NEW YORK — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the New York State Board for Historic Preservation has recommended adding 18 properties to the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
Of the 18 recommended sites and properties, four of them are in Western New York.
The sites are listed below:
- Lafayette Flats, Buffalo, Erie County - Constructed in 1897, the 36-unit Classical Revival-style apartment building helped provide housing to the city's growing middle class up until the time of World War II, when the increasing availability of automobiles allowed more residents to move to suburban areas.
- Niagara Lithograph Company, Buffalo, Erie County - First constructed in 1903, this two-story brick printing plant reflects the city's role in the growth of the lithograph industry. After a merger, the plant continued to run until closing in 1992. In 2018-19, the formerly vacant building was rehabilitated for use as apartments, offices, and health care related services.
- Our Mother of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church Complex, Blasdell, Erie County - Dating from the early 1950s, this Gothic Revival style church, parochial school, and convent is one of the most intact representations of a mid-20th century church complex in the towns south of Buffalo.
- The Pink House, Wellsville, Allegany County - Built in 1866, this Italianate-style villa also includes intact historic-period features including marble statuary, an ice-house, a three-story carriage barn, a gazebo, and a building known as the Fossil House, where original owner Edwin P. Hall stored his extensive fossil collection that now resides at the New York State Museum in Albany and the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Still in family ownership, the home retains its original pink exterior color that gives it its name.
"These historic locations highlight so much of what is exceptional about New York and its incredible contributions to our nation's history," Governor Cuomo said in a press release. "By placing these landmarks on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, we are helping to ensure these places and their caretakers have the funding needed to preserve, improve and promote the best of this great state."
Once the recommendations are approved by the Commissioner, who serves as the State Historic Preservation Officer, the properties will then be listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and then nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, where they are reviewed and, once approved, entered on the National Register.