One of New York City’s most historic buildings, the last known stop on the Underground Railroad still standing in Manhattan, is facing a tremendous threat. This Tuesday, May 23rd 2017, New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will meet to decide the fate of this historic house. The Commission will decide whether or not to allow the house’s current owner to build an illegal 5th floor addition on top of this four story row house.

Why does it matter so much that this house remains four stories? The height of the building tells an integral part of New York City’s Civil War Draft Riots, the deadliest riot in United States history. From July 13-16 in 1863 a mob of men angry about being drafted into the Civil War rampaged through Manhattan, setting their sights on the people and places they believed were the reason for the War. The crowd violently attacked and killed Black men, women, and children, and set fire to known houses and businesses with anti-slavery ties. On July 14th several hundred rioters marched down West 29th Street and arrived at the Hopper Gibbons house, home of prominent abolitionist Abigail Hopper Gibbons. As the crowd broke into the house and began destroying everything in sight, smashing furniture, burning books, and eventually setting fire to the house itself, the frightened Gibbons daughters who were home at the time made their way up to the rooftop in a desperate attempt to escape the mob’s attack. Because 339 and its neighboring houses had flat rooftops with the same height, the young women were able to flee across the roofs and duck into a nearby building where they found shelter.

Now the home’s owner, Queens developer Tony Mamounas, has built an illegal 5th floor addition that permanently erases all the visual evidence of the family’s escape route and sets a dangerous precedent for historic sites everywhere. Adding insult to injury, instead of installing a sprinkler system in his building, Mamounas plans to attach a fire escape (considerably cheaper than the sprinkler system) which the home has never had before in its history.

Please sign this petition demanding the NYC Landmarks Preservation and its Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan deny Tony Mamounas’ application for his illegally built 5th floor addition. We must send a clear message to developers everywhere that our history is not for sale and must be respected.