Preservation Magazine

A Stylish Stay in New York City’s Historic Jane Hotel

Posted on: September 19th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 4 Comments

Written by Laura Wainman, Editorial Intern

The 1908 red brick Georgian-style Jane Hotel was built by William Alciphron Boring.

September is my favorite month for myriad reasons. Washington weather typically drops a good 15 degrees after August, Starbucks begins serving its tasty Pumpkin Spice latte, and the social media world is abuzz with the latest glittery news from New York fashion week.

This year, September was all the more exciting as I was attending the NYC fashion shows in person for the first time, which gave me the perfect excuse to check out the historic Jane Hotel, home away from home to everyone from sailors to Titanic survivors to bohemian cultural icons over the decades.

After a four-hour post-work bus ride and harrowing cab ride that put me in New York well after midnight, I decided exploring the hotel would have to wait until morning. I went for a Breakfast at Tiffany’s-like meal, sampling a buttery croissant and crisp Cafe Americano from the downstairs Cafe Gitane. I could almost pretend I was Kate Winslet in Titanic (lifelong dream accomplished) sans the cumbersome corset dress as I wandered the narrow corridors reminiscent of ship berths.

The doormen and bell hops will all greet you as if you have been friends for years, perhaps because they still have some resident sailors who have lived there for years.

The 1908 Georgian-style building was originally used as lodging for sailors as part of the American Seamen’s Friend Society’s attempts to civilize sailors passing through the port of New York, according to the New York Times. The architect, William Alciphron Boring, was well-known for his design of Ellis Island’s immigration station, including the Main Hospital Building (one of our National Treasures, as well as an 11 Most Endangered List entry for 2012).

Boring designed a red brick building with an octagonal tower on the corner of Jane and West streets opposite the Hudson. The facade, tiled lobby flooring, and a stunning fountain in the lobby remain from the original structure and many of the decor elements give a nod to the hotel’s nautical past, including the portholes in seemingly every door. Even the bathrooms are shared hall-style, just as the sailors experienced.

The cozy 50 sq. ft cabin is exactly the same as what the Titanic survivors who stayed at the Jane experienced, save for the added flat-screen TVs and iPod docking stations.

The Jane has grown slightly from its original 156 rooms to today’s 171, but the interiors of the rooms remain true to the past. The 100 standard single cabins and 41 bunk bed cabins all measure roughly seven by seven feet with barely enough space to turn around.

More than 100 Titanic survivors stayed in these very rooms in 1912 and held a memorial service for those they had lost. Guests are said to have stayed for 25 cents a night. The higher-ups on the ships -- officers, engineers, cooks -- stayed in the Captain’s Cabins, which look more like typical hotel rooms.

The restored -- and roomier -- Captain's Cabins.

In 1944, the YMCA bought the building and used it as a residence for transients. The hotel became a beacon of New York’s bohemian culture in the '80s and '90s, and played host to many rock parties such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch and the Million Dollar Club. The Jane proudly proclaims that it has “continued to house guests with more dash than cash” ever since.

In 2008, its centennial, new owners Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode gave the building a few cosmetic changes to restore the building’s character, and they began offering the berth-like rooms at $99 a night to pay tribute to the hotel’s past as accommodations for those looking for a bargain.

The hotel bar, the Jane Ballroom, sits where the original 400-person auditorium once was and is decorated with an eclectic décor including tufted couches, zebra-print chairs, stuffed animals, and a sequined disco ball.

After my long day of running from fashion show to fashion show at Lincoln Center, I was happy to return to my cozy cabin and more than eager to try a cocktail from the hotel’s bar, the Jane Ballroom. I made my way through the glamazons clamoring to get in the bar, opened the brass-studded leather doors, ordered a white wine, and found a seat on one of the tufted burgundy couches in the very crowded ballroom located where the Jane Street Theater once was.

The room has an eclectic vibe from the zebra chair to the stuffed bighorn sheep residing above the fireplace mantle and the paneled ceilings. MacPherson says he “wanted the public rooms to look as if one family has owned [the hotel] a long time,” according to the New York Times.

