture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries remains intact, contributing to the neighborhood’s readily identifiable sense of place.

NEXT STEPS

The National Register Nomination Process involves intensive research to establish an historic context for the neighborhood. Repositories or institutions that house collections relevant to this project will be consulted during the course of this project. The types of records anticipated to be consulted include maps, historic photographs, census and tax data, planning documents, oral histories, local histories and other primary and secondary sources. The focus of research will be the neighborhood’s social history, its economic and demographic transformation over time, and how these changes are manifested in the area’s urban architectural fabric. All property owners within the district boundaries must be identified as a requirement for proposing a National Register historic district.

A list of property owners will be compiled from city tax lists and submitted with the National Register of Historic Places nomination form. Fieldwork will be undertaken to assess architectural integrity for the purposes of assigning contributing-resource status to individual buildings within the proposed district. During the course of fieldwork, the district will be documented through digital photography. It is anticipated that there will be a need for close coordination with community members and interested parties. Progress reports, press conferences and meetings will be scheduled as necessary.

The results of research will be presented to the local Community Board to obtain the consent and support of the Community Board. Additionally, a public meeting to announce the results of research will be held, to which all landowners in the district will be invited. Coordination with TBNC and the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and other local organizations will be required to compile addresses and send notification letters translated into Chinese where necessary. A draft National Register of Historic Places nomination form will be completed, including an historic context and a detailed description of the proposed district. This document will synthesize background research and fieldwork into a cohesive argument and justification for the eligibility of the proposed Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District for listing in the National Register. A copy of this draft nomination form will be submitted to Ms. Kathy Howe for review. Any comments or questions will be addressed during a one-month review period, after which necessary changes will be made to the final document.

Once approval of the draft nomination form has been gained, a final version of the National Register of Historic Places nomination form accompanied by supporting documentation will be submitted to Ms. Howe. It is the responsibility of SHPO, Ms. Howe, as Register Coordinator, to forward this nomination and supporting documentation to the Keeper of the Register. The official decision to list the proposed district in the National Register is made by the Keeper of the Register; which does not imply a guarantee that the district will be listed. Every possible effort will be made to ensure that the district is crafted with a cohesive, defensible boundary, and that the statement of significance is clear and thorough enough to warrant the listing of the proposed Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District in the Register.

ABOUT TWO BRIDGES NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

The Two Bridges Neighborhood Council was established in the 1950′s as a civic organization. It was specifically founded to address emerging racial tensions resulting from Black and Hispanic populations settling into the Lower East Side neighborhoods that lie between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. These neighborhoods, at the time, were comprised mainly of white-ethnic national groups. Working along with churches, settlement houses and a group of racially-integrated, visionary leaders from the community, the Council served as a forum and catalyst for resolving racial conflicts. It soon published a neighborhood newspaper with the intention of exchanging news about local events and people, and sponsored little leagues and sports events and other activities for youth — all with the goal of improving racial and cultural conflicts.

As has been its strength over the years, the Council changed its focus in the late 1960′s to the very preservation of the neighborhood when AT&T planned to purchase, and in turn, demolish old tenement buildings located on Madison Street and replacing them with a huge Switching Station. This plan would have forever displaced hundreds of low-income families, and would have been an impetus to transforming the Lower East Side from a traditional enclave of affordable housing to a commercial area. Organizing the community against the proposal, the Council hired its first community organizer and was successful in preserving the stock of housing in this area by working out a plan that eventually moved the Switching Station closer to the Financial District. This is now a Verizon building located adjacent to Police Headquarters.

Having assumed at first a housing advocacy role in the community, the Council soon grew from a civic neighborhood association into one of New York City’s major housing development organizations for low and moderate-income housing. In the 1970′s, TBNC teamed with Settlement Housing Fund, a nonprofit housing organization, to redevelop the Two Bridges Urban Renewal Area. This blighted urban renewal area was bounded by Montgomery, Cherry, South and Pike Streets, and adjacent to the East River. Since then the two organizations have developed on the site a large scale supermarket, Pathmark, and five residential sites containing over 1500 units of affordable housing, including a condominium and a 108 unit HUD financed rental development building for senior citizens, the Two Bridges Helen Harris Senior Residence.

The most recent development, Two Bridges Tower, at 82 Rutgers Street represents the culmination of this twenty-five year collaboration. In the climate of scarce government funding at the time, the two groups, now formed as the TwoBridgeset Associates, LP, had put together six different sources of financing for this building, including New York City capital funds, blended with bank loans and equity from low income housing tax credit investors. A row of small stores have been built adjacent to the tower. Both the nonprofit developers also realized that besides all the housing and commercial development both were so effective in building on the urban renewal site, social services became a special concern, especially for the needs of formerly homeless families moving into the 80/20 Two Bridges Tower, and for the aging-in population of seniors at the Helen Harris Residence.

As a result of this concern, Hamilton-Madison House, one of New York City’s largest social service providers, and a local organization, was sub-contracted to provide social workers in both buildings. The Two Bridges Tower also includes, in a separate part of the residential tower, space for Hamilton-Madison House’s expanded behavioral health services which it provides to the burgeoning Asian community. It also includes an adult day-care and rehabilitation services sponsored by the Cabrini Nursing Home.

Having achieved all of this, TBNC now seeks to change its mission through a more individualized approach to community development programs that (i) are meant to sustain the current stock of affordable housing it helped to build, (ii) strengthen families and community bonds, and (iii) initiate programs meant to enhance the waterfront for the use and enjoyment of the local community.

TBNC successfully nominated the Two Bridges Historic District to the National Register in 2003, also with research support by Ms. Culhane-Black. Proposed Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District Boundary Based on Field Observation 10/23/2008 NYC GIS Basemap, 2008.

www.tbnc.org

SOURCE Two Bridges Neighborhood Council