Kris
January 16th, 2005, 02:56 PM
January 16, 2005
Restoring Elegance Underfoot on a Street Long Past Its Prime
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/01/16/nyregion/16bond_650.jpg
Restoration of the cobblestone surface on Bond Street begins this week.
Bond Street can never reclaim its place at the pinnacle of elegance in New York City. But something of its elegant spirit will be recaptured this month in a restoration of its cobblestone surface between Broadway and Lafayette Street, now blemished with large asphalt patches.
When the roadbed is once again entirely granite, New Yorkers will be able to imagine more easily the 19th century Bond Street, without social peer. How fashionable was it? Put it this way: The arrival of Brooks Brothers in 1874 was part of the neighborhood's downward slide.
The section to be repaved lies within the NoHo Historic District. Three houses, though much altered, have been standing there since the 1820's. Across Jones Alley is the Victorian former home of Brooks Brothers. At the east end is a creamy white cast-iron landmark known as the Robbins & Appleton Building. Cobblestone helps set the tone. "It really is part of a whole streetscape," said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which approved the repaving.
But cobblestone is too expensive for the city to install or replace. So the $50,000 project is being paid for by the NoHo N.Y. Business Improvement District and the nonprofit National Architectural Trust. Last year the trust and the Horatio Street Block Association financed similar work on Horatio Street, between Greenwich and Hudson Streets.
"If another group raises the funds, we're happy to work with them," said Kay Sarlin, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department. The agency approved both projects.
The pockmarked surface of Bond Street is hard on vehicles, baby carriages and high heels. "It's really not safe," said Harriet Fields, executive director of the NoHo business improvement district. The group will seek contributions to help it pay for the paving. The first new stones are to be laid Tuesday, and the work will take two or three weeks to complete.
On both Bond and Horatio Streets, the goal was not to regrade the roadbed evenly and reset every stone but to restore areas that had been torn up and repaired with asphalt by utility workers or other contractors.
"Replacing the entire street is cost prohibitive," said Daniel Reardon, a New York area manager for the trust, which is based in Washington and works to preserve historic neighborhoods. "You also run the risk of the street looking like Disneyland. You lose all the dips and dimples, which give it a historic character."
What New Yorkers call cobblestones are more accurately described as Belgian blocks - true cobblestones being rounded and irregular - but saying so is the province of a scold. And it is probably no more effective than insisting that the horse-drawn carriages on Central Park South are not hansom cabs.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Restoring Elegance Underfoot on a Street Long Past Its Prime
By DAVID W. DUNLAP
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/01/16/nyregion/16bond_650.jpg
Restoration of the cobblestone surface on Bond Street begins this week.
Bond Street can never reclaim its place at the pinnacle of elegance in New York City. But something of its elegant spirit will be recaptured this month in a restoration of its cobblestone surface between Broadway and Lafayette Street, now blemished with large asphalt patches.
When the roadbed is once again entirely granite, New Yorkers will be able to imagine more easily the 19th century Bond Street, without social peer. How fashionable was it? Put it this way: The arrival of Brooks Brothers in 1874 was part of the neighborhood's downward slide.
The section to be repaved lies within the NoHo Historic District. Three houses, though much altered, have been standing there since the 1820's. Across Jones Alley is the Victorian former home of Brooks Brothers. At the east end is a creamy white cast-iron landmark known as the Robbins & Appleton Building. Cobblestone helps set the tone. "It really is part of a whole streetscape," said Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which approved the repaving.
But cobblestone is too expensive for the city to install or replace. So the $50,000 project is being paid for by the NoHo N.Y. Business Improvement District and the nonprofit National Architectural Trust. Last year the trust and the Horatio Street Block Association financed similar work on Horatio Street, between Greenwich and Hudson Streets.
"If another group raises the funds, we're happy to work with them," said Kay Sarlin, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Department. The agency approved both projects.
The pockmarked surface of Bond Street is hard on vehicles, baby carriages and high heels. "It's really not safe," said Harriet Fields, executive director of the NoHo business improvement district. The group will seek contributions to help it pay for the paving. The first new stones are to be laid Tuesday, and the work will take two or three weeks to complete.
On both Bond and Horatio Streets, the goal was not to regrade the roadbed evenly and reset every stone but to restore areas that had been torn up and repaired with asphalt by utility workers or other contractors.
"Replacing the entire street is cost prohibitive," said Daniel Reardon, a New York area manager for the trust, which is based in Washington and works to preserve historic neighborhoods. "You also run the risk of the street looking like Disneyland. You lose all the dips and dimples, which give it a historic character."
What New Yorkers call cobblestones are more accurately described as Belgian blocks - true cobblestones being rounded and irregular - but saying so is the province of a scold. And it is probably no more effective than insisting that the horse-drawn carriages on Central Park South are not hansom cabs.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company