I checked out the next morning, ready to head back to my last shows at Lincoln Center, and loving the juxtaposition of experiencing the ever-changing world of fashion in a beautiful, historic hotel dedicated to staying the same.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

More Posts (880)

Motor City Masterpiece: Detroit’s Iconic Auto Repair Shop is Reborn a Restaurant

Posted on: September 13th, 2012 by David Robert Weible 6 Comments

When I think about the Motor City area, I think rolled-up shirt sleeves, firm handshakes, and American-made. So, when two native sons told me over beers on a recent Saturday afternoon that greater Detroit’s most iconic auto repair garage had been converted into a popular new restaurant, I assumed the city had lost something special.

Turns out, I was wrong.

The electric fuel pumps out front are used frequently by customers and symbolize the progress of the Motor City.

Vinsetta Garage was built in 1919 and was believed to be the longest-operating repair shop east of the Mississippi until it closed in 2010 when longtime owner Jack Marwil decided to shift gears and attend law school.

Built on Woodward Avenue in Berkley, Michigan, just 10 minutes outside the city limits, where old-timers and youngsters alike still pull up fold-out chairs on Friday nights to watch people slowly cruise their classic Fords, Chevys, and Dodges, it was considered the best garage in greater Detroit (which is saying something), and was a monument to the identity of Detroiters and their love affair with cars -- so popular, in fact, that Marwil had to turn business away.

“If you lived in Detroit long enough, [the garage] was a landmark, and being a customer was a point of pride,” says Carol Banas, a patron of the garage for more than 25 years. “Pride. It’s what the city is all about and that building and the business summed it all up.”

“We didn’t want to strip the whole thing and then say ‘Hey, let’s start from scratch,’” says Stevenson of the interior.

Given the community’s attachment, when new owners Ann Stevenson, Curt Catallo, KC Crain, and Ashley Crain decided to turn the space into a restaurant serving revamped American comfort food, they were careful to maintain the sentimental value of the building.

“My whole stance from the first time I saw the building throughout the whole process was ‘preserve what’s here,’” says Stevenson. “So much of it was honoring the building and finding the balance between what existed there and what we needed to add in for its new usage.”

To meet health codes, a cleanable ceiling was installed above the kitchen, but as a nod to the past, Stevenson framed it with the semi-opaque security glass from the skylights. She also found a way to repurpose the double-faucet sink the repairmen had used; going so far as to completely rework the design of what is now the unisex washroom just to include it.

Stevenson told me what she strived hardest to preserve were the layers of paint on the walls that dated back decades and had built up an incredible history of the building.

Even small items, like the picture (l.), were kept. And the walls (r.) certainly still have the personality of a classic auto repair garage.

But despite these and other preservation efforts, the restaurant, which opened this past May, isn’t a static relic of Detroit’s past. Stevenson says that since 2008, the city has developed both a sense of optimism and a movement to celebrate what it’s becoming. The garage, now fixed with two frequently used electric car charging stations out front, is emblematic of that.

“You’re in this garage that’s iconic and old and has existed forever, yet it’s sort of about the future. It’s not just decorative, it’s utilized,” says Stevenson.

“If it were in Canton or Scranton or Toledo or Tulsa, I’m sure it would still be an incredibly beautiful building, but the fact that we are the Motor City and it served its purpose for what the city does so well, I think it’s very symbolic.”

David Robert Weible

David Robert Weible is an assistant editor at Preservation magazine. He came to DC from Cleveland, Ohio, where he wrote for Sailing World and Outside magazines.

More Posts (31)

Things Are Looking Up for Chicago’s Palmer House Ceilings

Posted on: September 10th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

Written by Laura Wainman, Editorial Intern

When it comes to maintenance work on historic properties, the word “change” can stir up quite a controversy. Many worry that the integrity of the site will be lost if alterations are not made properly. Lucky for us, the team repairing the iconic ceilings of the Palmer House hotel in Chicago made preservation a priority.

The restored ceiling in the Palmer House grand lobby.

