Landmarks Preservation Commission February 23, 1999, Designation List 302 LP-2034 28th POLICE PRECINCT STATION HOUSE (now Hope Community Hall), 177-179 East 104th Street, Manhattan. Built 1892-93; Nathaniel D. Bush, Architect to the New York City Police Department. Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1632, Lot 30. On January 12, 1999, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a Landmark of the 28th Police Precinct Station House (now Hope Community Hall) (Item No. 2). The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Three people spoke in favor of designation: Michael Lugo, Associate Director of Development of Hope Community, Inc.; and representatives of the Historic Districts Council, Place Matters, and East Harlem Historical Organization.1 Summary The 28th Police Precinct Station House, located on the north side of East 104th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, was built in 1892-93 to the design of Nathaniel D. Bush. Appointed Architect to the New York City Police Department in 1862, Bush was responsible for the design of station houses in the city until 1895. This station house was based on a design that Bush had produced for the 25th Police Precinct (1886-87), 153-155 East 67th Street, which represented a significant departure from his earlier, simpler buildings. The Police Department employed this design as a general prototype for a number of later station houses. The midblock 28th Police Precinct Station House, five stories high above a basement, is clad in red brick with gray granite detailing. The design combines elements of the Rundbogenstil and the Renaissance Revival and neo-Grec styles. The three-bay facade is articulated as a grid formed by continuous piers and intermediate cornices. This building ended its service as a police station in 1974, and has been used and owned since 1981 by Hope Community, Inc. Today, with its original exterior nearly intact, it is one of ten Bush-designed station houses in Manhattan known to survive, and remains one of the few significant municipal or institutional buildings from the era of East Harlem's rapid development in the late nineteenth century.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS The New York City Police Department in the provided on the upper floors for the patrolmen who Nineteenth Century 2 customarily worked long shifts. Each precinct had In the first half of the nineteenth century, the a small cell block, as well as (after 1857) lodging number of policemen in New York City remained rooms for the homeless. (In 1896, Police quite small, despite the growth of the city and the Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt removed the accompanying problems and increase in crime. In responsibility of housing the homeless from the 1845, a full-time professional "Day and Night police.) As the use of horse-drawn patrol wagons Police" force was established by the state legislature became more common in the latter part of the through the Municipal Police Act; in 1853, the force century, the stable became a standard component of was placed under a Board of Commissioners headed the police station complex. by the mayor. Policing, subject to the influence of Most early Manhattan station houses were local ward politics, was frequently susceptible to located in leased buildings, including former corruption. The police were also required to residential structures, that were adapted by the city provide a variety of social services, including to meet basic departmental needs. Around 1854, sheltering the homeless and attending to Chief of Police George W. Matsell complained to "drunkards." In 1857, the Republican-dominated the mayor of New York State Legislature, intending to wrest the inadequate accommodations of the control from the city's Democratic politicians, station houses, their unsanitary condition created the Metropolitan Police District (consisting and general dilapidation, [so that} an of New York City and t

… (truncated, full text in PDF)