How close is your nearest park? This is a question that tends to become quite important when you’re living in a city. Whether going to the park or visiting a garden, most people need to see some greenery in their daily lives. It gives us a sense of relaxation and connection to nature that’s impactful to us and our environment. New York especially can give you that want for trees and plants, but there are many green spaces that people might not realize are all around them. Some of these places tend to be locked behind the gates of the rich or at the cost of a ticket, other spaces are just unknown to the public eye. Finding and creating these spaces for the public is important, especially when discussing our mental health or New York's struggle with climate change. Not only do green spaces help keep us grounded, they allow for an impact on so many of the city's problems. From collecting massive rainfall to giving us a place to relax, these spaces help us while also helping our environment. All of these topics are important to cover when talking about green spaces in New York. Looking at the accessibility and environmental impact will give us an insight into how they can impact the future of green spaces in the city.

Organized firefighting has long been a part of New York City’s history. Groups of volunteer firefighters were first formed by Dutch colonists in the 1640s and the more formal volunteer Fire Department of the City of New York was established in 1737. It wasn’t until the 19th century that volunteers began to be replaced by professional firefighters. In 1865, the New York’s state legislature established the Metropolitan Fire Department to serve the residents of Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 1870, when the new city charter relinquished control of the city from the state, the name was reverted to the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). When the city expanded to include all five boroughs in 1898, the various departments were unified into a single citywide firefighting organization. Some volunteer firefighters still remained in sparsely populated areas, but were disbanded or absorbed by the FDNY in the early 20th century as new paid companies were installed. Professionalization of firefighting also led to standardization of fire stations and equipment. An increasing number of stations were built throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Between 1880 and 1895, Napoleon LeBrun & Son was the official architectural firm of the FDNY. After 1895, the FDNY employed in-house architects, including FDNY superintendent of buildings Alexander Stevens, and outside architects, including Walter E. Parfitt, Herts & Tallant, Hoppin & Koen, Satterlee & Boyd and Dennison, and Hirons & Darbyshire. At the turn of the century, new stations were built with neo-classical details, following the principles of the City Beautiful movement. The expansion and professionalization of the FDNY are exemplified in the large number of projects reviewed by the Art Commission in the early 20th century, including fire alarm boxes and over 60 fire stations in all five boroughs.

Constructed on the Hudson River Front between 1979 and 1986, the Javits Center is the most contemporary building on our tour. I.M. Pei and Partners designed the conference center to evoke the crystal palaces at the center of 19th-century World’s Fairs in London and Paris. Unfortunately, the Javits Center, has been enmeshed in controversy since its nascence. The project was finished two years behind schedule andmore than $111 million dollars over budget, and was investigated by the U.S. attorney’s office for its links to corrupt, mob-dominated unions. The glass exterior was constructed without any thought to cleaning, and the defining feature of the proposed design, a glittering entrance hall that would have opened onto the Hudson River, was never constructed due to budgetary constraints. In 2015, FXFOWLE completed a major renovation of the Javits Center which greened the building and made the glass façade safer for birds. Javits has been disparagingly likened to a tinker-toy set, a mausoleum, and Darth Vader. New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff went so far as to list the building as one of his “top candidates for demolition” in New York City. With such vitriol surrounding the Javits Center, could a building like this ever warrant historic preservation? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Historic and cultural significance are accrued over time. Buildings can only be considered for historic designation once they have turned 50, which also happens to be the average lifespan of an American commercial building. A building is most at risk for demolition when it is between 30 and 40 years old. The Javits Center is 34. Should preservationists begin to reconsider the architectural contributions of this building? Probably – I.M. Pei is a significant Chinese-American architect whose work will be studied by many generations to come. With its clear nod to 19th-century architecture, the building embodies many of the ideals of the postmodernism movement and fulfills criteria for cultural significance. Time is the most precious resource in historic preservation – how can we better guess which buildings will be significant before they are at high risk for demolition?

"39th Street, between Twelfth and Eleventh Avenues, looking east, showing a flock of sheep in front of the slaughter house at No. 627, October 31, 1931." West 39th Street near the Hudson River was the center of the city's slaughterhouse district from the middle of the 19th century through the 1950s. Called “Abattoir Row," cattle and other livestock were ferried across the river and held in the slaughterhouses of this neighborhood before being processed for consumption in New York's homes and restaurants. The infrastructure for this operation included a cow tunnel under 12th Avenue for livestock exiting the ferries, and in 1955, an aluminum-sided bridge built above the street so the cattle did not stop the flow of traffic. The pictured block of 39th Street between 11th and 12th Avenues no longer exists, a victim of the Javits Center construction in the late 1970s. Some sources suggest that whatever remained of the cow tunnels were also lost with that development.