“When you have ceilings that are 86 years old, work is going to need to be done, but we wanted to use the opportunity to analyze [the ceiling] condition and plan for the future,” says Justin Jameson, assistant director of property operations. “We made our ongoing maintenance a preservation tool.”

The Beaux Arts style ceiling is in great condition for its age, says Jameson, and only minor repairs were needed. Beva Gel clear adhesive was used to patch up small flakes, the canvas and plaster were meticulously cleaned, and a color analysis was done in order to bring back to life the vibrant colors of the romantic images.

The work took nearly three months and was organized by Jameson, supervised by Evergreen Architectural Group, and performed by Anthony and Mata Kartsonas, who are well-known art preservationists.

Mata and Anthony Kartsonas work on the ceilings.

“This preservation initiative was more than just a work task for me; it was personal. The ceilings are the signature of the hotel, and known world-wide. It was important to me that we get the job done, but also maintain the integrity of the art,” says Jameson, who was given the ceiling preservation project when he first started at the Palmer House in 2010.

The jaw-dropping murals span the 50-foot length of the lobby, and are composed of 21 individual pieces painted in 1926 in Paris by French artist Louis Pierre Rigal. The images are mostly of love and romanticism from Greek mythology, and, according to Jameson, they transport visitors to a time when people meditated on and appreciated beauty. They have been restored before in 1982 and 1995 by Lido Lippi, who also worked on the Sistine Chapel in the 1950s.

Business as usual in the hotel (despite the scaffolds).

“Our biggest burden was trying to do our work without interrupting the guest experience. We are a living business and our lobby is traversed by God knows how many people daily. To execute our work with scaffolding taking up half the lobby was a huge challenge,” says Jameson.

Thanks to this preservation-minded thinking, the Palmer House, which has played host to guests such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and Prince Charles, will continue to leave a lasting impression on guests for years to come.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

More Posts (880)

“Tellin We Story”: Preserving the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor

Posted on: September 5th, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

Written by Laura Wainman, Editorial Intern

My first foray into historic preservation came, albeit begrudgingly, at the age of 10. We were on a family vacation out West, mainly visiting the Grand Canyon, but stopping at what felt like every historic landmark known to man along the way. My dad was a huge fan of any site that boasted the words “oldest”, “largest”, or “historic” on its highway signs, and we inevitably made detours anytime one popped up.

What I couldn’t see at the time was that my dad was instilling in me an appreciation for the historic sites that weave together to form the tapestry of our nation. Flash forward fourteen years, and I have been reading about preservation project undertaken by the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission involving highway signs and heritage centers; I was reminded of my dad’s love of historic sites, and was hooked to learn more.

Historian James Bullock (in period clothing) presents oral history at Fort Mose about the Gullah/Geechee people (2010).

Earlier this summer, the commission released a 294-page preservation plan aimed at increasing public recognition of the culture and history of the Gullah/Geechee people. According to the NPS Special Resource Study, today’s Gullah/Geechee people are “descendants of enslaved Africans … [who were] forced to work on the plantations of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida.”

They are the ancestors of those who helped make the Southern colonies one of the wealthier regions. The geographical isolation of this coastal community actually aided in preserving Gullah/Geechee heritage, such as the people’s own language and traditions like basket-weaving and storytelling.

The Gullah/Geechee plan highlights three pillars that form the basis for the commission’s 10-year management proposal, including education, economic development, and documentation/preservation. Efforts would include implementing a signage system to brand the corridor and point out major historic sites, and developing at least one heritage center in each of the four states.

The management plan would mainly act as a preservation tool to ensure that future generations are aware of the contributions made to the country by the Gullah/Geechee people and to protect the corridor against coastal development that could wipe out the heritage of these people.

The plan has been a long time in the making, starting in 2000 with Congressman Jim Clyburn calling for a study of Gullah resources after fearing the possibility of modernization of historical sites. The National Trust got involved in 2004 when it placed the Gullah/Geechee coast on its 11 Most Endangered list. These efforts led to Congress approving the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor in 2006, and the creation of the only National Heritage Area dedicated to preserving African-American culture.

