Upcoming Four Freedoms Park Tour and Other Community Events

Second Avenue Street Fair (on Third!)

Come by the Second Avenue Street Fair (on Third!) and say hello to CIVITAS!

On Saturday, June 1st from noon - 5 pm the street fair is kicking off Second Avenue Restaurant and Retail Week. The fair is located on Third Avenue from 68th - 86th Streets (not held on Second Avenue due to construction).
CIVITAS will be located at 84th Street and Third Avenue. We hope to see you there!

Save The Date: FDR Four Freedoms Park Tour

Urbanist and Roosevelt Island resident, Sharon Pope will be leading a tour of FDR Four Freedoms Park on Thursday, June 20 at 5:45 pm.

Details to follow! Space is limited. Space is limited. RSVP by email at info@civitasnyc.org or phone at 212-996-0745
Suggested donation $10

Community Events

New York League of Conservation Voters and Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems Environmental Candidate School

With four open seats among the borough presidents and another 19 open seats in the City Council, there is a unique opportunity to cultivate the next generation of sustainability leadership in New York City. To make the most of this opportunity, the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS) will conduct an Environmental Candidate School.

Saturday, May 11th from 8:30am – noon
NYU Kimmel Center
238 Thompson Street

The event is free and open to all candidates, campaign staff and advocacy partners. To reserve a seat, RSVP today by clicking here.

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Harlem River Park Shoreline Cleanup

Saturday, May 11th from 10 am - 2 pm 

Enter Harlem River Park at 5th Avenue and 139th Street, using the ramp over Harlem River Drive. You’ll be met with a volunteer who will assist you.

To register click here.

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It's My Park Day

On It's My Park Day, join Upper Green Side, the Friends of the East River Esplanade and East River C.R.E.W. beautify the East River Esplanade. Volunteers are needed to paint the railings, plant flowers, and do a general clean-up.

Sunday, May 19th from 10am - 3pm
East River Esplanade
96th Street and FDR Drive

For more information click here.

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City & Suburban Homes York Avenue Estate Historic District Walking Tour

The tour includes City & Suburban Homes Landmark, Shively Sanitary Tenements, PS 158, Webster Library, John Jay Park, former East Side House Settlement.

Sunday, May 19th at 1 pm
Meet at the City & Suburban Homes Archive Room
515 East 78th Street (East of York Avenue)
The tour is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Marie Beirne at (212) 388-0883.

Statement before the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 8

in Support of Proposed Designation of the Park Avenue Historic District

Between 79th and 96th Street

June 14, 2010

CIVITAS supports the nomination of Park Avenue between 79th and 96th Street to be designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places and as a New York City local historic district.

Park Avenue is one of the world’s most famous thoroughfares and is well regarded for its central median, lined by stately apartment buildings, low-rise nineteenth century buildings and houses of worship. Yet almost half of the avenue on the Upper East Side is not protected by landmark status. Except for a few blocks of Park Avenue located in the Carnegie Hill Historic District, most of this corridor between 79th and 96th Street does not fall within a New York City historic district.

Park Avenue is best known as a twentieth century streetscape as it rose to prominence in the 1910s and 1920s. Yet it has a significant nineteenth century layer as well, including several buildings that pre-date “Park Avenue” itself and were constructed when this thoroughfare was known as Fourth Avenue, before the railroad tracks were covered. The avenue’s predominant scale – 12-17 story apartment buildings that follow a uniform street wall—is mostly protected under the Park Improvement special zoning district. But this offers no protection to the nineteenth century layer, which is increasingly threatened. At least two of these structures have been demolished in recent years.

The architectural character of Park Avenue is not just about scale. The architects who designed many of the proposed district’s greatest buildings—George and Edward Blum, Rosario Candela, J.E.R. Carpenter, and others—followed a relatively uniform bulk in designing the luxury apartment houses. Much of the designers’ individual expression is articulated through architectural details, such as windows, decorative medallions and door surrounds. The structures present a wonderfully eclectic face to the avenue, evoking Renaissance Revival, Art Deco and Georgian references. Designation of Park Avenue as a New York City historic district will protect those details for future generations to enjoy.

As part of our support, CIVITAS raises the following issues for consideration by the United States Department of the Interior, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

First is the historical condition of the Park Avenue median. When the railroad tracks were covered in the 1880s and the landscaped median was created in the 1910s, it was a wide park with seating and meandering paths located in the middle of the avenue. Over the course of the twentieth century, the median has been whittled down to its current width, a “park” meant to be looked at but not entered and enjoyed. As the current movement in New York City continues to reclaim green space and public space in previously overlooked spaces, we would like to see additional thought given to restoring Park Avenue to its historical plan and configuration with a public park in its center. Designation as a National Register or New York City historic district should call special attention to the avenue’s original plan and not act as an impediment to possible restoration of the median.

Further, there is much discussion on the local and national level devoted to incorporating energy efficient components into historic structures. Preserving the “embedded energy” expended in constructing the historic buildings on Park Avenue represent the greenest approach there is, but we would like to see continued dialogue between the preservation and environmental communities to support eco-friendly upgrades that respect the aesthetics and historic integrity of Park Avenue’s buildings.

We encourage the United States Department of the Interior, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to move quickly in designating the Park Avenue corridor between 79th and 96th Street.