This semester, the Pratt Historic Preservation Organization started a new venture opening up the doors to some of New York’s most interesting heritage resources for our students. The 5-part series introduced Pratt students to our Manhattan neighbors at the Eldridge Street Synagogue and the Merchant’s House Museum, as well as sites “overseas” in Queens, Jersey City, and Staten Island.

Our first tour, led by student Chelsea Dowell, was a behind the scenes look at the Eldridge Street Synagogue. A complex story of immigration in an ever-changing neighborhood, the synagogue recently reopened as a result of a decades long renovation project, including a new rose window, designed by artist Kiki Smith. Chelsea is one of several Pratt students volunteering at the Museum at Eldridge Street.

Second year student Lindsay Woodward, a volunteer at the Merchant’s House Museum, introduced students to the family home of the Tredwells, prosperous New York City merchants, who relocated their family to East 4th Street in 1835. Descendents remained for nearly 100 years, opening as a museum to the public in 1936. In addition to seeing the restored public rooms of the house, our tour also included the museum’s cellar and foundation, back gardens, and collection storage in the attic (as well as quite a number of coffins). After climbing all those flights of stairs, we were pleased to couple the trip with a bit of the new East Village.

Fellow Merchant’s House volunteer Melissa Skolnick coordinated our third stop at the historic Jersey City Loews Theater, an icon of the golden age in Journal Square. At its opening in 1929, the Loews was called the “most lavish temple of entertainment in New Jersey,” though it was threatened with demolition in 1987. After an intrepid band of local preservationists took up a crusade to save the building, it was reopened as a non-profit, and has been slowly restored ever since. Currently, the theater hosts a full roster of films year round, as well as concerts on its world famous Wonder Morton Organ.

Wishing to see the work of the artisans and craftspeople who are the foundation of the preservation field, our group traveled to Long Island City, Queens to the studio of Michael Davis Stained Glass, stained glass restorers and artists. Michael has worked on incredible restorative projects for the Cloisters Museum, as well as original works for some of New York’s favorite restaurants and stores. There’s no greater way to welcome spring quite like standing in front of a 1,800 degree furnace, but Pratt has never met an adventure it wouldn’t take head on. On the way back to campus, we also had a charming trip on the newly re-opened Roosevelt Island tram, a critical stop on every New Yorker’s bucket list. A special thanks to first year student Elin Juselius for coordinating this great trip.

Like most New Yorkers, we made it out to New Jersey before we stepped foot on Staten Island, but we sure are glad we finally made the boat. David Goldfarb of the St. George Civic Society took us on a lovely walking tour of the St. George/New Brighton Historic District, comprised of the residential area around the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. An eclectic mix of freestanding, single family homes terraced on a cliff overlooking the harbor, as well as schools, churches, a small municipal center, St. George is like a walk through a quaint Long Island town. After seeing such successful preservation efforts on the homeowner site, we were surprised — but also challenged — by the former coast guard landing station, due north of the terminal, currently awaiting some creative minds with a rehabilitation plan. The EDC-controlled site offers unparalleled shoreline serenity nonexistent in Manhattan, with a large public plaza anxiously awaiting some summer time revelers.

—Sean Conway

Are you interested in getting an internship? Want to know what your classmates have been up to in their internships? Internship Presentations begin this Thursday March 31st!  Current Students can join us for the next four Thursdays at 3pm in room 406 for pizza and presentations by students taking Internships for credit. Here’s the schedule!

_{(PHPO representatives in Bold )}

March 31: Government & For-Profit

Danielle Worthing - Jan Hird Pokorny Associates

Q Amiri - NYSERDA

Erik Lundberg - Meshberg Group

Renee Crowley – NYC DOT

Alyssa Nordhauser – The Architect’s Newspaper

April 7: Preservation

Melissa Skolnick - Merchants House Museum

Brian Blazak – Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Ilana Kohn - Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Nikki Westfall – The Museum at Eldridge Street

Chelsea Dowell – The Museum at Eldridge Street

 

April 14: Community Planning

Stevie Feig – Manhattan Community Board 6

Tokunbo Anafalaje – Brooklyn Community Board 3

Sabrina Terry – Brooklyn Community Board 6

Chad Purkey – Church Avenue BID

 

April 21: Community Planning

Vonetta Storbakken – Pratt Center for Community Development

Mandu Sen - Pratt Center for Community Development

Lauren Gellatly - Pratt Center for Community Development

Marc Shavitz - People’s Production House

Dust off your wingtip shoes, slip on a flapper dress, or don a fedora for a 1920s Synagogue Soiree at the Museum at Eldridge Street. This Wednesday, February 23 join Pratt Historic Preservation students Nikki Westfall and Chelsea Dowell (organizers of the event) and travel back in time.