Perhaps, thanks to today’s preservation efforts of a little-known society, one day I will be able to share the Gullah/Geechee culture with my future children. I’m sure my dad would be more than happy to visit right alongside us.

National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded non-profit organization, works to save America's historic places.

More Posts (880)

Full Speed Ahead: The Storied History of the Nantucket Lightship

Posted on: August 31st, 2012 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

Written by Laura Wainman, Editorial Intern

In 1936, shipbuilders Pusey & Jones built a lightship to replace the ill-fated, 630-ton Nantucket/LV-117. The ship had been struck on May 15, 1934 by the Titanic’s sister ship, Olympic -- a luxury liner that was nearly 75 times larger than the Nantucket. Four of the 11-man crew died instantly and three others died later from critical injuries and exposure. As reparation, the British government paid the US $500,000, and along came the Nantucket/LV-112 (one of our National Treasures).

Seeing as it was replacing a lightship that had been cut in half, and would be stationed in the most exposed, remote, and dangerous lightship station on the East Coast (known as a “graveyard of the Atlantic”), LV-112 was built to the specifications of a battleship. At 149 feet long, 1,050 tons, with a double hull made of nearly 1.5-inch armor plating and 43 watertight compartments, it was one of the largest U.S. lightships ever built; built to be virtually unsinkable.

For 39 years, longer than any other Nantucket lightship, LV-112 guided transoceanic traffic, including the Queen Mary, Normandie, and the SS United States, through the dangerous Nantucket shoals. The shoals had been the cause of more than 700 shipwrecks over the years, and even prevented the Mayflower from reaching her original destination at the mouth of the Hudson River.

Crews were required to stay aboard, regardless of weather, and the ship managed to weather hundreds of brutal storms. But no storm was worse than Hurricane Edna in 1954. LV-112 endured 110-mph winds and 70-foot seas which broke the ship’s anchor chain, lifeboats, and life rafts. Its signature safety features, lights and an ear-piercing foghorn, were rendered useless, as water spilled into the smoke stacks and put out the fires in the engine boiler room.

Restoration to LV-112’s fog horn/deck house included sandblasting and a new coat of paint.

Meanwhile, fires broke out all over the ship. The crew managed to plug holes in the hull with extraneous debris, extinguish the fires, and throw out the spare anchor in order to control the ship long enough to get the ship back to its station. LV-112 finished its shift that night, and was taken in for repair the next day. Once again, she had prevailed in perilous circumstances.

In 1942, LV-112 took a brief break from its station at Nantucket Shoals in order to aid the United States in World War II efforts. Lights, bells, and fog signals were removed to make the ship more stealthy and its vibrant red exterior was painted battleship grey. Two machine guns were installed on its foredeck and a gun was mounted on the fantail.

Renamed the USS Nantucket, the ship was stationed in Portland, Maine for three years. When a German U-Boat managed to enter its territory and sink the USS Eagle-56, the Nantucket helped to save the crewmembers in distress.

Thirty-seven years after it was decommissioned, LV-112 still faces an uphill battle. The ship had been passed from owner to owner since 1975, and maintenance needs had fallen by the wayside, despite being designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. In October 2009, the ship finally caught a break when the United States Lightship Museum (USLM) purchased LV-112 for $1 and began preparations to tow it home to Boston.

For seven months, volunteers at USLM spent their weekends commuting from Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Oyster Bay to get the ship ready for the tow. Bilges were pumped, temporary lighting was installed, and debris was cleared. A marine survey was conducted to ensure the ship was sea-worthy, which it passed, but the group had no way of knowing what the condition of the steel of LV-112’s hull would look like once they got it out of the water.

Though the hull has been stabilized and her exterior is 95 percent restored, there is still work to be done. The ship’s interior needs to be painted, plumbing and heating systems need to be made operational, and ventilation/fire suppression systems need to be restored.

“I’d say she is approximately 60 percent restored,” says Bob Mannino, founder and president of the USLM and leader of the movement to save LV-112. “Our goal is to have her operational again, so we can take her out maybe once or twice a year for special port visits. Aside from that, she’ll most likely be berthed and used as a floating classroom.”