Photo Friday: Brooklyn City Hall + Goodbye to All That/Farewell to the Enchanted City*

Palen Postcard, Brooklyn City Hall.

Dear Brooklyn,

Thank you for being The Preservator's home base for the last couple of years. I know you won't take it personally when I tell you that we're leaving you for the friendly embrace of the great City of Philadelphia. You are a beautiful place to live and we will treasure memories of your gorgeous brownstones, awesome parks, and wild residents. We leave you in good hands. You won't even notice we're gone. Meantime, we are excited to get to know what's become of William Penn's Greene Country Towne.

Stay tuned for dispatches from a bit further south, maybe even a new format. Who knows what the move will inspire. We are all works in progress.

Yours,
The Preservator

*Goodbye To All That, by Joan Didion - not exactly my feelings, but worth the (re)visit
(also note - this is what the internet looked like in 1997!)

Photo Friday: Custom House Sunset

Cass Gilbert's U.S. Custom House, Bowling Green, NYC. Built c. 1900. Photo by The Preservator

Hot Links

Liquor Store Sign, DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene Brooklyn. March 3, 2011. Photo by The Preservator.

Queens Graffiti Mecca Faces Redevelopment - via WNYC Culture
If you've ridden the 7 train, you know this building in Long Island City. I can't see how planning more lux-y development in Long Island City is a good idea right now. Not well-timed.

The Old American Dream Is A Nightmare - via Grist
Jim Kunstler, an old favorite, chats with Grist, breaking down why the skyscraper won't save us, how the New Urbanists have won, with requisite smatterings about the national debt and - of course - peak oil. And - beware the photo - our man looked better sans mustache. (Also, I saw someone reading his peak-oil futurist novel, World Made By Hand, on the subway this morning.)

Hoping Gowanus Canal Cleanup Turns Up Old Treasures - via NYT

What is not to love about urban archaeology of the forgotten Gowanus landscape?! Superfund = superfun!

Loss: I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2

I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2, Philadelphia, 2006-2007. by The Preservator.

Meet an old friend of mine, the I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2.  Since the early 20th century, this building sat along Richmond Street, facing the Delaware River in the Fishtown neigborhood of Philadelphia. Its early history was spent as a manufacturing facility, creating iron machine parts for the internationally renowned William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company.

Fishtown was a major manufacturing area well into the 20th century.  There, along the Delaware River, Cramp grew into an industrial powerhouse over the course of a century. During the Second World War, Cramp's operations peaked, ultimately employing about 15,000 people (largely Fishtown/Kensington residents) on its 65-acre campus. Cramp shut its doors in 1946.

The long decline of industrial Philadelphia has meant that many large manufacturing facilities remain untouched, while others are demolished. The I.P. Morris Machine Shop #2 was the last vestige of Cramp's once enormous presence in Fishtown. This year, after years of planning, the Machine Shop is being demolished to make way for a new ramp for I-95 intended to handle traffic for the new Sugarhouse Casino a few blocks south.

In 1994 the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission had deemed the building eligible for listing in the State/National Registers of Historic Places. I always liked its raised monitor windows and the railroad tracks leading into the bays suggesting its industrial past. This is all that remained as of Wednesday:

via www.95revive.com

Want more? Peep this:
95 Revive: Cramp Building Coming Down
PlanPhilly: Cramp Shipyard Demo Proceeds
PlanPhilly: How One Shipbuilder Impacted Philadelphia and the World

Happy President's Day

NYPL Picture Collection; Digital Gallery, Image ID 1585450.

Photo Friday: Parkside Graffiti + Budget Chatter

Parkside Avenue Station, B/Q subway surface line. Photo by The Preservator, 2010.

February is short for a reason. It brings dreary days here in the Northeast, but also it opens budget season. On the latter, those of us who care about the built environment should brace for change.

Federal Preservation Funding is On the Chopping Block (Again)
Hard times bring drastic measures. Even though persuasive arguments can be made about the economic impact of preservation projects, federal and state preservation programs and grant pools are likely to face deep cuts this year. The two big federal grant programs: Save America's Treasures and Preserve America are likely to be slashed if not eliminated, and huge cuts to the Historic Preservation Fund (which provides funding to states for preservation programs and grants) and other cultural resource programs also seem likely.
The National Trust's blog PreservationNation.org breaks down the issues at hand here. 

President Obama Commits to Funding National Rail Improvements
It was heartening to hear Vice President Biden announce a new six-year federal commitment to upgrading the nation's passenger rail system, starting with a proposed $8 billion for this effort in the President's budget proposal. Biden made the announcement at a whistle-stop at one of America's loveliest historic rail stations, Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. "Amtrak" Joe has long been an advocate for improving our railways. "I understand the need to invest in a modern rail system that will help connect communities, reduce congestion and create quality, skilled manufacturing jobs that cannot be outsourced," he said.

Here, here! This is smart money that will help put rail on a more equal footing with investments in road and air travel. Our nation deserves this sort of forward-thinking investment spending that creates mass transit that is not so dependent on oil. That said, Congress is in a slash and burn mode with Federal spending, so we'll see how far this really gets.
NY Times article here.
DC Streetsblog post here.

Must Reads of the Week: Active Preservation + the Splendor of Cities

Must read of the week goes to Mario Ballesteros' article in Domus, A Call To Account! A Case for Active Preservation, really got the wheels turning this week. He writes:

In contexts of crisis, architectural preservation—of buildings, but also of structures, archives, discarded or abandoned plans, as well as other minutiae and ephemeral documentation—becomes an indispensable tool for critical, political, and historical disclosure. Historical value, in this sense, transcends formal architectural merit. Preservation needs to move away from nostalgia and surface; it needs to be cold, clinical, and combative.

Ballesteros' piece is a ballsy reminder of what preservation is good for: survival, deeper cultural understandings, and inclusion. In particular, the Preservator loves the idea of preservation as disclosure.

And while we're out recommending articles, I hope you didn't miss today's NY Times column by David Brooks, Splendor of Cities. Brooks echoes the pro-urban ideas of thinkers like Richard Florida, and reminds us: "Cities thrive because they host quality conversations, not because they have new buildings and convention centers." Word.