Welcome!

Welcome to the Rutger Park Restoration Project, a Landmarks Society of Greater Utica initiative.

BACKGROUND:

The historic mansions along Utica’s Rutger Street have always been central to The Landmarks Society’s efforts. In fact, the organization was founded in 1974 in order to protect the buildings, which even then were being threatened by incompatible development and demolition. Numbers 1 and 3 Rutger Park have occupied the top positions on The Landmarks Society’s annual “Endangered Buildings List” since its inception, and were named to the Preservation League of New York State’s “Seven to Save” list in 2006. The lengthy saga surrounding the unknown future for the structures was highlighted again and again in the organization’s newsletter, in the local press, and even in the New York Times.

When the historic structures became available for outright purchase in 2005, The Landmarks Society immediately sought input from its 350 members at an open public meeting and based on the positive public response, the Board of Trustees submitted a purchase offer. After three years of ongoing legal battles and four separate purchase offers, on June 5, 2008 the Landmarks Society took title to Numbers 1 and 3 and the vacant lot where Number 2 stood.

SIGNIFICANCE:

The entire Rutger-Steuben Park National Historic District encompasses the mansions of Rutger Park, the properties that front onto Steuben Park, and all Rutger Street properties from Steuben Park to Taylor Avenue and Second Street in Utica, NY. The district is architecturally significant for the numerous and varied examples of nineteenth century residential architecture types, and for being one of the largest groupings of Italianate style structures in America.

The centerpiece of the neighborhood are the five original mansions of Rutger Park which, until the 1994 demolition of Number 2, offered a nearly complete ensemble of major nineteenth century American domestic architecture styles. The elegant mansions not only reflect the stature of their early owners, but also the general prosperity of Utica between 1830 and 1890. During that period the opening of the Erie and Chenango Canals, the establishment of the textile industry in Utica and along the Oriskany and Sauquoit Creeks, the building of railroads, the continuing agricultural production, including the export of cheddar cheese and hops, brought major economic growth to Central New York, from which Utica especially benefited.

One of the most interesting political periods in our country occurred in the years leading up to, during and following the Civil War (the Reconstruction Period). In this northern city of Utica, where the abundance of textile mills made cotton king, lived three of the most influential political figures of the times: U.S. Senator Francis Kernan, the revered Democratic elder statesmen; Horatio Seymour, governor of New York, then the largest state in the Union; and Roscoe Conkling, arguably the most powerful Republican of the period, staunch Lincoln supporter — and who happened to be Seymour’s brother-in-law. Remarkably, all three of these national political powerhouses were Utica-based, and all had strong ties to Rutger Park.

PROJECT:

These buildings, the collections they house and the landscapes that surround them are both our legacy from the past and our gift to the future. Hearing the stories of the people — patriots and artists, presidents and slaves, millionaires and immigrants — who lived and worked in them is like turning the pages of America’s family album.

The Landmarks Society’s concept focuses on turning Rutger Park into a National Historic Site devoted to 19th-Century Politics and Architecture. The properties will house exhibits chronicling the development and extraordinary people who built this great city, and indeed, this great nation.

The proposed Rutger Park project has three main goals:

1. Acquisition of the nationally significant mansions at Numbers 1 and 3 Rutger Park, the now vacant lot where 2 Rutger Park once stood, and the associated estate grounds.

2. Scholarly research and reporting on the Park leading to the stabilization of the exterior envelopes of the mansions and protection of the associated cultural landscape, while providing access to currently underutilized and abandoned urban open space.

3. Complete restoration done to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, and the development of a new source for heritage tourism in the Mohawk Valley. This will establish greater public awareness, ensure long-term public access, and provide an educational resource through permanent interpretive exhibitions and curricula programs dedicated to nineteenth century architecture, politics and landscape design.

More info at: http://www.uticalandmarks.org/rutger_park/rp_main.cfm