![]() ![]() Over time, when buildings are expanded or torn down, and new larger buildings are built, or buildings are combined, the lot number can change. When sorting the plans, we verify the block and lot information and record it in a spreadsheet, as well as addresses, quantity of plans, dates, and notes on architects, important features, and major condition concerns that are passed on to our conservation department.Ī block can contain up to 70 or 80 lots, sometimes all rolled together. The method for organizing the plans is according to the building’s block and lot number all the plans for all the buildings or structures built on a particular city lot, and all the changes and alterations made to an already existing building on that lot, are stored together. By 1882, no wood-frame buildings were allowed below 155th Street.įirst, the dusty bundles are un-rolled and the plans are identified, sorted, flattened, repaired if damaged, counted and cataloged, and carefully and neatly re-rolled onto acid-free tubes, wrapped with protective Mylar, and stored in acid-free boxes. In 1816, the city banned new construction of wood-frame structures below Canal Street and in 1849 the ban was extended to 32nd Street. The 1845 fire destroyed 345 buildings in the financial district and killed 40 people. Fires devastated the city in 1776, 1835, and 1845. Throughout the next 200 years, city leaders enacted an array of building regulations, mostly related to sanitation and public safety, particularly from the hazard of fire. Among the edicts were prohibitions on roofs made of reeds, and wooden or plaster chimneys. In 1625, the Dutch West India Company imposed rules for the locations and types of houses that could be built in the colony. Regulations concerning buildings pre-date the DOB. The plans had been submitted to the DOB by builders, architects, plumbers, electricians, etc., as part of the process to receive a permit to build or alter any structure. They date from establishment of the Department of Buildings (DOB) in 1866 through 1978. ![]() While the story of the Federal Archive Building today may seem like just another example of a luxury loft conversion, it was one of the first old industrial buildings to undergo such a transformation, occurring at a time when New York City was still very much uncertain about how, or even whether or not, to honor its industrial heritage.The collection consists of architectural plans for most buildings on the 958 blocks of Manhattan below 34th Street. Today, rents for an Archive studio apartment start at $5,500 a month and increase to $10,500 a month for a two-bedroom penthouse. Rents for studios in the Archive started at $1,400 a month and increased to $3,400 a month for a penthouse. When the building reopened in 1988, it contained 479 loft-style rental apartments with up to 20-foot ceilings. Construction work was completed in 1988 at a cost of $112 million, and the building was renamed the Archive. The Federal Archive Building’s redevelopment was a complicated process, but in 1982 an agreement was reached between the UDC and two developers, Teitelbaum Group and Rockrose. Luxury loft advertisement in the rental office of the Federal Archive Building. With the wounds from the loss of the original Pennsylvania Station still fresh, and the success of SoHo’s upscale rebirth quite obvious, New York State’s Urban Development Corporation bought the building for $10 and began looking for a developer to convert it to residential use. Although the building was from another era, it was unlikely to be torn down because it had been designated a New York City landmark in 1966 and a national landmark in 1973. By 1976, the move-out was complete and the building sat vacant, with the federal government declaring it surplus property soon after. Throughout the early 1970s, as New York City was hitting the bottom of its long decline, the National Archives was moving its offices out of the Federal Archive Building and into new facilities in suburban New Jersey. For the next 40 years, the building would primarily be used as the National Archives’ office space, although the building also housed a post office on its first floor. However, during the Great Depression, the federal government decided to move its offices for the National Archives and Records Administration into the building, giving it the name Federal Archive Building. During its more than 30 year lifespan as a Customs facility, the building was called the United States Appraisers’ Warehouse.
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