AP News, November 4th, 2007
Historians are trying to save a lower Manhattan building that is "a rare surviving relic" of New York's 19th-century world trade center but is due to be demolished to make way for a new hotel.
The Greek Revival warehouse is in a neighborhood that was part of "the process that made New York into America's great city," says historian Paul E. Johnson.
The red-brick warehouse on Pearl Street, near the South Street Seaport Historic District, was erected in 1831, one of the buildings that made up the original world trade center in lower Manhattan, long before the 110-story twin towers that opened in 1970. Wholesalers on Pearl Street, which has been around since Manhattan's Dutch colonial days, specialized in dry goods shipped to storekeepers all over the country.
New York "became like a funnel through which the wealth of the Western world would now have to pass," according to a television documentary by Ric Burns called "The Town and The City." Narrow lanes like Pearl Street "were transformed into the first district in the world devoted exclusively to commerce."
Alan Solomon, an amateur historian helping spearhead the effort to preserve the warehouse, said Saturday that he believes demolition could start as early as this week.
A demolition application for the site was filed with the city Department of Buildings on Oct. 16 by a wrecking company, but the city hasn't issued a permit yet, said department spokeswoman Robin Brooks.
The old warehouse was recently purchased by a Manhattan developer, The Lam Group. Representatives didn't respond to a call seeking comment Saturday.
The building at 213 Pearl Street was flanked by two similar 19th century buildings on a block now mostly owned by Rockrose Development, which has built a luxury high-rise there and is erecting a second tower.
All that remains of the building at 211 Pearl is its facade, and 215 already has been demolished, leaving 213 as "a rare surviving relic of the process that made New York into America's great city," said Johnson.
Solomon said the demolition and redevelopment of the old trade district is being partly financed by tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, issued by the federal government to rebuild the neighborhood around the modern-day World Trade Center several blocks away after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
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On the Net:
Historic Pearl Street: http://www.historicpearlstreet.org/
