One hundred years from now, most of those who walk on West 29^th Street in Manhattan may not know what Fern Luskin, Julie Finch, and a small group of local citizens did to preserve the block between Eighth and Ninth avenues. But in all likelihood they will see, largely intact, the mid-19^th century row houses that possessed an important role in the struggles of African-Americans for freedom before and during the Civil War.

Thanks to the tenacious efforts of these preservationists, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on Tuesday unanimously voted to accord this block landmark protection, designating it as the Lamartine Place Historic District. The LPC designated 12 row houses, from 333-355 West 29^th St., as a historic district.

These row houses have a distinctive and remarkable history, both in the life of New York City and the United States. They are connected with important events in the 1850s and 1860s, and one house is linked to the Underground Railroad. The home, 339 West 29^th St., was a documented “safe house” on the Underground Railroad where noted Quaker abolitionists Abigail Hopper Gibbons, known as Abby, and her husband, James Sloan Gibbons, lived. Runaway slaves found sanctuary in the Gibbons’ home on their escape route to Canada.

The Gibbons’ house was also a meeting place for abolitionists, who were fervent in their desire to bring an end to slavery. The block became one of the settings of violence and seething tensions during New York City’s Draft Riots of 1863, in which mobs opposed to the Union Army’s conscription rioted for four days during July.

“This 19^th century enclave was an eyewitness to the dramatic events that shook New York City during the Draft Riots of 1863,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chairman Robert Tierney in the LPC’s announcement of the historic district. “One of the houses that was directly attacked was also a haven for fleeing slaves, and a home to the abolitionists who assisted them.”

A Contrast With Midtown

If you walk in the North Chelsea neighborhood now, it’s hard to believe that this quiet block of row houses has survived, a fairly intact 19^th century oasis amid development and much change occurring nearby. It’s located just two blocks south of the southern perimeter of Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.

Developer William Torrey, in association with Cyrus Mason, a New York University professor, built the 12 row houses that now comprise the historic district, completing them in 1847. Originally, the homes were of the Greek Revival style, and they maintain much of this look, though Renaissance Revival elements (such as the cornices) were later added. According to the LPC, the street originally was named after Alphonse de Lamartine, a French poet, writer, and statesman who played a role in the French Revolution of 1848.

Ironically, the threat to and subsequent alteration of 339 West 29^th St. – when the owner began in 2007 to construct an addition on top of the row house – sparked the campaign to protect and landmark the houses. Fern Luskin, a professor and an art and architecture historian who lives on the block, was distressed when she first saw the construction. She began to dig into the house’s history and discovered documentation that it was a safe house for the Underground Railroad. Julie Finch, who lives nearby though not on the block, said she first found out about the situation at Quaker meeting and then joined in Luskin’s effort.

Lamartine Place, with the construction at 339 West 29th St.

Since then, the two have become a team with single-minded devotion aimed at stopping and reversing the construction of the rooftop addition and obtaining landmark protections for the Hopper-Gibbons House and the block. Luskin researched many historic records and archives such as tax maps and city directories. The two women have also relied on Abby Hopper Gibbons’ correspondence, fugitive slave records, books about the period, and primary sources such as original reports on the riots. Both now have encyclopedic knowledge of the Gibbons’ abolitionist activities, the draft riot attacks, and the suffering of fugitive slaves at that time.

Celebratory Moment

Those who fight for historic preservation for countless hours, make dozens of phone calls, stay up late researching, and strain their eyesight poring over records and Googling don’t always emerge victorious. But on Tuesday, Finch and Luskin could take a breather and savor a victory. Asked Tuesday how she felt after the commission’s vote to designate Lamartine Place, Finch said, “Wow! Wow! We’re so happy.”

In Finch’s view, Lamartine Place’s landmark protection is a crucial component of preserving the city’s African-American history of that era – history to which West 29^th Street has such a direct tie. “To me personally, it means that the lynchings that took place (in New York City) during the draft riots are memorialized,” Finch added.

