Preservation of the Farley Post Office - Columbia University ...

Preface
Image taken from early
twentieth-century post card
of the Farley Post Office.
Image: New York Historical
Society, McKim, Mead, &
White Archive
After an extensive lineup of meetings with public officials, developers,
preservationists, and community members, this group truly understood the
profound complexity of our studio problem. We undertook an intensive
studio charrette to better develop an independent preservation perspective,
which culminated in a design guidelines booklet. This document is a
revision and expansion of this original charrette product and is our final
recommendation for the studio problem: Amidst a number of different urban
pressures, what does one do with the near-empty Farley Post Office, a
New York City Historic Landmark designed by McKim, Mead, & White.
We have identified distinct issues that arise from this problem and then out
of those issues, we derive an analysis meant to express a preservation
stance, as opposed to a developer’s or planner’s. The indispensable
emphasis on preservation is diluted unless it is called out and distinguished,
although we do acknowledge the overlap between these different positions.
We begin with the history of the building and its significance, which includes
its own architectural importance, a historical connection to the demolished
Pennsylvania Station, and a larger connection to what we call “The Beaux Arts
City” that emerged around Penn Station. We also address the role that the ghost
of McKim, Mead, & White’s Pennsylvania Station plays in proposals for the future
of the Farley Post Office. We follow with an explanation of the raison d’être
for the current interest in the Farley, which includes zoning changes, facilities
shifts by the U.S. Postal Service, and a strained public transportation system.
Once this important history is illuminated, a detailed analysis of the formal
composition of Farley and an assessment of historic fabric is included.
The next section is on the relationship between public and private interest,
something that we call out as being a particularly important issue to explore
in light of the proposed mixed uses of the complex. Here we explore
use transitions and tenant signage, including appropriate designs. The
next section tackles the issue of Madison Square Garden (MSG), both
its important cultural and architectural history and the institution’s current
interest in occupying the Farley Annex. Following the history we offer design
schemes for the insertion of Madison Square Garden into Farley and uses
for the existing MSG building. Beyond MSG, we offer another possibility
for the Farley complex yet to be considered publicly: a Manhattan location
for the Dia Art Foundation. For all of our design schemes, instead of a final
design, we suggest design possibilities and alternatives that address the
problem through a preservation lens. Our interest is not only in safeguarding
the historic Farley Post Office, but also to provide New York City with an
outstanding work of public architecture, and we hope our renderings reflect this.
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