Historic Sites, You’ve Been (pre)Served.
When looking for a new house or apartment to live in, some of us might prefer a place that is brand new, some might treasure a place with historic character, and then there are those of us who want a little of both.
Preservation in urban environments functions in a similar way: some people think new development is progress, some people believe preservation should be the priority, and many hope that they can coexist. Preservation versus contemporary uses is an essential, and at times contentious, discussion.
The topic of preservation has been on my mind lately for a few reasons. New York City’s Landmark Preservation Law just turned 50 this month and I was treated to pretty photos of landmarks on the subway and several related events that were held across the boroughs.
Coincidentally, last week Projexity’s co-founder Nico published several design proposals for Fort York — a historical battle site in Toronto — by students from his landscape architecture studio at the University of Toronto. The fringes of Fort York have been overlooked as the city rapidly develops around the site, which has been preserved in its 1812 state. These neglected edges currently sever the fort’s connections to both natural resources and adjacent communities and are ripe for a more connective redesign.
The context of Fort York reminds me of Sutro Baths on the western edge of San Francisco. Sutro Baths was a large private swimming pool complex built in late 19th Century and was destroyed in a fire in 1966. It is now laid in ruins and is part of Golden Gate Recreation Area.
I love bringing visitors there because it’s such a peculiar place: terraces of pools and fallen concrete walls blend into the vista of the Pacific Ocean. However, Sutro Baths is more of a destination; it’s an example of preservation of ruins for people to visit and not a place that is necessarily connected to the current urban fabric.
How can we best approach sites that are left in ruins or desire to be more than just a destination?
In the 1970s, mining and steel industries in the Ruhr Valley in Germany were in a sharp decline, so local municipalities decided to transform the abandoned industrial complexes into recreation, history, and technology museums in order to grow their tourism economy and maintain their heritage.
I visited a few of those sites during a road trip through Germany. The place I enjoyed the most was the Bauhaus-styled Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen, which was converted into a museum, art gallery and office space.
I especially love the open spaces in the complex. Rail tracks were turned into pedestrian walkways and plazas while groves of birches, shrubs, grasses, and flowers flourish in between industrial relics. Surrounding the complex is a green promenade that connects the accessible complex with the town, where locals leisurely stroll or pass by on their way to other stops.
However, Zollverein and many similar projects require extensive funding and partnerships. Can small-scale or less visible historical sites also successfully adapt?
I was wandering in the Bronx one day and saw this nicely restored concrete plant on the bank of the Bronx River. Intrigued, I walked down to the bank and arrived at Concrete Plant Park. Nuzzled in between the subway lines and river is this swath of green with picnic tables and lounge chairs, visually dominated by the plant. Families were having picnics and playing games in the park. I learned that the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation worked closely with Bronx River Alliance and opened the park after years of neglect.
In a similar vein, near my neighborhood in Brooklyn there’s a unique subway station among all the nondescript ones. Avenue H Station House on the Q line is a landmarked wood frame structure, a former real estate office that was turned into a station house in 1907. Most of the historic details remained and there are even rocking chairs(!) out on the porch. This simple adaptive reuse is a pleasant surprise during everyday subway rides.
Amid all the highly publicized and expensive landmark projects in New York City, it’s refreshing to see neighborhood projects that focus on benefiting communities and preserving historic identities.
Site&Seek: We seek and find great urban sites so you don’t have to. Sharing projects and processes that impact our built environment in a new blog series by @Projexity. (Post by Gloria Lau)
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