Channel the Roaring Twenties, when the Eldridge Street Synagogue was home to a new generation of renowned rabbis, businessmen, and the occasional artist and actor. (Edward G. Robinson, Paul Muni and Ben Shahn were all rumored to have worshipped here.) Enjoy period food (think pickles, olives, tea sanwiches), a beer tasting, live music, and soak in the atmosphere of our magnificent landmark space.

For more information visit:  www.eldridgestreet.org/index.php/february

Pratt Institute’s Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development will begin an exciting Spring Lecture Series on Friday, February 4, 2011. This dynamic series will feature local leaders and internationally renowned practitioners discussing and debating current planning, preservation and environmental topics. Lectures are free and open to the public. Please see the attached document for more information: PSPD 2011 Lecture Series

Francis Morrone presents “The Fort Greene and Clinton Hill Neighborhood and Architectural History Guide” at Greenlight Bookstore [686 Fulton St. at S. Portland Avenue in Fort Greene, (718) 246-0200], Jan. 12 at 7:30 pm. FREE. For information, visit www.brooklynhistory.org.

The historian has two neighborhood guides under his belt—for Park Slope and Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, both published through the Brooklyn Historical Society—and he is currently at work on guides for Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights at the behest of the respective neighborhood civic associations.

“Brooklyn has become over the years a specialty of mine,” said Morrone, a Chicago native who has lived in Park Slope for 30 years. “It’s inexhaustible.”

When he talks at Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene on Jan. 12, though, the focus will be on that corner of this amazing borough, home to Fort Greene Park, Pratt Institute, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and once home to Walt Whitman to Spike Lee.

The main focus of the book is the neighborhood’s social history. And here’s a little gem: Poet Marianne Moore famously left the neighborhood after 36 years in 1966 due to rising crime, leading the New York Times to announce the “twilight” of the neighborhood. At the same time, jazz musicians were moving in, and in one building — 245 Carlton Ave. — housed Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard and Eric Dolphy (who even has a song called “245″).

“That’s like Beethoven, Mozart and Bach all sharing a house,” said Morrone. Some “twilight”!

via YourNabe.com

The 2010 National Preservation Conference (Oct. 27-30) brought twelve students from Pratt to the great state capital of Austin, Texas. Pratt Historic Preservation Organization (PHPO) secured funding from both Pratt SGA and the Historic Preservation Department to subsidize ten students’ travel, registration, and educational sessions at the conference.  PHPO is a strong proponent of attending this conference.  We believe it gives our students an opportunity to increase their historic preservation knowledge, and learn from—and connect with—a network of experts and community leaders from across the nation.

The opening ceremonies began with a speech by National Trust President Stephanie Meeks, followed by former First Lady Laura Bush, and a keynote speech by New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger. Their complete remarks are available here.

The theme of the conference was “Next American City/Next American Landscape,” which is especially fitting in Austin, where, as in other fast growing cities, sprawling growth and out-of-scale development affect sustainability, and quality of life. Preservation is strong here, but the city still has development issues to address. Austin has saved many important structures, but parking lot canyons still dominate in some areas of downtown.

As an organization, Pratt Historic Preservation Organization (PHPO) strives to provide its students with as many opportunities as possible, so that our alumni enter the professional world of preservation with strong skills.  The Historic Preservation program at Pratt, resides within the Department of Programs for Sustainable Planning and Development in the School of Architecture.

Pratt Historic Preservation Organization & Cape Cod Modern House Trust

Present a conversation:
Peter McMahon, CCMHT Executive Director & Malachi Connolly, Architect, Filmmaker

Tuesday, October 19th at 8PM
Pratt Manhattan, Room 213
114 West 14th Street 

Peter McMahon, the founder of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust will give a talk about the trust’s mission to document, protect and renovate the Mid-Century case study houses of the Outer Cape. Since becoming the property of the National Park Service, as part of the National Seashore, in 1961, these properties have slowly switched hands from their original owners/builders to the federal government, resulting first in serious neglect, and now in slow rebirth.

We will also screen an abridged cut of the documentary “Spectral Houses” by local filmmaker, architect, and Pratt Alum Malachi Connolly.

All are invited to attend. Non-Pratt Attendees (or anyone without a current Pratt ID) must RSVP to sconway@pratt.edu for the security desk.

I spent the summer as a conservation technician for the Central Park Conservancy, overseeing the treatment and conservation of the 60+ monuments and sculptures that dot this nation’s foremost public space. I worked with materials and conservation techniques on a level that very few other internship programs in the city offer.

Working on the “Angel of the Waters” fountain, at Bethesda Terrace, was magnificent and surreal. The Incralac coating had deteriorated on the bronze sculptural and architectural elements. To ensure its protection, it was stripped of its compromised coating and underwent a coating of hot brown wax. The application of cold wax on top of the primary layer of hot wax brought out the best in the sculptural material up-close, and after a thorough buff, the piece looked beautiful from afar.

I want to thank the esteemed members of The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation for making this summer a reality for me.

