A fight to preserve a pristine piece of old New York

Good morning. It is Wednesday. We'll look at why a museum is at odds with the city, which owns the 192-year-old row house in which it is located. We'll also look at a class action lawsuit accusing the agency responsible for investigating child abuse of using “coercive tactics” that traumatize families.

It sounds like an intramural squabble: A museum on city property is at odds with a city agency and is circulating letters of protest that it wants to deliver to Mayor Eric Adams.

The squabble is worrying some preservationists because the building the city owns and in which the museum is located is a heritage-listed row house, now known as the Koopmanshuismuseum, which is exactly as it was in the 19th century, except for the electrical wiring. The furnishings, including the 1840s 'square' piano in the front room, were left in place when the last of the old owners died in the 1930s and a relative bought the house.

The house, on East Fourth Street in the East Village, was eventually turned over to the city. By then, the Landmarks Preservation Commission had designated it as both an exterior and interior landmark.

Now the museum — run by a nonprofit that has a long-standing operating agreement with the city — finds itself in conflict with the historic preservation commission, which in December approved plans for a seven-story building next door.

The museum's director, Margaret Halsey Gardiner, said the construction work would jeopardize the stability of the house and could ruin one of its most important elements: the original plasterwork, which she said was irreplaceable.

“All you need is a little shake and the cast will fall down,” she said. “There is no doubt that the building will be damaged. It really could collapse. The plaster will definitely disappear.'

She also questioned the timing of the landmarks commission's approval and said the city, through the parks department, plans to do $3.2 million worth of restoration work on the house later this year.

The monument commission gave its imprimatur to the developer's plans after demanding what its spokeswoman called “independent safeguards,” including a “stabilization and remediation plan” for the plaster and a fund to cover plaster repairs if they were needed. The committee also called for monitoring vibrations during construction, setting stricter standards than normal.

Gardiner's concerns were echoed by Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Historic Preservation Associationeven as he acknowledged that the safeguards “go well beyond what is typically required.”

“I don't have a crystal ball to say whether that will be enough here in terms of keeping the Merchant House safe,” he said. “I will also say that we have had several experiences with the city where precautions that needed to be taken never happened and buildings were damaged as a result.”

The merchant who owned Merchant's House was Seabury Tredwell, who made a fortune in the hardware business and later invested in real estate and new technology, which in his day was railroads. When he died in 1865, each of his eight children inherited $100,000, which is about $2 million today.

An original fake door

The house still retains the formality of antebellum New York, with a vestibule where visitors presented their business cards to a clerk. Inside, the rooms have carefully measured proportions. The front room has a fake door, which was placed exactly as it was when the house was built. It's there for symmetry and balances the real door on the other end of the wall opposite the fireplace.

The developer behind the adjacent project, Kalodop II Park Corporation, submitted plans 12 years ago calling for the demolition of the one-storey garage on that plot. The museum fought that plan and it was rejected by the City Council after it was approved by the Landmarks Commission and the City Planning Commission. The current plan does not require Council action because it does not involve zoning waivers, as the previous plan did.

Berman said it would have been a “win-win situation” if the city had purchased the garage and “turned it into something that is compatible with this vulnerable building.” But the parks department is not pursuing the acquisition of this parcel, a spokeswoman said.

Gary Spindler, a Kalodop officer, pointed out the safeguards the historic preservation committee had requested. “Many buildings were built next to listed buildings, all of different ages and types,” he said. “This is nothing new in New York City.”

He said the next step was to make plans and go to the Buildings Department. Only then, he said, would he decide “what is the best use” for the new structure – assuming the Building Department approves the necessary permits. Gardiner's letters say to deny them.

Weather

Expect a partly sunny day with light winds and temperatures in the low 40s. Look for partly cloudy skies tonight as temperatures drop into the low 30s.

ALTERNATE PARKING

In effect until March 24 (Purim).

The latest New York news

Ebony Gould, above, is a single mother of three in Queens who has been investigated 12 times by the city agency responsible for detecting and stopping child abuse. Each study included multiple home visits.

Gould, who believes the investigations were prompted by an abusive ex-partner, said she was made to feel she had no choice but to let in investigators from the agency, the Administration for Children's Services. She said an ACS worker told her during one of the first visits that she was at risk of having her children taken away.

“It almost felt like I was being abused again,” said Gould, who was acquitted each time, “but by a stranger.”

Gould is a plaintiff in a sweeping class action lawsuit that alleges ACS uses unconstitutional practices that traumatize the families it is designed to protect. The lawsuit alleges that agency investigators used bullying and deception to force their way into people's homes, search families' belongings, search children and humiliate parents.

Gould and the other plaintiffs are represented by the Family Justice Law Center, an organization dedicated to preventing unnecessary family separations. David Shalleck-Klein, executive director of the group, said the purpose of the lawsuit was not to halt ACS investigations but to focus on illegal searches.

“They open refrigerators, inspect labels in medicine cabinets, tell children to lift up their shirts and pull down their pants,” he said. “And it's not just a one-time action: they come back regularly, again and again.

Marisa Kaufman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said in a statement that the agency would review the lawsuit. “ACS is committed to keeping children safe and respecting the rights of parents,” she said.

The agency investigates more than 40,000 allegations per year. Some are emergencies, and the agency has the difficult task of balancing the civil rights of families with the safety of children.

But the lawsuit says the agency “chooses to almost never seek court orders” — one of three legal justifications investigators can use to enter homes — and conducts tens of thousands of searches each year in non-emergency circumstances, involving consent is coerced and constitutional protections are violated. unreasonable search and seizure.

METROPOLITAN diary

Photo bomber

Dear Diary:

It was the winter of 1981 or 1982. My friend Maya and I were modeling for a friend who wanted to photograph us on the subway for a project she was working on.

We got into number 6 at Astor Place and headed into town. At 23rd Street, comedian Andy Kaufman boarded the train and sat on the other side of the car.