Elmhurst Library is coming down. This week marks the start of its demolition to make way for a state-of-the art replacement, but before any work has been done, some local activists are saying the new construction is already tarnished by an unfortunate loss of the library’s history.
Michael Perlman, chair of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, is warning that Elmhurst’s and Queen’s historic buildings are slowly slipping away. He said Elmhurst Library is just the latest example of a system biased toward preserving Manhattan and Brooklyn landmarks before Queens.
Elmhurst Library, at 86-01 Broadway, was built with funding from Andrew Carnegie, the philanthropically inclined
steel baron, who died in 1919.
There are seven remaining libraries in NewYork that were funded by Carnegie, but Elmhurst, which opened in 1906, is the biggest.
“This case is one of the preservation travesties for our borough,” Perlman said.
That’s a theme Perlman and other preservationists have been carrying since 2008 when he and the Newtown Civic Association—which also recently lamented the library’s demolition—met with Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer who was then External Affairs Officer of the Queens Public Library.
They made a plea to incorporate the old building into a new design that was needed to increase capacity at the system’s second busiest branch.
Despite his apparent support for preservation now, no solution came out of the 2008 meeting with Van Bramer.
“The desire by some to preserve the Carnegie library is honorable,” Van Bramer said in a statement Tuesday. “I would love nothing more than to preserve the historic structure, but the library has made its decision. The 30,000-square-foot-building will provide Elmhurst residents with a quality facility that is capable of serving the library’s growing number of patrons.”
As a concession, the Library assured local historians they would save some stonework and the library’s original fireplace mantel would be incorporated into the new design.
“The Queens library mentioned they would extract a couple of original bricks,” Perlman said. “But my question is, how does preserving a couple of bricks here and there come close to a grand design of an Andrew Carnegie library.”
It’s a problem all over Queens, he said, but Elmhurst—with only the Elks Lodge on Queens Boulevard, Newtown High School and Fellowship Hall at 85-15 Broadway protected by New York’s Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC)—is a perfect example of bias toward protecting Manhattan and Brooklyn buildings first.
“It bothers me how the [LPC] says they’re focusing greater attention on Queens, but if you closely examine the public agenda calendar items, almost everything is focused on Manhattan, and second in line on Brooklyn,”Perlman said.
To become a protected landmark in the city, someone must first propose a site for consideration.
It’s then researched by staff and reviewed publicly by the LPC and can be killed before going to a public hearing.
This is where Perlman takes issue with the process, saying a politician with no architectural or historical background can nix a worthy site before a neighborhood even has its say.
After a public hearing, the LPC votes and sends its recommendation on to the City Council.
“No commission has been more active in terms of landmark designations in Queens than this one,” Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the LPC said. She listed 10 historic districts in Queens and 68 individual landmarks.
It’s too late though for Elmhurst Library, currently surrounded by blue plywood fencing, which is prepared to have its first bricks removed.
“The bigger picture is the Landmark Preservation Council once again turning a blind eye to Queens,” Perlman said.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
Forum Newsgroup photo by Jeremiah Dobruck
