Preserverfall2009

THE

PRESERVER VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1: FALL 2009

A Newsletter Highlighting New Rochelle’s History

Chairman’s Message The HLRB’s primary goal is to preserve New Rochelle’s architectural gems that so ably relate the community’s great history. The Board not only reviews work on the exteriors of locally-designated properties (Rochelle Park-Heights Local Historic District, the Thomas Paine Cottage and St. John’s Wilmot Church), we also help property owners–individuals and entire neighborhoods — determine eligibility for historic designation. In 2008, a New York State Certified Local Government grant allowed the HLRB to hire the historic preservation firm of LarsonFisher Associates to conduct extensive research on the turn-of-thecentury neighborhood of Sutton Manor. This issue of The Preserver spotlights the findings of the firm’s intensive survey, while also providing the reader with a wonderful slice of New Rochelle’s social history. Sutton Manor epitomizes our community’s residential parks — many of which continue as thriving neighborhoods with unique identities well worth preserving for future generations.

What is the HLRB? Introducing the Historical and Landmarks Review Board The HLRB is a seven member City Board, first appointed by City Council in 1985 to preserve New Rochelle’s past and raise awareness of the City’s rich history. The members are all local residents, volunteers, and knowledgeable in local history. The HLRB recommends the designation of districts and landmarks to City Council, and reviews all exterior renovations and new construction in the local historic district. The Board receives grants periodically for various historic preservation projects. The HLRB is committed to identifying, maintaining, and perpetuating the historic elements that make New Rochelle unique.

More local preservation news is highlighted with articles on New Rochelle’s 2009 Heritage Award properties and the restoration of the Thomas Paine Cottage.

City of New Rochelle

HISTORICAL & LANDMARKS REVIEW BOARD Melvin Beacher, A.I.A. Chairman Belkys Reyes-Cuni Gerard Ragone Donald Richards Rosemary Speight Samuel Spady, Jr. Theodore Wilson Jean Friedman, Preservation Consultant Funding New York State Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation Certified Local Government Program Editor Barbara Davis Credit All archival images are from the Collection of the New Rochelle Public Library Please send comments and suggestions to: Historical and Landmarks Review Board c/o Mrs. Sheila Beacher Bureau of Buildings City Hall 515 North Avenue New Rochelle, NY 10801 (914) 636-8292

Sutton Manor

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Before Sutton Manor

nter through the stone pillars marking the two entrances from At the turn of the 18th century, most of Echo Avenue and walk along the the waterfront acreage in the northeast tree lined streets that trace the shoreline of section of New Rochelle was owned by one of its original settlers, Huguenot Echo Bay and Snuff Mill Creek, and you’ll Louis Guion. Another of the French feel as though you’ve taken a step back time. refugees, Alexander Allaire, purchased Here, in Sutton Manor, 46 much of it in 1748. The well-preserved homes reflect next owner, James Pitcher, distinctive architectural farmed the land from styles of the early 20th 1766 – 1782. A Commissary century. Many command of Musters for the British waterfront views and several Army, Pitcher somehow escaped the ramifications are graced with stunning of his political allegiance perennial gardens. “The best during the Revolutionary of all worlds” is how many War. Rather than his land Sutton Manor residents being confiscated by the may describe their neighborState, it was inherited by hood, citing the access to the Thomas Huntington of Thaddeus Davids water and their association’s Bristol, England. boathouse and beach, the strong community The portion of the property that is Sutton Manor, as well as an adjacent spirit, the quick trip to the railroad station, “Sealing Wax Manufactory” came into the and perhaps most of all, the historic charm of possession of Thaddeus Davids in the their early residential park. late 1830s. At the time, Davids was the head of one of the largest ink companies in the country. He built a country home in the middle of the parcel, naming it “Echo Place” to reflect its frontage on Echo Bay. He also bought an island off New Rochelle’s southern shore that still bears his name. Davids had a large family of 12 children born to 3 different wives. His second son, George W. Davids, eventually brought the family business to ruin. The company and Thaddeus Davids, individually, were forced to dispose of all assets, which resulted in the sale of the 20-plus acre Echo Place to George W. Sutton on April 30, 1884. It included a barn north of the house along with two or three other dwellings, at least one of which probably predated the Davids House.

