76 Pearl Street is the site of New York’s first protest for historic preservation, with a front-page story appearing in a March 1831 issue of the New York Mirror about an old Dutch house at the address. The caption to an image of the house reads “Built 1626 – Rebuilt 1697 – Demolished 1828”.
Editorial commentary: “We present to our readers a correct and striking view of the ancient Dutch house, formerly familiarly known as “old seventy-six”, and which was pulled down about three years since, in compliance with that irreverence for antiquity which so grievously afflicts the good people of this city, many of whom, we are credibly informed, demolish one house just for the pleasure of building another in its place.”
The preservation case of 211 Pearl Street and its intriguing symbol can seem ironic, representing the type of commercial loft building that would have likely replaced 76 Pearl Street during an era following the Erie Canal (b.1825), that saw lower Manhattan turned into “…one massive construction zone”.
New York may still be the “pull down and build over again” city (Whitman), but the outcry at “Old 76” also anticipates a preservation movement that is a foundation of the city’s ongoing revival.
