Houses used in anti-slavery movement could receive historic designation

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote tomorrow on whether to give historic designation to a group of nine 19th century houses on West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, according to commission spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon. The houses are attributed to the anti-slavery movement of the mid-1800s, and were reportedly attacked during celebrations for the Emancipation Proclamation. The commission said that abolitionists met on that block during an 1856 anti-slavery convention and that the group of homes figured centrally in the underground railroad and the 1863 Civil War draft riots.