The Sheffield Farms Stable, built in 1903, is moving on up to higher grounds. Anne Whitman's beloved family owned building and antique storage facility was a distinct hold out in Columbia's battle to buy-out lots from the remaining land owners of Manhattanville. Many folks thought these owners were just waiting for a bigger paycheck but it turns out Ms. Whitman just wanted to protect her property, which is on the state register of historic places.
The building used to be a stable for the horses in this former dairy district and its owner wanted either to not move at all or move the building itself. Impossible and too costly? A compromise was reached sometimes last year and a new building base will be built a bit further uptown and the original facade will be dismantled and reconstructed on the newer structure.
The lower photo shows Columbia at work in the past week as this process gets on its way. The white stable building to the right has scaffolding up the entire front facade and the deconstruction will probably have to be hand done to remove everything intact. The photo also shows the electrical and ground work area right below the building. All the substructural work of the Manhattanville campus has started and construction crews can be heard at work on this corner of Broadway and West 130th Street. This area is right below the elevated 1 train at 125th Street and Broadway. Read more about the dairy district of Manhattanville in our past post: LINK. All photos by Ulysses
Good job for Anne Whitman’s determination to preserve this historic buildings presence, it is inspiring to see a building owner being such a responsible steward of their properties history. Unlike so many other magnificent old Harlem buildings that have been neglected and abused by their owners. From a construction perspective it will be fascinating to see how this buildings façade is actually relocated, maybe we could have some later posts as this project progresses, thanks for another interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThe building will be moving to the mid 160's on Audubon Avenue in Washington Heights. We will definitely have photos of the deconstruction of the facade in the next few weeks. It might take some time for them to build the new building uptown but this is definitely a story that will be updated periodically.
ReplyDelete@ westsider - It is amazing how quickly people accept the propaganda put out there by the owner. I'm fairly sure that it was about the $$$.
ReplyDeleteagree with westsider
ReplyDeleteall about holding out for $$$
Is the owner doing anything for the neighborhood?
With all the $$$ received from Columbia U?