Poll: most of you want to save 857 Riverside, an uptown house with Underground Railroad ties

857 Riverside Drive around 1940. Photo via Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos, Municipal Archives, City of New York.

The fight to preserve 857 Riverside Drive, a Washington Heights house with Underground Railroad ties, has been gaining momentum this month.

Built in 1851, the two-story Greek Revival-Italianate structure was once owned by abolitionist Dennis Harris—a member of the Underground Railroad—and might have even been a stop on the storied network that helped free slaves.

Now covered in fake stone siding and missing most of its original details, it was purchased by a developer in 2019 and is currently slated for demolition (a 13-story residential building is being planned).

857 Riverside Drive today.

But a neighborhood group has sprung into action to try and save the house, creating a website dedicated to its preservation and holding rallies with local politicians.

Eager to know what you—the regular folks who care about the neighborhood—think, TCU decided to run a poll on Instagram.

By an overwhelming margin—91%—you said that 857 Riverside Drive should be saved.

The Landmarks Commission declined to give the house landmark status in December, but Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and other pols have vowed to keep pressure on both the city and the agency.

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