The Genesee Brewing Company owns three landmark buildings on Cataract Street, and they want to demolish two of them. Your recent editorial confessing ambivalence about their preservation and reuse is, at best, puzzling (Urban Journal, December 28).
First, the buildings are not massive, nor are they weird, as you suggest. The best of the landmarks, 13 Cataract Street, is five stories tall, and features a small tower with majestic views of the High Falls (and is majestic viewed from the High Falls). It has a bunch of nasty appendages, which should be removed, revealing it for what it is: a gem. Designed by our nation's leading brewery architect, AC Wagner, in the late 1880's, this lovely little building is nearly perfect. It is nuanced, rooted to the particularities of its urban setting, deftly positioned at the edge of the High Falls gorge and the Pont de Rennes, and with its neighbor at 7 Cataract Street, the building the brewers plan to reuse, will create a sensational urban space east of the river.
If these buildings are absent, we lose a significant piece of our urban narrative, a beautiful expression of the best of 19th-century industrial architecture, and a chance to create another anchor for the unified redevelopment of the High Falls.
But here is what is really puzzling: why let the brewery off the hook for the care of these landmark buildings? Instead, why not invoke civic responsibility and good urban stewardship as reasons enough for them to insure that these buildings remain? Abandoned by their owners, left to swoon and decay, these buildings, by virtue of their status as landmarks, belong in part to all of us. We have created laws to protect these assets, and claiming that they are too far gone to save is oxymoronic. The buildings' owners have let them decline, and they should be held responsible for their revival.
Then it would be both/and, instead of either/or. Both preserved and ready for a useful future, instead of either an eroding pile, or gone.
We have long passed the time when tearing down the city is ever a good idea. It was the 18th-century French author Fontenelle who said, "It takes time to ruin a world, but time is all it takes."
HOWARD DECKER, FAIA
For the record, the buildings' current owners, North American Breweries, bought the brewery in 2009. According to the brewery's website, the buildings were abandoned more than 25 years ago.
Comments for "PRESERVATION: The Cataract buildings are worth saving" (6)
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Howard Decker said on Jan. 11, 2012 at 4:37pm
First, thank you for publishing my letter. It is appreciated.
But second, your addendum to my letter is a bit misleading. You say that though North American Breweries bought the brewery here in 2009, the buildings, they say, were abandoned years ago. I am not sure what your point is - the fact that they purchased abandoned buildings does nothing to lessen their responsibility for them.
Will Condo said on Jan. 11, 2012 at 9:14pm
This is a very common tactic used by property owners, often silently supported by local governments. Here in the Town of Greece, Nothgate Plaza was allowed to deteriorate for years with the parking lot getting so bad that vehicles had to avoid crumbling asplaht and deep potholes that where never repaired. Then the developers, the Widewaters Group, used the notion that the site had to be demolished and replaced with....A WALMART. The Town of Greece did nothing, in violation of their own building codes, to force the property owner/developer to keep the existing property in minimal repair. Of course, some local residents where convinced that only a new Walmart would restore Nothgate to its former retail glory. So rather than redevelopment this property into a mixed-use town center, a sense of place for this sprawling suburban town with no quality development, the town government supported Widewaters and a new Walmart is rising. They even have the nerve to place a "historical marker" on the site to recognize this embrace of continued urban sprawl.
Mike Governale said on Jan. 11, 2012 at 9:56pm
FOR THE RECORD: Mr. Decker's comments were spot on and didn't need correcting. The buildings weren't abandoned. They've been owned by Genesee for as long as Genesee has been in existence (now North American Breweries but still Genesee). The buildings have been VACANT - not abandoned. There's a big difference. They've been NEGLECTED for 25 years (3 of those years by NAB). If the buildings WERE abandoned we would not be having this ridiculous conversation because someone could have acquired the buildings from the City of Rochester and begun renovations by now.
Hello, look at what we learned just this week... the brewery received at least TWO offers from developers for 13 Cataract. If the City Newspaper wants to do some journalism for a change, pick up a phone and call Costanza Enterprises or John Thomas Property and find out why they were turned away and if they're still interested in the building. Now THAT would be print-worthy; not, "oh I'm on the fence about whether or not we should save these buildings... oh gee, let's not do anything unreasonable." Are you serious? That's not even an opinion. Here, I'll help you out, here's a link to the offer letters: http://bit.ly/w4rTJG I'm serious, pick up a phone. Go ahead. We'll wait.
Adam said on Feb. 05, 2012 at 8:33am
I couldn't agree more. The fact that two offers have come in on this property is simply a GAME CHANER. We need to hear more on this. Why were the offers rejected? Why would the city allow demolition when they may be a market for these buildings?
Wayne Shipman said on Feb. 07, 2012 at 2:34pm
Good points by Mr. Decker...
Funny, the family that owned the buildings long ago also created Genesee Country Museum , and they dedicated huge amounts of money to... wait for it... preserve buildings! Maybe we should move the buildings out to Mumford so they can be preserved and properly appreciated... [snark off]
Urban Explorer said on Feb. 11, 2012 at 11:07am
I agree with Mr. Governale. This story could use some in depth investigative reporting and it appears that neither the D & C, nor City Newspaper, is willing to do it. Other than obstinacy and spite, why would the brewery reject legitimate offers?
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