The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended 23 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations include an octagonal circus house in Cortland County, an intact Catskills mountain lodge in Ulster County, a railroad focused historic district in Clinton County, the legendary Holcombe Rucker Park Basketball Court in New York City, and many more. [Read more…] about 23 Nominations to State and National Registers
National Register of Historic Places
1909 Lake George Club Nominated to Historic Register
The destruction of the Lake George Yacht Club’s building in Basin Bay in 1896 was as much a loss to Lake George’s architectural history as the demolition of the Gilded Age-
era mansions along Millionaire’s Row.
Today, only a few privately-owned properties on Lake George are protected through the State and National Registers of Historic Places. New York State’s Board for Historic Preservation is attempting to remedy that deficit. [Read more…] about 1909 Lake George Club Nominated to Historic Register
19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 19 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include a nineteenth-century church in Jefferson County that developed and promoted Universalism in Upstate New York, a pre-Revolutionary War house owned by seven generations of the Hulse family on Long Island’s North Shore, and additional documentation for New York City’s Hotel Chelsea recognizing its significance as a center of LGBTQ cultural and creative life. [Read more…] about 19 NY Places Recommended for State and National Registers
Lake George’s Forward Shipwreck
The 1906-built Forward launch was one of the first gasoline-powered vessels on Lake George. The 45-foot-long watercraft was initially a recreational boat for the Bixby family of Bolton Landing.
It later served as an excursion watercraft under different ownership. According to local lore, in the 1930s, the wooden runabout sank. [Read more…] about Lake George’s Forward Shipwreck
25 Properties Recommended to State, National Registers
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) have announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 25 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include an intact 1905 metal casting foundry complex in Hudson, an 1873 house that reflects Syracuse’s layered history of immigration, urban renewal, and grassroots historic preservation, a cohesive group of Colonial Revival apartment buildings in Kenmore built during the 1920s and 1930s suburban housing boom, and an amendment to the 1971 nomination for Revolutionary-era Senate House in Kingston to include its 1920s commemorative museum annex. [Read more…] about 25 Properties Recommended to State, National Registers
Grants for Historic Revitalization in the Mohawk Valley
The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has opened a new round of applications for Mohawk Valley Historic Revitalization Grants to support capital improvements for historic properties in rural communities within the Mohawk Valley in Herkimer and Montgomery counties. [Read more…] about Grants for Historic Revitalization in the Mohawk Valley
19 Nominations to State and National Registers of Historic Places
Nineteen properties and districts have been recommended for inclusion in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations include an office building with a pioneering design in energy efficiency in Buffalo, an Arts and Crafts church on Staten Island, a new historic district in Essex County, and the Cortland home of a leader in New York’s Women’s Club Movement.
The nominations were reviewed on December 3, 2025, at a meeting of the New York State Board for Historic Preservation. [Read more…] about 19 Nominations to State and National Registers of Historic Places
At Debar Pond Lodge DEC Must Do A Better Job
In 2020, DEC issued a draft unit management plan (UMP) for Debar Mountain Wild Forest in the Adirondack Park, which included the removal of Debar Pond Lodge in the town of Duane, Franklin County, and the construction of a 41-acre day use picnic, pavilion, and display area to be reclassified Intensive Use. [Read more…] about At Debar Pond Lodge DEC Must Do A Better Job
Some Unique National Historical Register Listings in New York
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation was established in 1972 and expanded by the New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980. It works with the State Historic Preservation Office to review nominations to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
In honor of the milestone 200th meeting of the Board for Historic Preservation (on September 10, 2025), below are some of New York’s most interesting resources in the National Register, either as individual sites or as parts of historic districts. [Read more…] about Some Unique National Historical Register Listings in New York
State Parks Announces 20 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced the most recent recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 20 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include John Steinbeck’s writing cottage in Sag Harbor; Cluett, Peabody buildings in Troy; Lake George’s Mohican Point; a small surviving commercial historic district on Seneca Street in Buffalo; the architecturally significant post Vatican II St. Peter’s Church in Manhattan; the home of prominent Black community leaders George and Theodora Bragg in Elmira; as well as additional documentation of LGBT history for the Louis N. Jaffe Art Theater Building in New York City. [Read more…] about State Parks Announces 20 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
Preservationists Rally Around Abandoned Wells College Campus
Wells College in Cayuga County, NY, founded in 1868 as a women’s college, was a historically significant institution that embodies the educational and architectural legacy of 19th-century liberal arts education.
