The effort to preserve and restore the Springs house and studios of the late Abstract Expressionist artists James Brooks and Charlotte Park achieved yet another milestone this week when the Preservation League of New York State named the structures to its 2022-23 Seven to Save list, a registry highlighting the state's most at-risk historical places.
The announcement came just 12 days after the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the site as one of the 11 most endangered historical places in the United States. The buildings were designated a town historic landmark in July 2014.
"Brooks-Park hits trifecta!" Marietta Gavaris, a Springs artist and officer of the Brooks-Park Arts and Nature Center, told The Star. "Local, state and national designations. This underscores the historic importance of restoring all four structures on the Brooks-Park compound."
The Preservation League works with local advocates over the course of a site's two-year listing and beyond, raising visibility, assisting with advocacy, and providing technical services. The Brooks-Park site, according to a statement from the league, is "an important physical link to the Abstract Expressionist art movement and the artists who made it their home."
The 11-acre site on Neck Path includes the married artists' respective studios, a house, and a cottage. The town acquired the property in 2013 using $1.1 million from the community preservation fund, with a plan to demolish the structures. The purchase was meant to create open space, but a group of Springs residents formed the Brooks Park Heritage Project and lobbied for preserving the buildings instead.
The town's historic landmark designation allowed for C.P.F. money to be spent toward the site's restoration, but not for its management. In 2018, the town board approved a management and stewardship plan for properties acquired with the community preservation fund. The following year, however, the town's property-management committee concluded that the buildings were deteriorated and damaged by vandalism, and the cost of their restoration prohibitive. It recommended demolition of the structures and the architectural review board approved a demolition permit in January 2020. That spurred a renewed push for a not-for-profit entity to manage the property.
A committee that formed to develop the management and maintenance plan issued a final draft to the town in December and has applied for status as a not-for-profit organization. In February, the committee launched a website for the Brooks-Park Arts and Nature Center.
Brooks and Park were leading members of the Abstract Expressionist movement who contributed to New York's emerging status in the mid-20th century as the center of the art world. Brooks is particularly known for painting the largest site-specific Works Progress Administration wall mural, in the landmarked interior of the Marine Terminal at New York's La Guardia Airport. He died in 1992, Park in 2010.
"These designations emphasize the imperative to fully preserve all four structures on the Brooks-Park site," Ms. Gavaris said in the league's statement. "The Brooks-Park Arts and Nature Center committee looks forward to partnering with the Town of East Hampton to ensure robust allocation of C.P.F. funds to fully preserve the site to facilitate the creation of a flourishing Arts and Nature Center."
