Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

     The Bowery is Eligible for National Register Historic District Designation

The Two Bridges Neighborhood Council (TBNC) in partnership with Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN) are co-sponsoring the nomination of the Bowery to the National Register of Historic Places. Kathleen A. Howe, Historic Preservation Program Analyst at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, has issued a formal Determination of Eligibility for the Bowery, enabling the Bowery nomination to proceed.  [LINK TO LETTER HERE]

The Bowery, running from Chatham Square on the south to Cooper Square on the north, is an iconic Manhattan street. From its earliest history as a Native American trail, to its function as a colonial-period drover’s road and Post Road to Boston, to its role in fostering American entertainment and artistic genres as diverse as minstrelsy, vaudeville, and punk, the Bowery has played a central role in the physical and cultural development of Manhattan.

 

The architectural legacy of the street includes some of Manhattan’s earliest surviving townhouses. Among the most architecturally and historically diverse streets in the city, buildings along the Bowery date from nearly every decade between ca. 1790 and the present, both residential and commercial: warehouse by flophouse, bank by union hall, theater by tenement and townhouse, whorehouse and saloon. Perhaps most significantly, the Bowery is an indispensible resource of two centuries of American social, economic, political, immigrant, labor, underground, criminal, deviant, marginal, counter-culture, literary, musical, dramatic and artistic history.

 

The anticipated period of significance for the district is defined loosely as ca. 1790, the approximate date of some of the earliest buildings in the neighborhood, to ca. 1979, the close of the punk era. 

 

The Project Team

TBNC and BAN have engaged architectural historian Kerri E. Culhane, to research and develop the nomination. Since 2003, TBNC has worked with Ms. Culhane to successfully complete three National Register Historic District nominations: Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District (2009); Two Bridges Historic District (2004); and the Lower East Side Historic District Boundary Increase (2003). In recognition of their ongoing efforts to engage community stakeholders and spotlight the rich cultural heritage of the Lower East, the Historic Districts Council of New York City awarded TBNC its Grassroots Preservation Award in 2010. 

 

In keeping with TBNC's mission of building bridges within the community it serves, this project will enable the Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side, and now, the Bowery communities to develop a comprehensive approach to community planning, centered around history, culture, and economic development. The National Register nomination, as an educational and cultural enterprise, will enhance efforts to bring city, state and national attention to the importance of these communities in American history.

 

For more information about Two Bridges Neighborhood Council and its activities, please visit the website: www.TBNC.org

 

BAN, a grassroots volunteer community advocacy group, believes that a National Register designation of the Bowery as an historic district will give additional weight to its three-year effort to preserve and protect the Bowery. Currently, the east side of the Bowery has no height restrictions, but until recently buildings typically ranged from two to eight stories. Much of the west side of the street is part of the Little Italy Special District, which restricts building heights to eight stories. As a convergence point for multiple historic neighborhoods (Chinatown, Little Italy, NoHo,

East

 

Village

,

Lower East Side

), preserving the Bowery’s low-rise character is critical to preserving the overall flow and sense of place of all these historic areas. In addition to impacting the Bowery’s historic character, recent out-of-scale developments have been causing the displacement of  long-term residents, small businesses, and the very cultural diversity that has made the street so exciting and so significant. 

 

About the National Register of Historic Places

Administered by the National Park Service, the National Register of Historic Places is “the official list of the Nation's historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.” (http://www.nps.gov/nr/about.htm)

 

National Register status is an honorific designation. Unlike New York City Landmarks designation, which is not being sought as a part of this effort, there are no restrictions placed on private owners of registered properties in a National Register Historic District. Private property owners may sell, alter or dispose of their property as they wish, although an owner who demolishes a certified registered property may not deduct the costs of demolition from his/her federal income tax.

 

The benefits of National Register designation include:

 

·         Eligibility of property owners (and in certain cases lessees) for federal tax credits on qualifying rehabilitation of historic buildings within the historic district. Owners of depreciable, certified historic properties may take a 20 percent federal income tax credit for the costs of substantial rehabilitation as provided for under the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Any contributing, income-producing building would be eligible for the federal investment tax credit.

 

·         Owners of contributing buildings within distressed census tracts are eligible for additional New York State tax credits. Distressed census tracts are those identified as being at or below 100% of the state median family income ($51,691) in the most recent census. On the Bowery, this includes properties on the east side of the street south of East 3^rd Street and on the west side south of East Houston Street. To see what areas qualify as distressed census tracts, consult the NYC Department of Planning website at http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/pa/address.jsp.

 

·         Private property owners of contributing buildings are eligible for grants and loans administered by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and other sources

 

·         Municipal and not-for-profit owners of listed historic properties may apply for matching state historic preservation grants

 

·         Registered properties and properties determined eligible for the Register receive a measure of protection from the effects of federal and/or state agency sponsored, licensed or assisted projects through a notice, review, and consultation process.

 

The most up-to-date information on the benefits of listing, including tax credit programs, can be found on the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation website and at the National Park Service website: 

 

http://www.nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/tax-credit-programs/

 

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/tax/index.htm