Women’s Building” which will house nonprofits benefiting women and girls. Image courtesy of NoVo Foundation.
By Leslie Adatto
In a rare twist of poetic justice in NYC real estate, a women’s prison that, as recently as five years ago, earned the dubious honor of having the highest rate of reported staff sexual misconduct in the country, is being redeveloped into a hub of organizations that support women and girls’ rights. It will be called The Women’s Building (www. womensbuildingnyc.org).
One hundred years ago, busy piers along the West Side of Manhattan brought in shiploads of merchant sailors who were able to get a clean room, a bed and some nourishment at what is now known as The Jane Hotel on Jane and West Streets. Unable to accommodate everyone at The Jane, the YMCA built a second facility, the Seaman’s House, at 550 W. 20th Street.
The Seaman’s House was built in 1931 by the architecture firm that designed the Empire State Building, which was also completed that year.
This 8-story Art Deco edifice’s façade featured terra cotta inlays of lighthouses, captain’s wheels and ship’s anchors. Inside the 250-bed Seaman’s House was a chapel with stained glass windows and an indoor pool ringed with mosaics of fish. Topping the building was – and is – 14,000 square feet of accessible outdoor space.
Over time, the merchant sailors left the West Side and the neighborhood fell into dingy disrepair. New York State bought the Seamen’s House in 1967, turning it into a drug-treatment center. In the 1970s, the
building became a notorious women’s medium-security prison. Known as Bayview Correctional Facility, it had a poor reputation from the beginning: newspaper articles were published depicting unsanitary conditions and poor medical care.
In October 2012, with Superstorm Sandy looming, 158 women incarcerated at Bayview were moved to prisons upstate. The building, doused in 14 feet of Hudson River storm water, has remained empty.
In a fine example of adaptive re-use development, Bayview, that once locked away women because of drugs, violence, poverty and poor education, will now house non-profit organizations that will help women and girls escape from these same social problems.
The Women’s Building is a combined effort by noted philanthropists, Peter and Jennifer Buffett, co-presidents of the NoVo Foundation, and Lela Goren, a West Village resident and forward-thinking real estate developer who runs The Goren Group.
This project, strongly supported by Gloria Steinem, will serve as a unique incubator for progressive ideas
where the world’s thought leaders on women’s issues and social justice can naturally mingle and collaborate on mutual goals. The building’s gut renovation will include shared event and work spaces, and reduced rent for the nonprofit women’s and girls’ rights organizations it will house.
The architect selection process is underway, thus the design stage has not begun. NoVo Foundation is requesting community input on what The Women’s Building could and should be. To submit ideas, go to www.womensbuildingnyc.org, which has two short videos and lots of information. Click the “Get Involved” tab and select “Submit a Suggestion.” You can also sign up for email updates on this important social justice project.
Leslie Adatto, author of “Roof Explorer’s Guide, 101 NYC Rooftops,” loves NYC architecture, especially adaptive re-use projects that include potential for public access green roofs.
