WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES OCTOBER 22, 2020 3
GRRC receives $10,000 grant for cultural survey
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
The Greater Ridgewood Restoration
Corporation (GRRC) was
awarded a $10,000 grant from
the Preservation League of New York
State’s 2020 Preserve New York (PNY)
program.
The grant, which is in partnership at
the New York State Council on the Arts
(NYSCA), will fund a Cultural Resource
Survey of the Ridgewood Extension
Neighborhood. PNY enables the Preservation
League to support projects
in all of New York’s 62 counties, and is
made possible with the support of Gov.
Andrew Cuomo and the New York State
Legislature.
“Architecture and design are vital art
forms that greatly impact the character
and health of communities across the
state,” said Mara Manus, executive director
of the New York State Council on
the Arts. “NYSCA is proud to partner
with Preservation League of New York
State to provide organizations and
municipalities across the state with
fi nancial support to advance their innovative
preservation initiatives.”
The GRRC is a nonprofi t founded
in 1975 that is dedicated to “preserving
and upgrading the housing stock
of Ridgewood and its neighboring
communities (Glendale, Middle Village
and Maspeth).” Their programs
are aimed at providing “community
development improvements to raise
the quality of life, maintain stability,
assist tenants to remain in their homes,
and preserve valuable housing stock
through improved management, and
removing graffi ti,” according to their
mission statement.
The Preservation League
emphasized Ridgewood is signifi cant
for its collection of early 20th-century
commercial and institutional buildings
constructed during a period of
rapid growth, which serves as the
neighborhood’s “Main Street” corridor.
Ridgewood is noted for its social and
ethnic history with the German immigrant
population that settled there
in the early 20th century.
GRRC’s $10,000 grant will enable
them to hire Christopher Brazee to complete
the National Register nomination,
for the proposed Myrtle Avenue-Fresh
Pond Road Historic District in Ridgewood,
which consist of approximately
440 buildings.
This project builds upon a 2018 Preserve
New York-funded survey.
This year’s Preserve New York grant
panel selected 19 applicants in 15 counties,
including Kings and Richmond
counties, to receive support totaling
$193,390.
Many of these grants will lead to
historic district designation or expansion,
allowing property owners to take
advantage of the New York State and
Federal Historic Tax Credits. With the
announcement of the 2020 awards,
support provided by Preserve New
York since its launch in 1993 totals
more than $3 million to 457 projects
statewide.
For decades, Preserve New York’s
grant program has provided funds
to municipalities and nonprofi t organizations
that need technical, professional
assistance to guide a variety of
preservation projects. The historic
structure reports, building condition
reports, cultural landscape reports
and cultural resource surveys that are
funded through this program can have
profound impacts on the sites they are
studying.
Ridgewood Times archives/Courtesy of Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