Its campus features notable historic buildings and landscapes that contribute to its designation as part of the Aurora Village Historic District (established in 1980). [Read more…] about Preservationists Rally Around Abandoned Wells College Campus
State Parks History: From Nelson Rockefeller to George Pataki
One of the most influential families in New York and American history, the Rockefellers had a deep interest in conservation. In 1959, Nelson Rockefeller, son of John Rockefeller Jr., was elected as New York’s governor, introducing an era which would come to be known as the Rockefeller Period.
During this period, New York State Parks would undergo significant changes and one of its most rapid periods of expansion since its inception. [Read more…] about State Parks History: From Nelson Rockefeller to George Pataki
14 Properties Nominated to State and National Registers
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced recommendations by the New York State Board for Historic Preservation to add 14 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places and expand one existing listing. The nominations include a new historic district in Wellsville, a synagogue on Staten Island, an enslaved people’s burial ground in the Bronx, and an LGBTQ Commune in Newfield. [Read more…] about 14 Properties Nominated to State and National Registers
24 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced the nominations of 24 properties and districts to the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The nominations include bank buildings, factories, historic district updates, and more. [Read more…] about 24 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
National Park Service Awards $10M to Historic Sites; $1.6M in NYS
The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded $10 million in funding from the Semiquincentennial Grant Program, an initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States; $1.6 million is earmarked for sites in New York State.
Among the recipients are Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh; Historic Conference House in Staten Island; and Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about National Park Service Awards $10M to Historic Sites; $1.6M in NYS
Historic Watertown Black Church Being Preserved
Built in 1909, the Thomas Memorial AME Zion Church in the Black River community of Watertown is believed to be the first African American church in Jefferson County, NY.
The congregation, formed in 1878 and incorporated in 1880, worshiped in a private residence at River and Court streets until a bequest of $500 from Watertown resident Henry Gaines enabled them to build a new church. [Read more…] about Historic Watertown Black Church Being Preserved
McKean Fireboat Added To National Register of Historic Places
Following his advocacy and a personal meeting with the Fireboat McKean Preservation Project’s David Rocco, U.S Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer recently announced that the National Park Service (NPS) has approved the nomination of the historic John D. McKean fireboat, a retired New York City Fire Department (FDNY) vessel, to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). [Read more…] about McKean Fireboat Added To National Register of Historic Places
NYS Nominates 13 Places for State, National Registers of Historic Places
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended adding 13 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places and submitting one request to the Columbia Turnpike East Toll House to the National Park Service.
The nominations include a key site associated with Rochester‘s LGBTQ+ history, a historic synagogue in Manhattan‘s Upper West Side, a public park in Ithaca, a church connected to Yonkers’s civil rights history, a re-built Lustron House in Erie County, the Oneida County History Center, and more. [Read more…] about NYS Nominates 13 Places for State, National Registers of Historic Places
Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse Nominated to NYS Register of Historic Places
The Columbia County Historical Society has announced the ca. 1850 Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse, located on Route 9H in Kinderhook, has been nominated to the New York State Register of Historic Places after a unanimous vote by the State Board for Historic Preservation.
The nomination will now be reviewed by the National Park Service for inclusion on the National Register. A second Columbia County structure, the Harder Mill in Hudson, was also nominated. [Read more…] about Ichabod Crane Schoolhouse Nominated to NYS Register of Historic Places
11 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended adding 11 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The nominations include a twentieth-century piano player factory in Syracuse, a rare nineteenth-century stone general store in Millville, a historic cemetery in the Town of East Hampton and a historic district in Lansingburgh. [Read more…] about 11 Nominations for State and National Registers of Historic Places