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How last year's '10 to save' fared

By Lana Bortolot | Special to amNewYork

December 21, 2007

Here's a look back at how the locations featured in last year's "10 to Save." One was landmarked, two were demolished, and the others still face an uncertain future.

Still unprotected and considered endangered by the New York Landmarks Conservancy:
St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, 260 W. 118th St.
Scaffolding is in place and the interior has been gutted.The stained-glass windows are to be repurposed for a church upstate. No further word from the Archdiocese on what will happen to the building.

St. Brigid's, Avenue B and East 8th Street
Despite a very public battle, the church lost an appeal for a stay of demolition this month, but will appeal again. Stay tuned.

First Baptist Church of the City of New York, West 79th Street and Broadway
The building remains without landmark designation and the congregation may be divided between those who have worked hard on restoration and those who see potential millions to be realized through redevelopment of the site.

P.S. 31, 425 Grand Concourse, Bronx
One of the few individual landmarks in the Bronx, it is in a state of neglect.

The 1964-65 New York State Pavilion, Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Not landmarked, though it should be, says Peg Breen of the Landmarks Conservancy, and dangerously neglected.

Jamaica Savings Bank Building, 161-02 Jamaica Ave.
Still vacant, its landmark designation twice denied; and the city council years ago overturned landmark designation for the modernist branch (now a North Fork bank) at 89-01 Queens Blvd.

In limbo
Mount Morris Bank Building, 125th Street and Park Avenue
Still not landmarked, but under new ownership. Financial difficulties have delayed reconstruction.

Blackwell House, Roosevelt Island
Landmarked. Stabilization plan in place with a good likelihood of restoration

Ruins of the Smallpox Hospital, Roosevelt Island
Landmarked. Stabilization plan in place but not out of jeopardy pending the outcome of a rival restoration plan.

P&G Bar neon sign (73rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue)
Still flickering, but only for as long as the lease lasts in this uncertain real-estate market. But other neon signs across town are sacrificed as teardowns continue.

Landmarked:
The 104th St. Automat Building (2710-14 Broadway), and Art Deco outpost of the Horn & Hardart chain.

Demolished:
The Graving Dock at Red Hook, Brooklyn
Filled in for an Ikea parking lot.

Superior Inks Factory, 70 Bethune St.
Townhouses and a glass tower are proposed for the site. Developers originally proposed a 210,000-square-foot, 270-foot curving glass tower. Under pressure from the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the plan has been scaled back.