Sutton Manor Pillar

The Development of Sutton Manor

Echo Place was bought by George William Sutton to be enjoyed as a country retreat by his family — wife Justine A. Deveau and five children. After Sutton’s death in 1894, Echo Place was rented out until his heirs decided to develop the property. In 1904, George W. Sutton, Jr. formed the Sutton Manor 1904 Plan Sutton Manor Realty Company. The Since those early years of the Manor, younger Sutton would become an active several generations have made their civic leader in New Rochelle, serving as a homes in Sutton Manor, including generaNew Rochelle alderman, tax assessor, and tions of specific families and a significant realty developer. roster of national notables. The houses The Sutton Manor Realty Company may reflect adaptations to changing times selected Lawrence E. Van Etten, a civil and trends, yet the overall character of engineer and New Rochelle resident, to the place has been beautifully maindraw up the subdivision plan for the property. Van Etten would be responsible tained, as evidenced in the homes and gardens of Sutton Manor today. for designing about 100 subdivisions in Westchester County (alone) between 1890 and 1950. He was well known for his golfing abilities and he designed several golf courses.

Knollwood Golf Course in Greenburgh and the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle were among them.

Van Etten filed the first Sutton Manor subdivision plan in May 1904. It showed 34 lots, including the large parcel containing the Davids Echo Place House and two outbuildings.

Four other lots (original numbers 1, 5, 24, Sources for Sutton Manor articles: and 25) were illustrated with pre-existing Report on Historic Survey and Analysis of houses. The Davids House and barn were Sutton Manor and Historic Resource Inventory gone by the time a revised plan was filed Forms prepared by LarsonFisher Associates for in 1910. An additional 13 lots had been the New Rochelle Historical and Landmarks created from the large lot #34 that had Review Board, 2009. contained those structures. Three years Ruth Sutton Reynolds, The Sutton Manor Story later, a re-subdivision of lot #43 into three in Historic New Rochelle (The Little Print, New Rochelle, NY: 1963), page 20. buildable parcels was filed.

Excerpt from the Historic Survey and Analysis of Sutton Manor Statement of Qualification for Historic District Designation under Section 170-2 B of the New Rochelle City Code — Prepared by LarsonFisher Associates

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n intensive survey of each dwelling in the Sutton Manor neighborhood has provided the basis for this statement of qualification for Historic District Designation under the New Rochelle City Code.

Sutton Manor is a distinctive early 20th century suburban development located on the north shore of the Long Island Sound and Echo Bay, consisting of primarily single family residences. There are a total of 49 dwellings, 46 of which would be considered contributing to a historic district. In addition there are several other contributing historic resources within the subdivision: garages and outbuildings, a boathouse, four stone entrance piers, Echo Park, and other landscape features. Together these resources form a unified physical whole set apart from the surrounding urban environment. Two early subdivision plans (1904 and 1907) demonstrate the lots original to the subdivision and a map of the survey area that indicates those properties that should be considered for inclusion in the district.

The vast majority of houses that comprise the Sutton Manor neighborhood

are essentially intact to their initial construction dates. The neighborhood exemplifies an upper middle class enclave that was (and continues to be) attractive to families with heads of households employed in New York City.

Sutton Manor retains its original plan and amenities (boathouse and bathing beach), while the architecture of the homes exhibit the array of stylistic choices available during the 1904 – 1924 timeframe—Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Mediterranean, Arts and Crafts, Bungalow, and Art Moderne. Many of them are early examples of styles that were just being introduced, yet despite their diversity the houses are of the same scale and sited so as to create a cohesive group, which adds to their architectural significance. Three of the dwellings predate the development of the subdivision and are associated with the previous mansion, “Echo Place” or Thaddeus Davids House, thus physically linking the more recent subdivision to an even earlier period. The three older houses—one dating to c. 1820, one to c.1850 and the third to c.1870—although altered, are compatible in scale and

massing with the more recent dwellings.

And along with Rochelle Park and Rochelle Heights, it was a subdivision that served as a model for the ideal suburban setting— harmonious architecture and exclusive amenities.

In short, all but three much more recent houses (which are located on the periphery of the neighborhood) contribute to a definable historic resource that would make up a logical historic district.

Sutton Manor is also historically significant for its association with a number of persons who were important to the economic and physical development of the region. With its proximity to New York City, many of the residents of Sutton Manor were involved in activities of regional, state-wide and even national significance, which instigated frequent mention of the “exclusive Sutton Manor” in The New York Times.

From the earliest days of the development through the present, Sutton Manor has provided the setting for the kind of neighborhood vitality that is the ideal for most urban and suburban communities.

It is a testament to the power of welldesigned places to foster community,

in an otherwise fragmented social environment.

For both its physical attributes and social aspects, the Sutton Manor development is a significant historic resource for the community and deserving of its protection through designation as a historic district under the city code.

