Restoring Landmarks Military and Mercantile
The New York Landmarks Conservancy, which works to preserve and protect New York’s architectural legacy, is honoring two Lower Manhattan structures with its Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the highest honor the Conservancy confers for excellence in preservation: Castle Clinton, at the Battery, and 131 Duane Street, in Tribeca.
In the years since its construction in 1808, Castle Clinton has served as a fort (housing the battery of guns that inspired the name for the park that surrounds the structure), a theater, an immigration processing station (pictured, late 1800s), and an aquarium. Today it is the departure point for people boarding ferries to the Statue of Liberty.
This lithograph by Currier and Ives shows the interior of the roofed Castle Clinton in 1850, when it was an entertainment venue. About 100 years later, the structure was partially demolished as part of the construction of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. There was a public outcry to preserve what was left of the building, and the National Park Service (NPS) took control in 1950. By 2015, the venerable fortification was showing its age, with major vertical cracks, dislocation of stonework, and exfoliation of its sandstone facade.
This led NPS to engage the architectural firm of John G. Waite Associates to compile an inventory of what was needed to save the structure. Archival research and new, non-destructive techniques helped the architects diagnose complex masonry problems. With retention of original material as a guiding principle, the team cleaned the historic red walls (fashioned from Newark sandstone) and imported stone from Germany that matched the color and mineralogical character of the original to replace what could not be salvaged.
In Tribeca, 131 Duane Street is an Italianate loft building, built in 1861 for merchant Thomas Hope. Originally a warehouse and factory, the structure was more recently converted into high-end apartments. This refurbishment enabled a restoration that replicated the original cast iron ground-level facade (demolished decades ago), using historic photos and salvaged architectural elements. On the upper levels, white Tuckahoe Marble and brick from Westchester County were repaired and preserved, with unsalvageable units replaced in-kind by marble quarried in Georgia that was color-matched and finished to mirror the existing façade’s color and texture.
In its half-century history, the New York Landmarks Conservancy has loaned and granted more than $60 million to restoration projects, which has leveraged more than $900 million in 1,300-plus restoration projects throughout New York, revitalizing communities, providing economic stimulus, and supporting local jobs. This has helped revive communities by providing economic stimulus and supporting local jobs. This year, Castle Clinton and 131 Duane Street are two of a dozen New York City structures honored with the Lucy G. Moses Award.