The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced the most recent recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 20 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include John Steinbeck’s writing cottage in Sag Harbor; Cluett, Peabody buildings in Troy; Lake George’s Mohican Point; a small surviving commercial historic district on Seneca Street in Buffalo; the architecturally significant post Vatican II St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan; the home of prominent Black community leaders George and Theodora Bragg in Elmira; as well as additional documentation of LGBT history for the Louis N. Jaffe Art Theater Building in New York City.
State and National Register listing can assist owners in revitalizing properties, making them eligible for various public preservation programs and services, such as matching state grants and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits.
According to State Parks, New York leads the nation in the use of historic tax credits, with $7.17 billion in total rehabilitation costs from 2018-2024. Since 2009, the historic tax credit program has stimulated over $16.4 billion in project expenditures in New York State, creating significant investment and new jobs.
Between 2019-2023, the credits in New York State generated 91,386 jobs and over $1.79 billion in local, state and federal taxes according to a report.
The State and National Registers are the official lists of buildings, structures, districts, landscapes, objects and sites significant in the history, architecture, archaeology and culture of New York State and the nation.
There are more than 128,000 historic properties throughout the state listed in the National Register of Historic Places, either individually or as components of historic districts. Property owners, municipalities and organizations from communities throughout the state sponsored the nominations.
Once recommendations are approved by the Commissioner, who serves as the State Historic Preservation Officer, the properties are listed in the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed by the National Park Service and, once approved, entered in the National Register.
You can find the complete list, including photos and nomination documents, online here.
Capital Region
Ballston Spa National Bank, Saratoga County – The Ballston Spa National Bank in Ballston Spa is Saratoga County’s oldest operating independent financial institution. Chartered in 1838 following the passage of free banking laws, the Ballston Spa National Bank continued to thrive even during the Great Depression and embraced new technology and customer expectations in the modern era.
The building at 87 Front Street, was initially built as a residence in 1824 and retains many of its Late Federal style architectural features. As the bank prospered, it expanded the building several times, most notably the extensive renovation and addition by renowned bank “design-build” firm Hoggson Brothers of New York City in 1952. The Ballston Spa National Bank building is an excellent example of how the banking industry adapted to business and technology changes over more than 180 years of operation.
Cluett, Peabody & Company Factory and Power-Boiler House Complex, Rensselaer County – The Cluett, Peabody & Company Factory and Power-Boiler House Complex are the last remaining components of this notable American company’s once expansive River Street manufacturing facility in the City of Troy.
Erected in 1916-17, the building was designed by the engineering firm of Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Company as a reinforced-concrete daylight factory and was among the very first examples of this factory type in New York’s Capital District.
The factory, along with its attached power-boiler house complex and a 1965-67 addition, illustrate the company’s technical achievements and chronicle the company’s presence in Troy and the important role that Cluett, Peabody & Company played in the development of the city’s textile industry and business interests.
Bixby Estate/Mohican Point, Warren County – Mohican Point, also known as the Bixby Estate, is a seasonal family retreat on the western shore of Lake George near Bolton Landing. The estate centers around a large Neoclassical residence designed by notable Philadelphia architect Wilson Eyre Jr. in 1901-1902.
Mohican Point was commissioned by wealthy St. Louis businessman William K. Bixby, who originally purchased the land and the Mohican House Hotel that had sat on the site since the early 1800s. Bixby demolished the hotel and built the palatial home in its place, but he salvaged two cottages and moved them to the northern part of the parcel.
The cottages, main house, and a number of full-service outbuildings such as a boat house, bath house, garage, and maintenance building remain in use by Bixby family descendants.
The complex is one of the only examples of Eyre’s work in the Neoclassical style, as he was known as a highly skilled designer of “English” country homes and Shingle Style residences. The estate stands out as a highly planned, classically inspired design among the many Tudor Revival and rustic Adirondack style buildings built along Lake George.
Red Rock Monument, Columbia County – The Red Rock Monument in the hamlet of Red Rock (Town of Canaan) was erected in 1860 to commemorate the hamlet’s founding in 1790. The monument consists of a 12-foot obelisk that is perfectly fixed atop a 250-ton red rock boulder along County Route 24.
The obelisk is made from Stockbridge marble and contains an inscription that reads: “Red Rock, Settled, 1790” and “Erected 1860.” There was a large celebration at the monument’s dedication ceremony and the monument served as a commemorative site for later large gatherings honoring the hamlet’s founding, such as the 200th anniversary in 1950 and the 250th anniversary in 2000.
