ANNUAL REPORT 2008 - The New York Landmarks Conservancy

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Contents From the President 2 Speaking Out for Preservation 3 Providing Technical Expertise 7 Preserving Sacred Sites 10 Funding Historic Properties 15 Assisting Nonprofits 18 Honoring Excellence 21 Celebrating Living Landmarks 24 Special Events 27 Our Supporters 28 Financial Statements 33 Board of Directors and Staff 34 Photo Credits page 3 page 4, bottom page 5, left page 5, right page 6, top page 6, bottom page 7 page 21 page 22, top page 22, middle page 22, bottom page 23, top page 23, middle page 23, bottom courtesy of Governors Island Alliance/ Joseph R. Melanson — www.skypic.com courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission courtesy of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission photo by Aalto Archives, Helsinki photo by Stephen Aviano, courtesy of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine courtesy of Wank Adams Slavin Associates LLP courtesy of Wank Adams Slavin Associates LLP courtesy of the Lawrence Group courtesy of Kostow Greenwood Architects LLP courtesy of Platt Byard Dovell White Architects LLP courtesy of Kaitsen Woo Architect, P.C. Additional photography by Conservancy staff. Printing by Lexicon Communications.
From the President Even as the Conservancy experienced the economic shocks faced by so many this year, we continued to fulfill our singular mission: to assist homeowners and stewards of historic buildings that hold our common architectural heritage. Helping people maintain their homes, nonprofits, and religious institutions is central to New York’s economy and quality of life. Maintaining the fabric of our City is especially urgent now. It is sometimes hard to convey how much we do in a year. We are at the forefront of major issues like Moynihan Station and Governors Island. But much of our work involves important though little-known buildings far from the center of Manhattan. A lot of it isn’t glamorous — just essential. Fixing leaky roofs, re-facing crumbling brownstone, helping a community development group create affordable housing in a lovely old building, or assisting a small congregation with making their church or synagogue more energy efficient. We are the only ones doing this work. Five of our low-interest loans this year helped owners in Brooklyn clean and restore brownstone façades, stoops, and ironwork. Our grants to nonprofit community developers helped with plans to upgrade a former Brooklyn firehouse that now houses low-income apartments and helped turn a former meeting hall in the Bronx into apartments and retail space. Our Sacred Sites Program awarded more than a half-million dollars to 51 landmark religious institutions throughout the state. We helped Maspeth, Queens residents pull off an eleventh-hour rescue of a rare Richard Upjohn-designed church. We usually fight to keep buildings up. But when this rare survivor couldn’t be moved intact from a development site, we helped find funding and expertise to disassemble and store it. We will continue to work with the community to rebuild the former church nearby and put it into community use. We also helped the oldest synagogue in Queens with funding and attaining landmark status. We are making unprecedented efforts to expand our assistance. We have created new National Register Historic Districts by researching, surveying, and analyzing areas in Harlem, the Bronx and Brooklyn. The State approved our work and officially created these new districts. These listings make the hundreds of buildings in these areas eligible for our loans and grants. We continued our multi-year survey of religious institutions to identify Catholic churches and synagogues in need of our technical and financial help. We shared the results of our Brooklyn Roman Catholic church survey with the Brooklyn-Queens Diocese. We will also prepare nominations to the National Register for 10 Brooklyn and Queens synagogues we have identified. We intend to survey churches from other denominations in the future. After years of Conservancy pressure, the Gothic revival Renwick Ruin on Roosevelt Island is being stabilized. The ruin has tantalized East Side residents and drivers on the FDR for years. It may now serve as the centerpiece of a new park to be built adjacent to the landmark. And after years of our working with a broad alliance dedicated to saving St. Brigid’s, an anonymous donor has pledged enough money to restore the oldest surviving Irish immigrant-built church in the City. Thank you for recognizing how vital our programs are to New York’s current — and long-term — viability, and thank you for making our work possible. Peg Breen, President 2
Page 1: ANNUAL REPORT 2008
Page 5 and 6: The New York Landmarks Conservancy
Page 7 and 8: Speaking Out on Issues The Conserva
Page 9 and 10: Government agencies, nonprofits, an
Page 11 and 12: Preserving Sacred Sites Ocean Parkw
Page 13 and 14: A Tale of Two Catholic Churches St.
Page 15 and 16: Sacred Sites and Consulting Grants
Page 17 and 18: The New York City Historic Properti
Page 19 and 20: Assisting Nonprofits Van Cortlandt
Page 21 and 22: Emergency Preservation Grant Progra
Page 23 and 24: The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awar
Page 25 and 26: Celebrating Living Landmarks Living
Page 27 and 28: top Richard and Gloria Moylan Laure
Page 29 and 30: Our Supporters The New York Landmar
Page 31 and 32: Erik R. Oken Mary Ellen & Richard O
Page 33 and 34: The Kibel Companies, LLC Mitchell K
Page 35 and 36: Board of Directors Frank J. Sciame,

ANNUAL REPORT 2008 - The New York Landmarks Conservancy

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