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1178 Warburton Avenue, Spann House, is a Victorian house located on historic Warburton Avenue in Yonkers, New York. It was constructed circa 1897 for Isaac Osgood Carleton then owner of the now defunct import/export business of Carleton & Moffatt in Manhattan.〔Mark Hill (Great Grandson of Isaac Osgood Carleton)〕 Built in regional stone - at a time when all the other residential buildings in the area were being made of wood- it is in striking contrast to its neighbors. Yet it sits comfortably in its immediate landscape because of its materiality and siting. It is still one of very few buildings in Yonkers with entirely stone bearing walls. Spann House was built as a single-family residence but was converted to a multifamily residence in 1831 as a result of zoning changes made in Yonkers that year.〔Allison, Charles Elmer. The History of Yonkers New York: Wilbur B. Ketchum, 1896〕 == History == At the time Spann House Warburton was being completed, the suburbanization of Westchester County was well under way. The move to the suburbs of Westchester County was driven by the desire to retreat from the heat, disease, dirt and racial conflict of New York City. The wealthy mostly white, rich Protestants moved first, creating large holiday homes. The legend of these houses and the lifestyle they eschewed, the promotion of a seemingly agrarian family life as an ideal, invited the interest of the middle class; the development of the Hudson River Railroad in 1851〔The Guilds committee for the federal writers publications Inc, New York City Guide, 1939〕 along the east side of the Hudson River facilitated their participation in the creation of the new suburbs—"a bourgeois utopia" in the words of one historian.〔Fishman Robert, Bourgeois Utopias: The Rise and fall of Suburbia, Basic Books 1946〕 Olmstead and Vaux created a detailed design for a planned housing development called Tarrytown in 1871.〔Sanchis, Frank. American Architecture: Westchester County, New York: From Colonial to Contemporary. North River Press, Inc., 1977.〕 They designed picturesque wooden homes with asymmetrical volumes, porches, turrets, mansard roofs with dormers and large bay windows. Though less ornate, their houses reflected the exuberant second Empire and Queen Anne styles that was the dominant characteristic of the mansions of the wealthy in Westchester at the time. Obviously, they appealed to the aspirational tastes of their target occupants judging from the voracious manner in which they were consumed. Other middle class housing developments in Westchester County were built in that manner. On Warburton Avenue particularly, around 1897 when Spann house was built, a company called Harriman and Hawley developed numerous asymmetrical homes with wood or shingle siding over brick or cement, each with a front porch, bay windows and large turret. Many of the privately developed homes were also built in this style and were remarkably similar, seemingly prescribing to the idea of "homogeneity as a backlash against perceived cacophony in urban life".〔Sanchis, Frank. American Architecture: Westchester County, New York: From Colonial to Contemporary. North River Press, Inc., 1977.〕 Spann House was built in 1897 for Isaac Osgood Carleton. Unlike his neighbors his house had an all stone structure, a simple form and basic dormered gable roof, which seemed an active design departure at a time when wood construction was cheaper and more popular than stone.〔Bolton, Robert. The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester. Philadelphia, J.P. Lippincott & Co., 1924.〕 However Like most other male residents in the area he worked in New York City, in now defunct import/export business he co-owned called Carleton & Moffatt . In essence, he moved to Yonkers, fleeing New York for the relative bucolic of the suburbs. The fear that New York City's chaos and diversity would encroach into the new idyllic suburbs was exacerbated by the annexation of sections of Westchester County to New York City in 1898. It was made manifest by the gusto with which many towns created and enforced zoning codes. By 1931 every suburb in Westchester County was zoned with strict laws that established residential and class boundaries.〔Sanchis, Frank. American Architecture: Westchester County, New York: From Colonial to Contemporary. North River Press, Inc., 1977.〕 Spann House fell just within the boundary of the City of Yonkers and just without the wealthier suburb of Hastings. In 1931 this urban area was designated zone A – apartment houses high density by the City of Yonkers.〔Cityofyonkers.com〕 Because of its size Spann House was easily converted to a multifamily residence that year. Many of the other single family residences were left in disrepair, as their owners died or moved to richer more culturally monolithic suburbs just north. In the 1970s a rash of development surrounded Spann House with cost efficient multi-story 'luxury' apartment buildings. Between 1970 and 1975 one development company alone built 5 apartment buildings within a mile of Spann House.〔Gdc-homes.com〕 This boom coincided with the decline of New York City's quality of life that decade. Again the upper middle classes were fleeing the city's class and racial conflict disease and dirt . During the boom years of the late 1990s and 2000s – coincidentally one century since the original development boom in the area- there was a major influx of new middle class residents. These transplants were interested in the same idyllic experience of the suburbs prescribed by the developers of Westchester a century before. As such, Victorian houses many abandoned or badly maintained, were being bought up by the new upper middle class professionals who worked in New York City's exploding service industry. People who could not afford houses in the area participated in the suburban ideal by purchasing or renting apartments in the new multi-story luxury apartments being built along Warburton Avenue to feed their demand. In 1999 Kathryn Spann a Lawyer in New York, purchased Spann house- a dilapidated but functioning apartment building. She purchased it from the estate of a Mr. Sanislav Kira a carpenter of Ukrainian descent who specialized in high-end church furniture.〔City of Yonkers Water board〕 She maintained its multi-family designation to offset the enormous cost of purchasing and renovating the building. Zoning and the economy would again, play a major role in the population demographics and density of the area. By the time Kathryn Spann purchased Spann House, at least 3 major residential projects were being built or approved for future development within half a mile it.〔Cityofyonkers.com〕 The owners of the single- family houses in the area grew progressively dissatisfied with the increasing population density and its effect on the limited infrastructure. As a result, the River Community Coalition of Yonkers was formed. Spurred by a series of mishaps resulting from large-scale construction in the area, In 2009 Kathryn Spann wrote a lawsuit on behalf of River Community Coalition. The letter was sent to the Deputy Commissioner for Planning & Development, the Chairman of the Yonkers planning board and the Planning Director for Yonkers. It called for an environmental impact statement to address the significant impacts the construction of 353 units on a steeply sloped site on Warburton Avenue would have on the neighborhood and a supplemental environmental impact statement to reevaluate the traffic impact of several new projects in the area〔Spann Yonkers tribune online, Letter Addressed to Sharon Ebert, Deputy Commissioner for Planning & Development; Roman Kozicky, Chairman, Yonkers Planning Board; and Lee Ellman, Planning Director By Kathryn C. Spann, December 11, 2009〕 . The letter Encouraged other local home owners and community groups to demand a reduction in development in the area. In June 2009 the City of Yonkers changed the zoning of Warburton Avenue from A - Apartment houses high density to MG Apartment Houses medium density.〔Cityofyonkers.com〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spann House」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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