Based on the above summary of survey findings, the proposed district meets criteria 1, 2 and 3 for establishing a local historic district under the relevant section of New Rochelle’s Code.

Although not currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the district is clearly eligible for it and when listed, it would meet criterion 4 as well.

A copy of the full Report, including Historic Resource Inventory Forms detailing each of the 46 houses comprising the eligible Sutton Manor District, is available for viewing in the E. L. Doctorow Local History Room of the New Rochelle Public Library.

A SUTTON MANOR SAMPLER

Based on the Historic Inventory Forms completed by LarsonFisher Associates 176 FARRAGUT CIRCLE Located at the intersection of Farragut Circle and Sutton Manor Road, the Paul Robert and Emma Sjostrom House is a Colonial Revival style building — one of at least eight houses in Sutton Manor designed by the prominent New York architect, Chester A. Patterson. The 1909 house was built for Paul Robert and Emma Sjostrom; it was one of the architect’s earliest commissions. Among the many subsequent owners of the 15-room house, including an international banker and a radio personality, the most controversial was Harriet E. Cripe, a follower of Father Divine. She bought the property for the African-American preacher to use as one of his “Heavens” — a residence for his disciples (called “angels”) from 1939 –1946.

142 SUTTON MANOR ROAD The William & Rosina Harding House is architecturally significant as a distinctive and intact example of the Craftsman Style inspired by the Medieval Revival Style and English cottage precedents and was designed by architect William Liance Cottrell (1868 – 1964), whose offices were in New York City. Cottrell was a successful architect whose works include the Pennsylvania Monument in Military Park, Washington D.C. This residential commission resulted in a house that exhibits individual expression, fine details, and harmonious proportions. Completed in 1910, it is notable as an early expression of a style that would become widely popular in Westchester County in the 1920s. The house has had only three owners, beginning with William and Rosina Harding, who first purchased their property in 1908, and sold the home in 1941.

79 DECATUR ROAD The Macdonald-Lockwood House sits high above a steep slope terraced with concrete retaining and garden walls.

The dramatic site is equaled by a dramatic Art Moderne architectural style that contrasts with the traditional, revival styles of other Sutton Manor dwellings. Even though it has been altered somewhat over the years, it retains most of its original form, massing, and materials.

In 1910 –1911 Mary L. Macdonald and George S. Macdonald had the house constructed on the lot—the first on the four lots that replaced the old Davids House.

Macdonald was president of the Lockwood Trade Journal Company, Inc., in Manhattan. When he died in 1945 just two months after his wife, the house and, later, the business came under ownership of his grandson, George Edward Lockwood. Like his grandfather and a number of other residents of Sutton Manor – from earliest times to present, he was an avid yachtsman. In 1947 he married Katherine M. “Kitty” Lockwood, who would become the matriarch of the neighborhood until her death in 2008. Some of her children, fourth-generation of the original owners, continue to live in the house.

200 FARRAGUT CIRCLE The 1912 Elizabeth and Lawrence D. Huntington House exhibits a Craftsman Style, with features reminiscent of Dutch Colonial Revival, Shingle, and Bungalow styles. Although the architect is unknown, its distinctive Craftsman Style is indicative of the hand of a professional designer. This is one of four houses in Sutton Manor that Elizabeth W. and Lawrence D. Huntington, Jr. were responsible for constructing.

The first was at 120 Echo Avenue where the Huntingtons lived from 1905 to 1907. The other three houses were being constructed almost simultaneously — 200 Farragut Circle, 66 Decatur Road, and 98 Echo Avenue. Lawrence, a descendant of John Coutant, one of the original Huguenot settlers, was a yacht designer and builder and, for seven years, a stockbroker.

114 SUTTON MANOR ROAD

88 ECHO AVENUE

“The Brick House”, as the Childs – Davis House has been called, is of Colonial Revival style, with a Georgian aspect given the strict symmetry of its front facade. Harry R. and Elizabeth Childs built the house around 1913. When the house was put on the market in 1923, it was advertised as being “Delightful, cool rooms, baths, board; separate tables directly on Sound; tennis...”. In July 1924, the property was sold to Lee Parsons Davis, a larger-than-life individual who was well known throughout the community and beyond. While residing in the house until his death at age 79 in 1959, Davis navigated an impressive career as a prominent trial lawyer (referred to as a “legendary courtroom personality” in his obituary), State Supreme Court Justice and District Attorney of Westchester County. He was also cited as being a “big-game hunter, fishing authority, camera expert, musical–saw virtuoso, weaver and story-teller par excellence.”

