Overview
- New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is reviewing an updated proposal for a nine‑story building beside the museum, with a public meeting expected but not yet scheduled.
- The developer has not completed a required study on how to protect the museum’s fragile plaster, while the museum’s engineers warn nearby excavation and vibration could crack walls and threaten the passage.
- Museum staff say the long‑noted feature is a two‑foot‑square hatch under a dresser that drops down a 15‑foot shaft with a makeshift ladder, a design that fits hiding people rather than a service chute.
- Historian Ann Haddad tied the passage to the Underground Railroad after records showed 1832 owner Joseph Brewster supported antislavery petitions and churches, clarifying a mystery first documented in the 1930s.
- The fight has drawn wider backing, with Manhattan’s Community Board 2 urging the city to buy the adjacent lot and Al Sharpton warning the site represents Black history at risk.