Living in the Northeast we have access to a lot of our county’s history. Afterall, this is kind of where everything started. While the United States is still young compared much of the world we have many buildings and landmarks that mean a lot to us. It appears many historic buildings around New York State are in danger of being torn down in favor of new developing properties.
We’ve seen this sort of thing happen right here in Albany. With the cost to maintain a historic property being rather high some of these corporations see opportunity. Allow this piece of history to fall into ruin and then replace it with new construction. Usually it becomes retail/office space or apartments. I personally feel that these buildings should be on a do not touch list, but cities and towns need to make money and that’s how they end up in the hands of developers.
Down in New York City there is an ongoing war over the West Park Presbyterian Church on the Upper West Side.
This particular church has been a part of Manhattan since 1890 when the construction on it was completed. Unfortunately the regular congregation at the church has fallen off and the building is requiring some costly repairs. Now the church wants to sell it to a developer who would turn it into yet another luxury skyrise apartment building, something that many supporters of the historic preservation of the church are against…