New White Plains Historic Preservation Commission Eyeing Two Properties
The city of White Plains has an historical preservation commission for the first time in its history, and members are already eyeing two properties it wants preserved.
The newly formed commission met last week on short notice at the city building department offices at 70 Church Street. Commission chairman Robert Hoch, who is also a trustee of the White Plains Historical Society, said one of the city buildings on the group’s radar, located at 283 Soundview Ave., also known as Soundview Manor, is scheduled to be demolished. The building was built from 1919-1920 by architect Chester Patterson.
“He is known for building a number of mansions on the north shore of Long Island,” Hoch explained. “This property is on both the state and national [historic] registers.”
The historic mansion is in immediate jeopardy, said Damon Amadio, the city’s building department commissioner.
“Last week, one of our inspectors was in the neighborhood and happened to see construction fencing around the property and tracking pads for vehicles, so we immediately put a stop work order on the property,” Amadio told commission members Larry Delgado, Jeffrey Geary, Jennifer Lee, Hope Scully and Anette Kaichur.
The property owner, KOS Building Group of Mamaroneck, had just filed for a demolition permit Oct. 16, he added.
Hoch said the property is a good example of an early 20th Century estate in Westchester County. The home was built for Robert and Elsie Dula as their principal residence.
“The house is an impressive example of neo-classical style, with its symmetrical form, columned porches, refined classical ornamentation on the exterior and interior and unusual central attic story,” Hoch said.
State or national historic registries often do not offer the same protection that a local municipality can give a property by granting it its own local historic landmark status, Hoch said.
The board voted to formally move forward with crafting an historic designation resolution for the property, and a public hearing would be held at the next meeting before the resolution could be voted on.
Hoch also cited a second property at 52 North Broadway, formerly occupied by the Sisters of the Divine Compassion, known as the Good Counsel property.
The property was being purchased to be developed, but several buildings on the property had been designated on the state and national historic registries, including the Chapel of the Divine Compassion and the Mapleton Conference and Catering House, Hoch said.
“I don’t think it is as pressing an issue at this point as Soundview Manor, but by taking it up as a proposal, I think what we’ll do is create a backstop for the unknown,” Hoch said. “I think there’s quite a bit of public interest in this one.”
Commission members agreed that additional research needed to be done before any decisions concerning the property could be made, and voted to start the process of fact gathering on the property.
The commission will next meet Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the White Plains Common Council Chambers.
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