New York Landmarks Conservancy

The New York Landmarks Conservancy is a non-profit organization "dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and reusing New York’s architecturally significant buildings." It provides technical assistance, project management services, grants, and loans, to owners of historic properties in New York State. Since its founding, the Conservancy has provided more than $40 million in grants and loans.

The Conservancy runs three main programs:

U.S. Custom House - As its first challenge, the conservancy took on determining the fate of the U.S. Custom House on Bowling Green. Left vacant by the U.S. Customs Service after its 1973 move to the World Trade Center, the Beaux-Arts palace faced an uncertain future. The project to convert the Custom House to new uses was conducted by the Conservancy with cooperation of the U.S. General Services Administration and sponsored by the Custom House Institute, an organization formed by a group of downtown businessman. The Conservancy was empowered by the G.S.A. to direct efforts to develop plans for the preservation and reuse of the building. More than two decades after it was vacated, the restored Custom House took on a new life when the National Museum of the American Indian with its incomparable collection of native artifacts opened in the public spaces in 1994.

Fraunces Tavern Block (Pearl Street - Lower Manhattan) - The Conservancy worked to stop the demolition of five 19th-century commercial buildings on the Fraunces Tavern Block. The organization convinced the Department of Buildings to issue a temporary stop work order on May 20th, 1974 while the Conservancy assumed a proactive role in efforts to develop economically viable plans for the row of buildings. These efforts included feasibility studies, designation as an historic district, negotiations with city agencies, reuse proposals, and special zoning legislation. In 1978 the Conservancy was successful in obtaining funds to purchase the five buildings and the row was leased to a private developer for conversion to residential and commercial use which is still in use today.

Pier A - When Pier A was threatened with demolition by the Battery Park City Authority to make way for landfill in 1975 the Conservancy secured local landmark designation and the listing of the 1886 fireboat station on the National Register of Historic Places. This made possible a federal grant, matched by New York State funds, for the preparation of an historic structures report. Unused for years while plans were stalled by financial problems, this outstanding example of Victorian architecture and innovative engineering has now been redeveloped. It will reopen in early 2015 as a restaurant Pier A Harbor House.

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Wikipedia