Rev. Al Sharpton joins NYC museum's call to stop next-door construction after Underground Railroad discovery
The Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on New York City to help protect the Merchant's House Museum in Manhattan after a recent discovery revealed connections to the Underground Railroad.
He and other local leaders say a proposal for an eight-story building next door could put the museum in danger.
"In 1776, Declaration of Independence, we were slaves, and some of those slaves came through this building seeking liberation and freedom," Sharpton said at a press conference on Monday alongside museum staff and members of the City Council. "And to tear it down is to tear [down] the history of freedom fighters all over this city and all over this nation."
The proposed development next door
The project was submitted by Kalodop II Park Corporation and would demolish the existing building to construct a new one.
CBS News New York spoke to a management company affiliated with Kalodop, Park-It Management, which said the project leader was not available for comment at the time of publication.
As recently as 2023, the Landmark Preservation Commission had previously approved applications for a building on the site, but required 10 independent safeguards to protect the museum and the passageway. This includes prohibiting the removal of remnant walls of any existing structure and requiring that structural framing for the new building be completely independent of the Merchant's House. However, construction never moved forward. This new proposal is scheduled to be reviewed by the LPC on Tuesday, but will not be voted on just yet.
"Our engineers and engineering studies have shown that the museum is definitely going to face pretty severe damage from the construction next door, both from the vibrations associated with construction of excavation and building. And then also from the heavy weight of that big, big building right next door, which will drag down our rubble foundation." said Emily Hill-Wright, the Merchant's House Museum's director of operations. "It's such an important part of our history as New Yorkers and as Americans."
The Underground Railroad hidden space
Earlier this year, the Merchant's House Museum confirmed that a hidden space in the home built by Joseph Brewster in 1832 was used to help enslaved African Americans escape to freedom. The narrow passageway is hidden in a chest of drawers between bedrooms on the second floor, then drops 15 feet to the ground floor. Museum archivists say it could have been for a hiding place or a quick exit, but now they're concerned that this historic discovery would be destroyed if construction begins before curators can fully examine and understand the space.
"The passage … is really mere bricks away from this proposed development next door. There really is no way that this passage survives this construction." Hill-Wright said. "For the last 14 years, the museum has been fighting the proposed development of a commercial building next door."
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