Rochester, NY – Preserve old brewhouse or turn it to rubble?

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The issue:

The one-time Standard Brewing Co. brewhouse, circa 1889, is the last of the three major breweries on the east side of the river that remains intact. The former Bartholomay brewing complex was demolished. The old Genesee brewhouse has lost its tower.
Genesee Brewing has proposed a $2.6 million plan for a visitor center/museum, with a retail store, microbrewery and tasting room/alehouse. But the old brewery and an adjoining building, both said to be in poor structural condition, would be knocked down for parking and green space.
The question before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals is whether to grant a variance, permitting demolition.
City code forbids demolition of buildings the city has designated as having historic value. That designation was bestowed on all three buildings in question in 2003, but all had been inventoried and their significance documented by the city and preservation groups decades ago.
The company would have to show its plan sufficiently mitigates loss of the historic structure through its other restoration and preservation efforts. To get the variance, Genesee must show there is no alternative to demolition, that it would not have an adverse impact on the area and that the problem was not self-created.
No decision will come today, but rather will wait until the board next meets on Jan. 19.

If you go:

The Zoning Board of Appeals meets in City Council Chambers at City Hall, 30 Church St. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. today, but the brewery item is last on the agenda.

On the outside, the former brewhouse is a towering, castle-like structure — one of the last remaining from a bygone era when Rochester boasted more than two dozen breweries and competed with the likes of Milwaukee and St. Louis.

This is one of two buildings off St. Paul Street and overlooking High Falls that Genesee Brewing wants to raze. The demolition is part of a larger $2.6 million plan that would renovate a smaller yet also historically significant building next door to include a museum and alehouse.

Genesee is one of the nation’s oldest breweries, right up there with Yuengling and Anheuser-Busch.

“What people like about Genesee is its history, that it dates back to 1878,” said company spokeswoman Mary Beth Popp, who then paused noting that the brewery is at odds with preservationists. “There is some irony.”

The down economy has benefited preservation efforts nationally. And when New York expanded tax credits for rehabilitation in 2009, an uptick in such projects upstate followed, said Erin Tobin of the Preservation League of New York State. But such projects are often time-consuming.

Many are unconvinced Genesee has done its due diligence. The company still must present a structural analysis of the buildings involved. Officials say they no longer have designs and cost breakdowns from past analyses; the company changed ownership in 2009.

“In the end, this (building) is definitely not too far gone,” said Craig Jensen, a principal and partner with Chaintreuil-Jensen-Stark Architects, who recently toured 13 Cataract St.

“Maybe we can’t expect the brewery to take on the entire job, but that doesn’t mean they should be allowed to demolish it, either,” Jensen continued, explaining that preservation would likely require multiple partners and some public use.