Historic Districts continue to be “punching bags,” blamed for the City’s lack of affordable housing and denounced as “elite.” Unfortunately, a New York Times piece repeated the same old, outdated arguments.
The Times published a “Critic’s Notebook” in today’s print edition that raised interesting questions about how to preserve things like “a beloved bodega, or corner bookstore…” noting that official New York City landmark designation preserves the exterior of a building, but not the use within. The piece explored “intangible heritage.”
However, the piece also took unfortunate swipes at preservation.
The article claims that progress and preservation “run headlong into each other.” It noted that the World Trade Center replaced an area with many electronic stores selling items that went out of date.
“What would it have meant for New York to have embalmed a district devoted to record players, Princess telephones, etc .” the article asked. It’s time to retire “embalmed.” Historic Districts very obviously continue to evolve. The City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission routinely approves building additions and new buildings in Historic Districts. If that electronics area had been landmarked, there would have been new uses in the buildings and likely some new additions as well.
The article also buys the argument that preservation is blocking new affordable homes. “Landmark laws are too often weaponized by NIMBY’s derailing progress.” It also states that “studies show that historic districts tend to skew toward wealthier, whiter populations, for example.”
In New York City, only some 5% of the land is covered by historic districts. We commissioned a “Socio-Demographic Profile” of historic districts in 2021 from BFJ Planning. There were 151 historic districts at that time. There are 157 today, many covering only a few homes or blocks.
The study showed that:
–Most historic districts are denser or as dense as the community district in which they are located.
–Some one-third of historic districts are more diverse or as diverse as the community district in which they are located.
–NYC’s historic districts have become more diverse in the last two decades.
–Slightly less than half of historic districts are more wealthy than the community district in which they are located.
We do need more affordable housing. We also need to stop blaming preservation and find real solutions.