Hoping to supplement my studies at Pratt with conservation practice, I searched for a summer position that resembled a traditional apprenticeship; one that would allow me to work closely with a professional so that the trade would be revealed through instruction and grasped through execution. It exceeded my expectations to work on a team of peers led by two conservators, Christine Djuric and John Saunders with New York City’s Arts and Antiquities Department in the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program.

It was illustrative to perform tasks that had been discussed in our courses such as mixing appropriate mortars, repointing, and treating efflorescence. The time spent with the Washington Square Arch was a particular highlight for me, having researched it for our Ancient New York assignment. Not only was the internship relevant to my degree in preservation, but it also offered a perspective that has profoundly deepened my fascination with art.

This summer, I was most impressed by a combination of several field trips, the intimate handling of sculpture, and an introduction to stone carving. After touring two local bronze foundries (Modern Art Foundry and Bedi Makky), I acquired a new understanding of the monuments we tended to, appreciating both the sculptor’s hand and the casting process. It was especially exciting to recognize foundry stamps in the field. While applying a hot wax finish to the Neptune Fountain in Snug Harbor, I noticed Modern Art Foundry’s stamp, and the ability to visualize the venue of creation immediately heightened my engagement with the piece. Similarly, our visit to Stony Creek Quarry in Connecticut brought new meaning to all of the stone in the monuments collection. The meticulous cuts down the tremendous granite walls were not unlike the patterns we had etched with a diamond blade when installing a bronze plaque commemorating Fort Tryon Park’s 75th anniversary. Having had the experience of cutting and chiseling stone helped me to understand the quarry and unveiled the process of making stone sculpture. During a tour of the New York Public Library’s restoration, we climbed the scaffolding and as we stood inches from the allegorical attic figures, I was astounded to imagine the transformation of freshly quarried Georgia marble into the graceful and detailed shapes before me.

I had a wonderful time this summer and am grateful to the Kress Foundation for supporting the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program.


I spent the first part of my summer in Istanbul where Pratt students from the Planning, Preservation, and EMS programs, as well as urban planning students from Istanbul Technical University, worked with a women’s collective on income generation and disaster planning. It was an amazing experience; it allowed me to observe preservation and neighborhood revitalization in another country.

This summer I interned at Silverman, a real estate development firm located
in Jersey City, New Jersey. Silverman is the foremost developer of mixed use neighborhood
buildings, historic landmarks, and creative retail destinations in the city. I worked
alongside Silverman owners, property managers, architects, and builders to ensure the
completion of various construction projects. I also met with prospective commercial
tenants, helped create lease proposals, and shadowed preservation officers, real estate
directors and real estate attorneys.

I worked on designing and implementing an employee break room and fire
command center in a condominium building and worked with company owners to repair
and maintain existing exterior walls and other building attributes.

The owners of Silverman work to ensure that historic attributes are not lost when
combining new construction with old. Learning about the business and real estate side of
historic preservation was a unique and informative experience.

This summer I spent my days hop-scotching between the US chapter of DOCOMOMO (DOcumentation and COnservation of buildings, sites and neighborhoods of the MOdern MOvement) and the New York-based World Monuments Fund, an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting endangered ancient and historic sites. My interest in the Modern Movement lead me to each organization, and I’ve had a full summer researching and preparing summaries of endangered buildings both in the United States and throughout the world.

As the Modernism Intern at World Monuments Fund I spent my days reviewing former Watch list sites to see what has become of these important treasures. Issued every two years, the World Monuments Watch calls international attention to cultural heritage around the world that is threatened by neglect, vandalism, conflict, or disaster. Many of the sites I worked with had an extensive archive of communications and documents, and together with recent news and press releases, I enjoyed my task putting the pieces of the story together. I was surprised to discover the Modern Movement extending as far as Eritrea in northern Africa, and inspired by the lengths and depths local communities go to save their heritage.

My work in the DOCOMOMO US office allowed me the unique opportunity to interact with some of the nation’s leading architects, academics and historic preservation professionals in the country. From organizing national events, managing the national office, to researching, writing and editing the new DOCOMOMO US monthly e-news brief, I enjoyed being involved in so many facets of the organization. I am continuing my work with DOCOMOMO US through the fall semester and am looking forward to our upcoming national Tour Day on October 9, 2010.

And if two internships were not enough, in late July I took on the cause to save a 1941 John Eberson theatre in Cohoes, NY. Although the fate of the theatre is still in question, I am hopeful for a positive outcome. For more on my cause visit the blog.

On Tuesday May 11th, students from the Pratt Historic Preservation program visited Governor’s Island.  Recently acquired by the city of New York from the state, Governor’s Island boasts the largest historic district in New York state (92-acres) and is home to 3 historic fortifications.

With the park closed to visitors until June, the Pratt students had the run of the island and visited historic structures normally closed to the public.  Students viewed the twin basketball courts at the top of Liggett Hall as well as the bar, dining area and ballroom in the Officers’ Club.

Special thanks to our professor and Governor’s Island staff person Jon Meyer for the invitation and tour!