Cornelia Dodge

“As recommended in the October 1999 Town’s Historic Preservation Report, the Town has prepared a town wide local law to provide regulations to preserve and enhance buildings nominated or eligible for listing on the national register of historic places. The law provides for architectural review to maintain harmony with the historical characteristics of a landmark or historic district... Historic districts have not yet been designated town wide, but are being considered and evaluated for several areas.”(TofEH LWRP XIV-42)

 

A professional staff of architects headed by developer Carl Fisher’s staff architect Richard Webb designed the community and many of its lesser buildings, while important architects including Walker and Gillette and Schultze and Weaver designed major focal points. (TofEH LWRP XIV-42) After the 1920s, development of Montauk ground to a halt during the great depression.

 

The Plaza area of Montauk Village was reinvigorated after the 1938 hurricane wiped out the old fishing village, which was relocated to Carl Fisher-created Lake Montauk Harbor. The village then became a separate entity, and was successful as a resort town and as a military town; during WWII there was both U.S. Army and U.S. Navy presence in Montauk.

 

The haphazard development of Montauk did not include development of desirable uninterrupted ‘street walls’ of retail storefronts. The streetscape is dotted with strange open spaces, which do not encourage pedestrian traffic. East Hampton Town is contributing to this poor planning decision by using its Community Preservation Fund (CPF) to earmark vacant lots for purchase with the intent of keeping them as open space. A better plan would be to develop these lots with mixed-use retail storefronts with mixed-income apartments above. This would seamlessly provide more of the low income housing that East Hampton Town so desperately needs.

 

Montauk’s Plaza area, because of its unique history and high quality of architecture, mainly 1920s Carl Fisher Tudor revivals, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places under criterion 'C', That is the area "embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction," which is 1920s Tudor revival. These revival buildings in the Plaza area have integrity in design, materials and workmanship. They represent the character defining features that should be protected in a historic district. 

 

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