Once rioting broke out, angry mobs attacked many blacks and abolitionists. The mobs lynched 11 black men in New York during the unrest, according to In the Shadow of Slavery by Leslie Harris. Hundreds fled the city. Finch read of one African-American man who left his home to buy a loaf of bread and was attacked and lynched. The rioters set upon a man named Abraham Franklin at the corner of West 27^th Street and Seventh Avenue and lynched him in front of his own mother, a chilling incident that Finch found in researching an 1863 report on the riots.

New York City had become a hotbed of tensions between those who sought the abolition of slavery and became increasingly vocal and active in their support for the Union and Emancipation, and others who sympathized with the Confederacy and opposed the law to draft men to fight for the Union cause. Antiwar newspaper publishers especially whipped up feelings among the white working class with inflammatory attacks against the conscription law, according to In the Shadow of Slavery. The feelings that boiled over into violent rioting spilled over onto Lamartine Place.

The Gibbons’ home had already been attacked once during 1863, after they draped their home in bunting to celebrate President Lincoln’s delivery of the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1 of that year, according to the LPC. During the draft riots, an angry group set fire to the Gibbons’ house, using torches, and ransacked it. Two of the Gibbons’ daughters fled over neighboring roofs to the house of their uncle. Joseph Hodges Choate, a lawyer and friend of the Gibbons’, enlisted the help of a neighbor at the end of the block and had a carriage waiting in which the girls were able to escape safely.

If they were afraid, it did not stop Hopper Gibbons, her husband, or her father, Isaac, from their endeavors to see slavery abolished and to protect escaping slaves. Isaac Hopper was very key in first organizing the system through which slaves from the South were able to hide in “safe houses” and escape northward and to Canada, and he is known as the “father of the underground railroad.” Others involved in the anti-slavery movement stayed in or visited 339 West 29^th St., including New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley, abolitionist John Brown, social reformer and women’s rights advocate Lucretia Mott, and William Lloyd Garrison, who helped organize the American Anti-Slavery Society. (For more on the life and social reform work of Abby Hopper Gibbons, see Mindful Walker’s “Sparks Over an Underground Railroad Site.”)

What About the Construction?

Enlisting the help of state legislators, city officials, local preservationists, and neighbors, Luskin and Finch have sought to not only obtain landmark protection but to stop the construction of the additional story and rooftop penthouse at 339 West 29^th St. In May of this year, the city Department of Buildings (DOB) first halted construction, stating that the work didn’t conform to the owner’s approved plans. The DOB, citing additional violations, has now revoked the owners’ application for further work.

Though they’ve achieved a major victory with the landmark approval, one that especially will benefit people now and in the future who care about the city’s and the nation’s history, Luskin and Finch are not stopping their work on behalf of this block. They want to get the Hopper-Gibbons House listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Finch said. Also, ideas have been floated about someday creating an educational center at the former Underground Railroad sanctuary. (The two women have also drawn awards for their actions: They received a Preservation Award from the Underground Railroad Free Press for their work in saving the Hopper-Gibbons House as well as an earlier award from New York’s Historic District Council.)

But first things first: Finch, Luskin, and others are seeking to have what has been built of the house’s vertical addition – which protrudes well above the rooflines of the remaining homes – removed. As Luskin explained, while many of her neighbors are happy about the historic district designation, “their next question is, so is it (the addition) coming down?” For now, scaffolding and a dark covering over the construction remain (photo), standing out among the row of well-kept homes. Luskin hopes that the LPC’s landmarking approval and the media attention it is receiving will provide further muscle to their campaign to have the addition demolished and the prior appearance restored, especially given the Building Department’s actions in finding violations.

Finch and Luskin received much help from a number of people, including Laurence Frommer, who has created a Web site for the campaign; state Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and his Chief of Staff Wendi Paster and district aide Medina Napier; Ed Kirkland, who chairs the Community Board 4 Landmarks Task Force; Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation; Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council; State Senator Tom Duane and his Deputy Chief of Staff Colin Casey; and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and legislative aide Melanie La Rocca.

So, despite the many hours clocked already, there is little rest among a small group that cares passionately about Lamartine Place and especially the Hopper-Gibbons House. As Luskin said, “We’re excited, but we know it’s not over yet.”

To further explore the history of Lamartine Place and the Hopper-Gibbons House, also see:

Sparks Over an Underground Railroad Site

Teach-In Set at Underground Railroad House