"In Conclusion ..."

In a city surrounded and defined by water, the Harlem River Study Area, a narrow fringe of water, lowlands, and steep topography between Manhattan and the Bronx, is New York’s forgotten waterfront. Although its neighborhoods are seemingly disparate, there is an underlying commonality among them that can be understood by the river itself.  A minor waterway at the margins of the city, the Harlem River was historically neither central nor large enough to be in as high demand as the Hudson or East Rivers.  Over time, its marginality came to harbor many uses typically pushed out of denser areas with higher land values.  These historic uses, varied as they are, can still be found in the study area in the layers of built fabric that create the area’s character.  These layers of historic structures are significant to the study area and New York City as a whole, and have in turn informed the Harlem River Preservation Plan.  These layers include:

• Industry, found in its highest concentration in Mott Haven 
• Transportation, including the railroads and bridges
• Public works, such as the Croton Aqueduct at High Bridge and the Bronx Terminal Market
• Recreation, seen in the parks and at various access points to the water
• Remnants of rural estates, like the Seaman-Drake Arch in Inwood
• Suburban residential areas made up of detached single family homes, such as in Marble Hill
• Urban residential districts, including the tenements in Harlem, the Inwood Art Deco apartment buildings, and the public housing projects found scattered along the river’s edge

Few other parts of New York offer such a varied look into the development and resources of the city. The diverse scope and the size of the study area therefore required a systematic and comprehensive approach to research. In order to meet the goals for preservation in the Harlem River Study Area it was necessary to provide an inclusive history of the individual neighborhoods and structures. Then identifying the significance of the historic resources created a basis for preservation. By addressing the current challenges facing these resources and the communities, the preservation plan was intended to be beneficial and directed towards the needs of the area.  After these aspects of the study area were examined, proposals were made for creating and furthering awareness of the resources, providing for their protection, and encouraging their use. The suggestions made are intended to ensure that the significant resources are perceived as the assets they are, both to the surrounding communities and the City of New York.

Each section of this preservation plan culminates with the declaration of three main types of recommendations. These are intended to: create awareness of the resources, identify ways to protect them, and propose uses for them to the benefit of the attendant communities. These proposals are interrelated and dependent on one another. They are relevant to all layers in the three geographical areas: Southern, Central, and Northern.

Establishing and encouraging the awareness of the significant resources as assets to the Harlem River Study Area and greater New York is the first step in ensuring their preservation.  There can be no effort to protect them if they are not seen as noteworthy and beneficial.  The proposed methods of raising awareness include both active and passive forms of interaction.  Educational programs, such as walking tours in Inwood and school outreach programs in Mott Haven, create an active connection with the resources and are powerful tools for awareness.  Interpretive markers and plaques, which are more passive forms of creating awareness, can be potent educational tools as well.

Although it is a means of creating awareness, the main goal of protection must be to stave off destructive plans, uses, or even well intentioned maintenance.  Without protected resources, there can be nothing to appreciate.  The methods proposed depend on the deemed significance and threats related to each asset.  The most significant sites are recommended for designation, either on the local or national level, as individual landmarks or as districts.  Zoning regulations further guide future uses and new developments so that they are compatible with the existing resources.  Providing information on conservation techniques and resources additionally serves to protect the physical condition of historic buildings and structures in need of intervention. 

In order to make this preservation plan viable for the communities and city, which wish to improve the economic status of the Harlem River area, we must ensure these resources are used to the region’s full advantage.  By doing so, we protect them and encourage the public perception of them as beneficial.  Improving current uses of historic resources enhances the public experience of them, thereby increasing awareness and protection.  Advocating appropriate uses addresses the needs of the community and maintains the intangible meaning of the historic buildings; the proposal of new uses for the historic buildings gives them a place in the future.  If the proposed uses are informed and inspired by historic uses and design, the significance of the historic fabric is respected and maintained.  Compatible new development ensures the area continues to grow and evolve, while respecting the area’s evolution up to the present.

The recommendations of the Preservation Plan, which focus on awareness, protection, and use, have the ability to encourage and sustain one another, thereby creating a cycle of preservation.  Awareness and appreciation of historic resources fosters their protection, while the act of declaring them worthy of protection brings additional awareness to them.  This same relationship is true of protection and use: protection encourages appropriate usage, while using the resources gives them a future and provides a means of further protection.  The process of protection and use inevitably promotes awareness and appreciation, thereby creating a self-propagating cycle.  The Harlem River Preservation Plan intends to encourage this cycle by identifying ways to sustain it.

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