In 1992, the obelisk was vandalized and a failed restoration attempt led to its deterioration. In 2021, the monument was fully restored and remains a visual symbol and source of community pride.
Central New York
Peleg White House, Cayuga County – The Peleg White House in the Town of Ledyard is a highly intact example of a distinctive 1830s local adaptation of the traditional New England “hall and parlor” plan house in which, due to the arrival of stove heating, a central stair was substituted for the central chimney.
The stylistic features of the houses’ ornamental joinery are transitional Federal and Greek Revival. Original doors, built-in shelves, original chair rails, baseboards, door and window moldings, and unusual stairs with their intact rails and balusters all contribute to the building’s high level of integrity of workmanship, design, and materials.
Finger Lakes
Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church Complex, Ontario County – St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church and its associated buildings represent fine examples of an assortment of early and mid-twentieth century architectural styles.
As Geneva’s second Catholic parish, St. Stephen’s added buildings to its complex gradually as the needs and priorities of the local religious community demanded, resulting in a diversity in design that spans more than fifty years of parish growth and architectural change: the finely detailed Late Gothic Revival church (1910-1912); the Tudor Revival elementary school building (which later acquired a Modern rear addition); a rambling Tudor Revival parsonage (1924); and the stripped-down Modern appearance of DeSales High School (begun in 1929, finished 1962).
Wilkinson-Lent House, Monroe County – The Wilkinson-Lent House in the Town of Perinton is one of the oldest frame buildings in the community and helps to preserve the agricultural heritage of the region. While the oldest portions of the house may date to as early as the 1840s, it was substantially remodeled in 1917 to the Colonial Revival residence visible today.
The Wilkinson family’s renovation, which coincided with a family marriage and large inheritance, almost completely altered the exterior presentation of the home. These alterations and modernizations included the construction of prominent front and side porches, the addition of a façade dormer, replacement of windows, and the installation of electricity.
These changes transformed the residence into a modern, comfortable home that communicated the family’s tastes and status within the community. Despite losing most of the agricultural buildings once used to support the farm, acres of original farmland continue to be preserved and used.
Long Island
John Steinbeck Cottage, Suffolk County – The John Steinbeck Cottage in the Village of Sag Harbor is locally and nationally significant for its association with the last period of American writer John Steinbeck’s (1902-1968) life and literary career. Steinbeck and his wife, Elaine, owned and occupied the house and property from 1955 until his death on December 10, 1968.
It was during these later years in his writing career (1955-1968) that Steinbeck wrote his last three critically acclaimed books – The Winter of Our Discontent (1961), Travels with Charley in Search of America (1962), and America and Americans (1966) – the first earning him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.
The Winter of Our Discontent reaffirmed Steinbeck’s reputation as a writer of international renown and significance. His writing studio, where he worked on all three of the Sag Harbor “trilogy,” is a hexagonal structure of his own design nicknamed “Joyous Garde,” which remains standing among five other buildings and structures on the property.
High House & Studio, Suffolk County – High House & Studio in Southold holds significance for its association with artist couple Edith Mitchill Prellwitz (1864-1944) and Henry Prellwitz (1865-1940). The Prellwitzes were leading figures in the Peconic Art Colony and were known for their Impressionist, figurative, and landscape paintings. Edith Prellwitz is also noteworthy for her work to advance women’s involvement and opportunities in the art world.
In 1911, the couple purchased a Dutch Colonial residence, known as “High House,” in the town of Aqueboque and had it deconstructed and shipped twenty miles by barge to the hamlet of Peconic where it was reconstructed on a vacant lot. At this time, the Prellwitzes also commissioned a building to house their respective studios.
Peconic’s early twentieth century community was a haven for artistic professionals, and the Prellwitzes were key figures in the Peconic Art Colony, a professional and social group of local artists. They had distinct but complementary styles, though they worked independently for most of their careers.
After Henry died in 1940, Edith continued to live and work at the property until her death in 1944. Their paintings, nearly all of which remained intact in their studios after their deaths, have been the subject of several exhibitions, and Edith’s painting “The Elevated,” was included in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2023 exhibit, New York Art Worlds, 1870-1890.
Mohawk Valley
Bleecker District No. 3 School, Fulton County – The Bleecker District No. 3 School was built in 1873 as one of six common school districts in the Town of Bleecker and was the last one to close in 1956. The one room schoolhouse was built in the small settlement of Bleecker Village which developed around the Bleecker Tannery.
The closure of the school in 1956 was, in large part, a result of New York State’s push for the consolidation of small rural districts to improve efficiency, facilities, and elevate educational standards. After the schoolhouse closed, children attended school in nearby Wheelerville.
