Kavanagh Backs Application to Include South Street Seaport's Titanic Memorial Lighthouse in US & NYS Historic Registers

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July 13, 2020

Commissioner Erik Kulleseid
New York State Historic Preservation Office Division for Historic Preservation
P.O. Box 189
Waterford, New York 12188-0189

Dear Commissioner Kulleseid:

I write in support of the application submitted by the Friends of Titanic Lighthouse Restoration for inclusion of the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse in the State and National Registers of Historic Places Program.

Since its dedication ceremony in 1913, the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse has commemorated the lives of the passengers and crew members lost in the tragic sinking of the Titanic. Designed by the same architects of Grand Central Station, Warren & Wetmore, the lighthouse once served dual purposes as a reminder of a historic tragedy, as well as a working beacon that beamed its green light out onto the New York harbor for more than 50 years. Among its distinctive features is a time ball device, which for many years dropped at precisely noon so sailors on ships in New York Harbor could set their on-board chronometers; suspended above the cupola, it is one of the few remaining time ball devices in the country.

Today, the memorial is a cherished historical landmark that serves as a legacy of its founder, Margaret Tobin Brown—famously regarded as “the Unsinkable Molly Brown”—whose spirit of humanitarianism and advocacy continues to be honored and remembered. Standing at Pearl and Fulton Street, where it was moved in 1976, the lighthouse continues to welcome visitors and residents alike to the South Street Seaport today.

For these reasons, I urge you to give favorable consideration to this application for the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse to be recognized as a structure deemed worthy of preservation and restoration to its original architectural state.

Thank you for your consideration. If you or your staff have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me directly, or to Lizzie Lee in my office at 212-298-5565 or ylee@nysenate.gov.

Sincerely,

Brian Kavanagh