Chelsea's Oasis

Subject: Brodsky Buys-off more on Chelsea Landmark
Date: 12/18/2005 6:40:25 AM Eastern Standard Time
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December 18, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor

Chelsea's Oasis
By SAM WATERSTON
NY Times

THE General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, at Ninth Avenue
between 20th and 21st Streets, is an oasis amid the bustle of Chelsea.
Visitors stroll through the seminary's landscaped quadrangles nearly every
day, especially parents with young children and those who wish to worship
in the century-old Chapel of the Good Shepherd.

But lately, the seminary has been known more for controversy than for
serenity. The seminary wants to tear down a four-story building and replace
it with a 17-story one that will include residential space that will
generate millions of dollars. Some neighbors are upset because the new
building would be taller than historic district codes ordinarily allow, but
seminary officials point out that the structure they want to tear down,
which was constructed in 1960, is in desperate need of repair and is hardly
historic. According to the seminary, the income that the new building would
generate offers its only chance to pay for the preservation of the historic
campus.

On Friday, the seminary submitted its plans to the Landmarks Preservation
Commission, which must determine whether the project is appropriate for the
historic district. I hope the commission says yes, because as I see it,
it's the only way to truly protect a place I've come to love.

Having first lived in Chelsea in the early 60's and in an apartment near
the seminary since 1993, I literally stumbled on the campus quadrangles,
known as the Close, several years ago. It is a beautiful secluded park that
offers peace and spirituality in a busy, fast-growing neighborhood. "Law &
Order" has used the seminary as a filming location, and I seek out the
campus and the chapel whenever I can.

But sadly, the seminary's historic, landmark buildings, the earliest of
which dates to 1836, are in urgent need of repair. Since 1999, the seminary
has spent $9 million on preservation efforts, but experts estimate that $15
million to $20 million more is necessary immediately.

Unfortunately, some of the seminary's neighbors have fixated on one element
of the seminary's overall preservation plan - the part that calls for the
17-story building on Ninth Avenue. No doubt their objections are well
intended and spring from the desire to protect and preserve the historic
character of the area. But this is exactly the goal of the seminary as
well, and I believe the neighbors' opposition overlooks the role the new
building will play in preserving the very heart of Chelsea.

The Chelsea neighborhood was literally formed around the seminary, which
was originally an apple orchard deeded to the school in 1819 by Clement
Clark Moore, who taught Hebrew and Greek to the seminarians (and, in his
spare time, wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas").

In the late 19th century, the wonderful Gothic Revival buildings of the
present campus took shape under the guidance of Dean Eugene A. Hoffman. In
the 1950's and 60's, when large stretches of Chelsea were being cleared for
high-rise housing projects, the area immediately around the seminary was
spared. This is precisely the part of the neighborhood that was later
designated the historic district.

Simply because of its location, one of the structures included in the
district is Sherrill Hall, an ugly, dilapidated, nonhistoric building on
Ninth Avenue. In its place, the seminary wants to construct a building
designed by a firm known for its sensitive blending of new and historic
architecture. Built in partnership with a private developer, which will
sell or rent the upper floors as residences, the new building will provide
revenue for the seminary that will be earmarked, by law, for the
preservation of its older, landmark buildings. This is money that the
seminary cannot generate in any other way.

The choice is simple. If the seminary is allowed to proceed with its
proposal, it will be able to continue rescuing the most beautiful and
historic part of Chelsea. If the seminary is not allowed to proceed, it
will have to raise millions of dollars to pour into repairing a broken,
nonhistoric building - a diversion of energy and resources that will
further threaten a campus already in dire condition.

So why would anyone oppose the seminary's plan? Only because the proposed
building would be 17 stories tall. But this is - not at all by chance - the
exact height of a building that stands on Ninth Avenue directly opposite
the seminary. Such is the care that the seminary is taking to match its
proposal to its immediate surroundings.

The seminary's goal is to preserve and protect into the indefinite future
the beauty, history, quiet and, yes, the spirit, that has been at the heart
of Chelsea's historic district from the start. The history, the buildings
and the Close are inextricably linked. Their fate is inextricably connected
to the fate of the whole neighborhood. If you accept that, as I do, then
nothing would do more to preserve historic Chelsea than to allow the
seminary to construct its new building.

Sam Waterston is an actor.