In 1969, the two remaining Bleecker school districts were consolidated into the Enlarged Gloversville School District. The nomination was funded by Adirondack Architectural Heritage through an Adirondack Rural Revitalization Program (ARRP) grant, supported in part by a Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
New York City
Robert Moore Houses, New York County – The E. Robert Moore Houses is a public housing development located in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx, New York City. The pair of 20-story towers was designed by architects Edelbaum & Webster, while notable landscape architects Darling, Innocenti & Webel carefully designed the complex’s landscape to integrate with the adjacent St. Mary’s Park.
Plans for the complex began in 1959, and it opened on February 3, 1964, as New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) 118th housing development. The completed project included 463 apartments housing about 1,765 residents, including 26 apartments for seniors. The Moore Houses are an example of NYCHA’s early vest-pocket program, initiated under Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. as a direct response to the Federal Housing Act of 1954.
This important housing law shifted focus from “slum clearance” to “urban renewal,” emphasized conservation and rehabilitation of existing building stock, and promoted targeted demolition and new construction on smaller sites scattered throughout a neighborhood. Vest pocket housing is characterized smaller sites—a city block or less—occupied by only one to four buildings.
Louis N. Jaffee Art Theater Building (Yiddish Art Theatre Additional Documentation and Name Change), New York County – The Yiddish Art Theatre was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 for its association with the history of Yiddish theater in New York City and for its intact Moorish-inspired exterior and interior decoration.
Now, additional documentation recognizes the theater’s LGBT associations during its use as the Club 181 (1946-1953), one of the most famous village gay cabarets, and later as the Phoenix Theater (1953 to 1961), a pioneering Off-Broadway theater. Club 181 and the Phoenix Theater provide valuable insights into the LGBT experience in nightlife and theater, cornerstones of LGBT life in New York City during one of the most homophobic periods of American history.
The building is also significant in the area of Social History/LGBT and Art as the residence and workspace of three significant LGBT artists between 1968 and 1992: playwright, director, performer, and poet Jackie Curtis; photographer Peter Hujar; and artist David Wojnarowicz.
Their contributions to the arts scene in the East Village from the 1960s to the 1990s embodied the major cultural trends of the LGBT experience in this era, which included new ideas about gender identity and expression, the creation of new forms of art, and the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic. Each of the artists lived here sequentially, in the same loft apartment, in three separate periods between 1968 and 1992.
This nomination was funded through support from an Underrepresented Communities Grant from the Historic Preservation Fund of the National Park Service, Department of Interior.
St. Peter’s Church, New York County – St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan is one of the most distinctive intact examples in the United States of a church designed in the International Style during the period following Vatican II (built 1975). St. Peter’s is a masterwork of architecture, interior design, and art.
Its architect Hugh Stubbins played a central role in the proliferation of the International Style in the United States both through his nationally recognized architectural practice and in his role as chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University. St. Peter’s stands out in Hugh Stubbins Associates’ portfolio as the only worship facility designed by the office. It is also an integral part of the Citicorp Center complex, which remains one of HSA’s most significant architectural contributions.
The church’s interior is one of only two intact total environments in the United States by the world-renowned designers Massimo and Lella Vignelli, and it is a particularly excellent example of the Vignelli Canon of design. The church’s Nevelson Chapel is an iconic example of acclaimed sculptor Louise Nevelson’s white work and her only extant total environment.
North Country
The Moorings, Franklin County – Known as Wintergreen, the Moorings is a year-round residential retreat located on approximately ten acres of land on the eastern shore of Big Wolf Lake in the Village of Tupper Lake. The Moorings is one of five residential Adirondack camps designed by notable Adirondack architect William G. Distin on Big Wolf Lake in the twilight of his career.
The property includes four notable buildings: a lake house, beach house, and carriage house (all constructed in 1918 by architect Frederick P. Kelley); and Distin’s 1965 residential house, called Wintergreen. The site serves as a rare example of how rustic Adirondack architecture shifted in the twentieth century to reflect more mainstream post-war forms seen outside of the region.
Distin’s 1965 design – with its polished cedar interior and restrained centralized functions – is a departure from the 1918 house that displays untreated wood and a sprawling complex of buildings. The property clearly illustrates how rustic romantic ideals of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Adirondack camps eventually gave way to more sophisticated and polished notions of the aesthetic.