Sections of the Davids-Fearing House were constructed in the 1820s, predating the Sutton Manor development as one of three “cottages” on the property when it was bought by George W. Sutton, Sr. A print of the old Davids House, “Echo Place,” (see page one) depicts this house as it looked in about 1860. By 1901 a wide, two-story, one-bay front gable addition had been constructed on the left side of the old house, probably when owned by Justine Augusta Sutton Fearing, daughter of George Sutton, Sr. Among the numerous owners of this house (the longest being the current owner, who purchased it in 1973), was Rose H. Tostevin, the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein, the Opera impresario and grandfather of the Broadway musical lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein, 2nd. Despite additions and alterations that have been made to the house over the years, it retains the form, scale, and massing attained by 1900 and thus contributes to the historic character of the Sutton Manor neighborhood.

NINE PROPERTIES HONORED WITH CITY’S 2009 HERITAGE AWARDS

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diverse group of private, public and quasi-public buildings were the recipients of New Rochelle’s 2009 Heritage Awards. These properties joined the

The Arcade Building (The Curtain Shop) 541 Main Street

“Blue Anchor” — Former home of Cartoonist Clare Briggs 1 Byworth Road

six 2008 properties in earning vibrant blue markers identifying them as important places in New Rochelle’s history:

The Clark-Berrian House 1120 North Avenue

Just before the Revolutionary War, when New Rochelle was a farming community of roughly 700 inhabitants, Moses Clark built a home in the northern part of New Rochelle on a tract of land owned by the Seacords, whose patriarch, Ambroise Sicard, was one of the first settlers. Clark’s simple dwelling grew as it became home to his descendants and their spouses Clarks, Seacords and Berrians, well into the 20th century. Each owner tailored the house to the family’s needs. Although the current structure is considerably larger and altered from its original two-over-two simple structure, each era has been well preserved. Retaining its farmhouse character, the private residence continues to be a daily reminder of New Rochelle’s centuries as an agrarian community.

A stunning metamorphosis occurred at 541 Main Street during a restoration facilitated by the New Rochelle Downtown Business Improvement District (BID). An unattractive façade was removed to reveal gorgeous arched windows and detailed terracotta relief work that had been hidden since the 1940s. Today, the building declares its original use by the raised letters, “The Arcade”. William Weiskopf constructed it in 1897 for his downtown entertainment center that included eateries, hotel rooms, a billiard hall, shops, a bowling alley, and a gymnasium. The New Rochelle chapter of the YMCA made its first home here in 1899.

Later, the building housed the Star Department Store (until 1924), followed by various other retail enterprises.

Curtain Shop moved to the building in 1992 from its first location at 501 – 503 Main Street.

Huguenot Yacht Club Harbor Lane West

This Tudor-style house was built for famed cartoonist Clare Briggs in 1917. It was designed by architect Henry G. Morse and constructed of 100 tons of timbers salvaged from an 18th century schooner and purchased by Mr. Briggs from a New Jersey shipyard. “The old English style of architecture so lends itself to the rugged old timbers that many authorities have pronounced the house the best example of English architecture in this country,” Briggs wrote of the house in 1918. He called his home “Blue Anchor” after the artifact that still hangs in the basement.

Briggs was one of America’s earliest “strip” artists, earning his fame with one called “When a feller needs a friend.” At the height of his career his cartoons appeared in 180 newspapers, read by 2 million people each day. Many of Briggs’ comics involved his beloved game of golf. He joined the Wykagyl Country Club in 1914 and located his house across from the golf course.

Former Women’s Club of New Rochelle — Zion Baptist Church 50 Lockwood Avenue

Mahlstedt House — Huguenot Library Branch (Huguenot Children’s Library)

794 North Avenue

Built in 1869 and possibly the first brick residence in New Rochelle, the Mahlstedt family lived here while managing a thriving ice-making business on the large lake the house overlooked. Once ice could be made in home freezers, the business became obsolete. The 40 acres of property were sold to the City of New Rochelle in 1922 for a new high school and park. The lake became Twin Lakes by a causeway leading to the school; the land along North Avenue was groomed into Huguenot Park; and the charming brick house was transformed into a branch of the New Rochelle Public Library, which has remained for 70 years. The City’s financial crisis forced its closing in 1992. The Partnership for the Huguenot Children’s Library raised more than $350,000 to gut the building, rebuild the interior and rehabilitate the exterior.

