Building Shells: Building Community Toolkit for Newburgh’s Vacancies

Sunday, October 8th at 9am at the (New)burgh Porch, 15 S. Johnston Street, Newburgh.

Overlooking the Hudson River about 60 miles north of New York City, Newburgh is home to the second-largest historic district in New York State. In just four square miles, the city boasts 2,400 historic buildings. However, despite its historical significance, as of 2015 the city had a significant inventory of vacant properties, many of which are building shells. Building shells are defined as structures lacking roofs and floor plates. These buildings negatively impact the quality of life and safety of residents and decrease the city’s tax base, creating challenges for rehabilitation efforts and ongoing maintenance. Like other post-industrial cities, the concentration of these buildings overlaps with the city’s lowest-income level making it even more difficult to recover.

Join urban planner Naomi Hersson-Ringskog and preservationist Liz McEnaney to learn more about the work they have done over the past three years on Building Shells: Building Community – a preservation, policy and design project that explores how the community can work collectively to prevent historic buildings from becoming shells, and to use art as a way to reactivate existing building shells to encourage future redevelopment. Specifically, they will share project milestones and address small but proactive ways the community can work together in partnership with the municipality to preserve these historic building assets and, in doing so, stabilize the neighborhood.

Past initiatives promote “building design literacy” and document the social history of the buildings. Initiatives include field research, a community toolkit, and architectural walking tours. 

Funders: Thank you to the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation and New York State Council of the Arts for supporting various aspects of the three-year long Building Shells: Building Community project.

This program is presented as part of @archtober, NYC's annual architecture and design festival.