Snell-Gillett House, Jefferson County – The Snell-Gillett House in the Village of Theresa is a distinctive example of the Queen Anne style during a time of rapid industrialization in the North Country in the late 1800s. During the mid-to-late 1800s, Theresa and its surrounding region experienced rapid growth in both population and water-powered industries. It is in the context of this expansion that the Snell-Gillett House was constructed ca. 1880 and expanded with an elaborate addition ca. 1893.
The home carries over Queen Anne details such as prominent and highly decorative wall dormers, spindle work throughout, wood paneling and doors, and colorful stained-glass windows and doors. The property enjoyed a long association with two families noted for their contributions to the local economy and the house remains one of Theresa’s most intact and expressive examples of Queen Anne style.
Southern Tier
The George and Theodora Bragg House, Chemung County – The Bragg House in the eastside neighborhood of Elmira was the home of George and Theodora Bragg, an African American couple whose life of service, public engagement, and dedication to the Black community left a lasting impact on the city of Elmira. The modest 1890s Queen Anne style house was purchased by the Braggs in the mid-1950s.
George and Theodora were active in civic and religious groups throughout their lives, including the Elmira NAACP (of which George was president) and the Nannie Burroughs Club (of which Theodora was a founding member). George served for many years on the board of the Elmira Housing Authority where he worked tirelessly to address the housing deficiencies and overcrowding faced by Black and elderly residents of the city.
In 1973, George became the first – and to date only – African American to run for mayor of Elmira on the Democratic ticket. This nomination recognizes George and Theodora Bragg’s legacy of commitment to civic engagement, affordable housing, equality, and social justice for the residents of Elmira.
Western New York
Commercial Buildings at 136-142 Seneca Street, Erie County – The Commercial Buildings at 136-142 Seneca Street Historic District in Buffalo is a significant small streetscape that preserves the character and historical associations of the once densely packed mercantile neighborhood that grew up immediately south of downtown Buffalo in the late 1800s.
The two smaller contributing buildings at 136 and 138 were built speculatively to earn rental income, and initially housed clothing-related businesses; 140-142 Seneca served as a fine bakery and confectionary. The three buildings were notable survivors of the Great Fire of 1889, Buffalo’s most significant fire to that date.
The commercial uses of the buildings chart the fortunes of the neighborhood over time, and included a pawn shop, retail space, a hotel, and various restaurants and bars. Aside from this little group of buildings, most of the historic fabric of the neighborhood was destroyed in the late 1950s to make way for the Niagara Branch of the New York State Thruway (I-190) and other Urban Renewal-era projects.
Manze Block, Erie County – The Manze Block at 461-471 Niagara Street in the City of Buffalo is a notably intact example of a 1920s tapestry-brick clad two-story two-part commercial block. The building was constructed in 1923 following designs by Charles Forrest.
The Manze Block’s good integrity, exceptional size (it is six storefronts wide), and polychrome patterning lends it status as an exemplar among comparable buildings in Buffalo. Like most buildings of its type in the city, it was designed for shops on the ground floor with apartments above. The shop spaces are still largely legible in their open volumes and some feature original pressed-tin ceilings, while the apartments remain remarkably intact in both trim and plan.
Niagara Hall, Erie County – Historically known as Niagara Hall, the building at 831-833 Niagara Street in the City of Buffalo represents significant social and commercial history as a mixed-use building with an intact former social hall on the third floor, revenue-generating apartments on the second floor, and several largely intact commercial spaces on the ground floor.
From the 1890s through the 1960s, the third-floor social hall hosted a wide variety of community functions, ranging from lively public dances to political events, club meetings, and weddings.
With its intact volume, plan, and interior ornament, the third-floor social hall is a rare surviving example of a once-common recreational building type in Buffalo. The ground-floor storefronts retain enough architectural integrity to convey their historic function as flexible commercial spaces.
The storefronts facing the primary artery housed higher volume businesses, such as saloons and groceries, while the side storefronts contained barbershops, a Chinese laundry, confectioneries, and other small-scale businesses.
Playter-King-Felthousen House, Erie County – The Playter-King-Felthousen House at 617 Niagara Street in Buffalo is a single-family residence built and modified by three different owners in the second half of the 1800s to conform to successive waves of architectural taste.
Originally constructed as a two-story Italianate-style single-family residence for the Charles G. Playter family, the house was transformed into a three-story Second Empire residence when a resident added a mansard roof sometime between 1870 and 1885.
Its finely fashioned interior and exterior features exhibit elements of Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Aesthetic Movement, and Queen Anne stylistic influence. The historic carriage house at the rear of the property was built ca. 1889.
Read more about historic preservation in New York State.
Illustration: The Cluett Peabody Company factory in Troy, NY.
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