Through “sweat equity” and donations from local contractors and suppliers, the French Second Empire-style building was beautifully restored and the Huguenot Children’s Library was created.

Overlooking Glen Island, the house that is now home to the Huguenot Yacht Club was built around 1910 on a tract owned by the esteemed Judge Martin Keogh. The (unknown) architect/builder employed a type of design that was popular in the rapidly growing community of New Rochelle in the early 1900s. The 2 ½ story Mediterranean Revival-style house was constructed on structural tile finished in white stucco, with a hipped roof of red barrel tiles. Actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish rented the house in 1919 – 1920 while working for D. W. Griffith, whose studios were on Orienta Point in Mamaroneck.

While living here the sisters filmed “Orphans of the Storm” and Lillian starred in “Way Down East”. She also directed a movie for Griffith and filmed it in New Rochelle. The Huguenot Yacht Club was the third yacht club to be established on the western part of the Sound. Founded in 1894 as the Neptune Yacht Club on Neptune Island, the organization soon changed its name to the Huguenot Yacht Club. When the original boathouse on the Lower Harbor burned in 1965, the club’s members purchased the Harbor Lane West property that included Lion’s Boat Yard, two lots and the Spanish Mediterranean house. The members made a conscious decision to retain the original integrity of the exemplary residence as they transformed it into their clubhouse.

The New Rochelle Women’s Club was established in 1912, when Mrs. Lawrence E. Van Etten gathered together group of 45 well-to-do women, and formed the organization “to work for any and every sort of improvement in New Rochelle.” By the 1920s the club had grown in membership and endowment to allow for the construction of a dedicated clubhouse on Lockwood Avenue. The Tudor Revivalstyle building, constructed at a cost of $133,000 using stone and slate donated by a member’s family, was ready for occupancy in March, 1924. By the early 1960s, when the club could no longer afford its upkeep, the building was put up for sale. At the same time, the home of the Zion Baptist Church (established in 1931) at 57 Anderson Street was claimed by an Urban Renewal project.

In June 1965, the Zion Baptist Church purchased the Women’s Club building.

While converting the club house into a house of worship, the Zion Baptist Church congregation retained the original design, materials and architectural importance of the structure. Just as the Women’s Club, the building continues to be well utilized by the community, with a variety of civic organizations utilizing the meeting space.

FIRE STATIONS As New Rochelle’s population began swelling at the turn of the 20th century, the newly-incorporated City started more consistent funding and improvements to its fire service, which was then comprised of six volunteer companies. Beginning in the years of the first paid Fire Chief, James Ross, (1903 – 1919), through the tenure of Chief Walter S. Jones (1920 – 1933), the New Rochelle Fire Department was vastly improved with new stations, paid professionals, updated equipment and modern practices. The three stations receiving Heritage Awards are genuine and daily reminders of this important period in New Rochelle’s history.

Fire Station No. 4 155 Drake Avenue

Fire Station No. 4 was built on Drake Avenue for the Neptune Hose Company, (later named Neptune Engine Company), in 1910. At the time, the company was entirely volunteer firefighters and the apparatus was pulled by horses, also housed in the building. The station has since been updated in pace with the times and New Rochelle’s ever-improving fire service — beginning with motorized equipment and professional, rather than volunteer fire fighters. A renovation in the late 1980s brought the structure up to code and modern times, while maintaining the design of the original exterior.

Arched windows, keystone over the bay door, concrete lintels and cornices, and the “Flemish Bond” styling of brick work mimic the details of the 1910 building.

Today, the structure stands as a unique example of Dutch Revival style of architecture, patterned after the earliest buildings of the original Dutch settlements on the Hudson River.

Fire Station No. 3 756 North Avenue

Completed in 1912, Fire Station No. 3 replaced the earlier quarters for Olympia Engine Company, which had been destroyed in an unfortunate fire two years earlier. The handsome new brick building was designed by Barnard & Wilder in the Italian Renaissance Revival-style, with a four-bay stuccoed façade trimmed in brick and a roof of barrel tile. The architects highlighted the two large equipment doors on the first floor with flared voussoirs of alternating brick and stucco. The second floor windows were also trimmed with brickwork and a round-arched blind of brick. The improved accommodations of the building allowed for paid firefighters to deliver round-the-clock service for the new and growing neighborhoods in the (continued on page 4)

