A Tide Turns At the Seaport

 by Carl Glassman

For many years, the empty, weathered warehouses on Front Street and around the corner on Peck Slip—seaport denizens since the beginning of the 19th century—have been standing, just barely, waiting to be saved.

The plan for the east side of Front Street, between Beekman and Peck Slip. All the buildings on the street, except the Starfish building at far right, is part of the project. The varied facade of a large new building next door, at 213 Front, was designed by Richard Cook to appear as smaller, multiple buildings. The other buildings are restorations. Rendering by Richard Cooke and Associates
The plan for the east side of Front Street, between Beekman and Peck Slip. All the buildings on the street, except the Starfish building at far right, is part of the project. The varied facade of a large new building next door, at 213 Front, was designed by Richard Cook to appear as smaller, multiple buildings. The other buildings are restorations. Rendering by Richard Cook and Associates

Some couldn’t hold on. Facades peeled away to the ground. Roofs fell in. But for those that remain, their fronts netted to catch crumbling brick, hope lies in the plans of developers Zuberry Associates and Sciame Construction to preserve this important block of the old fish market.

The buildings, some dating to 1798, lie in the South Street Seaport Historic District. Architect Richard Cook, whose diverse projects range from P.S./I.S. 89 to the Caroline apartments at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue and an office tower at 360 Madison Ave., presented the $48 million project to the Landmarks Preservation Commission on April 1. In a rare action, the commission approved the

 
project, en masse, at the first hearing. The plans call for restoring 11 buildings and constructing three new ones, creating a total of nearly 100 rental apartments.

Funding is aided by preservation tax credits and federally financed Liberty Bonds, meant to promote the revival of Lower Manhattan.

The city-owned properties, which the developers can purchase only after city approvals, have languished for 20 years as the Economic Development Corp. tried to orchestrate their redevelopment.

In 1988, the city agreed to lease the buildings to Metropolis Group, but that company never moved forward with their development plans, leading to a long legal battle. In 1997, the city won back the development rights to the block and three years later selected Bohn Fiore Inc. as the new developer. But the company failed to get financing and the city removed them from the project in 2001.

Last May, the EDC chose Sciame and Zuberry, with the support of neighborhood residents and Community Board 1. But in the meantime, several buildings have been lost and others are perilously close to collapse. One is so hazardous that the developers and architect have yet to see the inside.

24 Peck Slip is another new building in the project, with canopy cables meant to suggest the mast of a ship. The new buildings and restored adjacent buildings are entered through common courtyards in the rear.

Architect Richard Cook atop 214 Front St., one of 11 historic seaport buildings to be restored. He has designed three new buildings, including one for the lot behind him. Photo by Carl Glassman

“These are in such horrible condition. There’s something romantic about that,” said Cook, as he inspected the interior of one of the Front Street buildings last month, his path lit by bulbs recently strung from the rafters. Large unsafe sections of the floors were cordoned off by yellow tape.

Unlike the warehouses of Tribeca, built some 80 years later, the ceilings of these old seaport buildings are low, and the wood is, as Cook puts it, “another degree of ancient.” He wants to preserve the feeling of antiquity by keeping the patina of peeling paint and turning existing remnants such as wooden columns into sculptural elements.

During this visit, he discovers a giant wheel on the top floor, part of the building’s timber-framed hoist. He asks Zuberry’s Anthony Zunino, who accompanies him, if he

can incorporate it in the apartment plan, maybe as part of the breakfast nook.

“Sure,” Zunino says.

Cook smiles. “So that’s okay? You could do that? Great. A decision.”

Cook’s romance with the seaport extends to the new buildings he has designed there. The plan for 24 Peck Slip includes canopy cables on the facade that suggest the rigging of a sailing ship. But its contemporary lines are not meant to resemble neighboring buildings.

“We’re hoping that [the design] speaks more about these ghosts of the South Street Seaport than the specifics of lintels and mullions and bricks and mortar,” he says.

Cook says the presence of those seaport ghosts—salty remnants of the city’s early maritime history—helps drive this complex project and, one day, will bring people to live there.

“This is the real stuff,” he says. “You can literally smell it in the air.”
The same block, from 215 to 235 Front St, when it was part of the seaport’s busy warehousing district in the 1930s. As seen at left, products such as barrels were manufactured on the street.