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PRESERVER

V OLUME 5, I SSUE 1: F ALL 2009

Newsletter Highlighting New Rochelle’s History

City of New Rochelle

HISTORICAL & LANDMARKS REVIEW BOARD

City of New Rochelle • 515 North Avenue • New Rochelle, NY 10801

PRSRT-STD U.S. Postage

PAID White Plains, NY Permit No. 3017

HLRB

HLRB

RESTORED: THOMAS PAINE COTTAGE NEW ROCHELLE’S NATIONAL LANDMARK PROPERTY IS IMPROVED WITH STATE AND PRIVATE FUNDS

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ew Rochelle’s only National Historic Landmark, the Thomas Paine Cottage, is only one of 18 historic properties in Westchester County to have earned this important designation, and only one of about 2,500 in the entire country. These are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior “because they possess exceptional Before value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.” A recent restoration project at the Cottage has enabled the site to more accurately relate the story of the building once owned by one of the leading figures in America’s fight for Independence.

Originally built in the 1700s as a farmhouse for a Huguenot settler, the cottage that is now located at 20 Sicard Road was part of a 300-acre farm that had been confiscated by New York State from a Tory. Extending from what is now North Avenue to the Mamaroneck border, the property was gifted by the State to Thomas Paine for his part in the Cause for Independence. Paine spent the last few years of his life in the New Rochelle home, from 1803 to 1806. The cottage was moved to its current location in 1910. Throughout the years various alterations were made to the building, but were not always in keeping with its original materials or appearance.

Time also took its toll, particularly on the roof of the structure.

The stewards of the Cottage, members of the Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association, were able to raise funds to complete critically needed repairs on the 200+-year old building. In the process, the group also recognized the need to return the building to its original integrity, to the extent documented in archival photographs and by physical evidence. With a $50,000 grant obtained by State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and individual donations, the Association hired local architect John Woodruff and the restoration firm, Salem Preservation, Inc. of Salem, NY, for the exterior’s restoration. As the Cottage is also a locally-designated property, the New Rochelle Historical and Landmarks Review Board reviewed all aspects of the project before it moved forward.

The work included the removal of the asphalt roof and replacement with wood shingles, which also included exposing two original windows on the upper floor.

Other major work to restore the building to its original involved the reconstruction of a separate roof above the porch and below the windows, the replacement of wood shingles on the entire house with Weatherboard and the repair and replacement of gutters and wood trim.

The outcome? As John Wright, director of the Thomas Paine Cottage stated, “Although we don’t know exactly how the house looked when it was Paine’s residence, the building is now historically correct to the time period.” As he continued, “there are still a few more details on the outside, and the interior is also receiving attention, as we expand our exhibition materials to include more artifacts related to Paine.” The organization is looking forward to continuing their familyoriented programs and school visits, as well as serving as a destination for Paine aficionados from all over the world. For more information or to make a donation, see www.thomaspainecottage.org or call (914) 633-1776.

After

Heritage Awards (continued) rapidly-growing neighborhoods in the “northern” parts of the city. The building remained largely unchanged until 1985 when deteriorating conditions necessitated rehabilitation efforts. When the two front bays were widened to accommodate more apparatus, the exterior arch of the doors was maintained and the architectural integrity of the building kept intact.

Fire Station No. 2 170 Webster Avenue

masonry structure – but with interesting and complementary architectural details.

The arched openings on the equipment doors are trimmed with limestone surrounds and capped with keystones.

A beltcourse of smooth limestone runs between the first and second floors. The roof is of barrel tile that overhangs the façade. These design elements, intended to give notice to a public building but complement a residential neighborhood, continue to serve their purpose.

Interested in Nominating a Property?

A critical need for more public services and buildings to house them was created by another surge in New Rochelle’s population, post World War I. Fire Station Number Two was designed by top architects and built with quality materials, replacing a building at Union Avenue and Second Street that housed Union Engine Company, founded in 1901. Local master builders M. Bartnett & Sons completed the building in 1923, with designs by architect Fredrick Winter. Like the earlier New Rochelle fire stations, it is a rectangular

The City of New Rochelle welcomes nominations for 2010 Heritage Awards from individuals, organizations, businesses and municipal representatives of properties in one or more of the following categories: • Private, public or quasi-public structures older than 50 years that are significant to New Rochelle’s history.

• Stellar restoration.

• Home of a nationally prominent individual.

• Significant architect or architectural style.

• Landscape or landscape feature (e.g. cemeteries, stone walls, signs; except gardens).

Guidelines and Nomination Forms are available on the City’s website: www.newrochelleny.com by calling (914) 632-7878. ext. 34. The deadline for nominations is December 1, 2009. The award winners will be announced in Winter 2010.