National Register of Historic Places

WAVERTREE

New York, New York County, New York
Listed
June 12, 1978
Type
Structure
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
78001887

About this property

Wavertree is a historic iron-hulled sailing ship built in 1885. Now the largest wrought iron sailing vessel afloat, it is located at the South Street Seaport in New York City. Wavertree was built in Southampton, England in 1885 and was one of the last large sailing ships built of wrought iron. She was built for the Liverpool company R.W. Leyland & Company, and is named after the Wavertree district of that city. The ship was first used to carry jute between eastern India and Scotland. When less than two years old the ship entered the "tramp trades", taking cargoes anywhere in the world. In 1910, after sailing for a quarter century, the ship was dis-masted off Cape Horn and barely made it to the Falkland Islands. Rather than re-rigging the ship its owners sold it for use as a floating warehouse at Punta Arenas, Chile. Wavertree was converted into a sand barge at Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1947. This ship was discovered in 1967 at the Riachuelo River in Buenos Aires by an American citizen working on a sand barge and acquired by the South Street Seaport Museum in 1968. The ship was sent to the Arsenal Naval Buenos Aires for restoration. In 1969 after restoration was complete, the ship was towed to New York. The vessel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 13, 1978. In 2015, the ship was sent to Staten Island's Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Co. Inc. for a $13 million restoration, funded by New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, city council and Manhattan's borough president. The restoration included the replacement of steel plates below the waterline, a new ballast system, updated electrical systems, and coating work that includes a cathodic protection system. The restoration started in May 2015, and ended on 25 September 2016, when the ship returned to South Street Seaport museum. Media related to Wavertree (ship, 1885) at Wikimedia Commons

Location

New York, New York County, New York
40.70567, -74.00240

Categories

COMMERCEENGINEERINGTRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Questions about this property

When was WAVERTREE listed on the National Register?

WAVERTREE was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 12, 1978.

What type of historic resource is WAVERTREE?

WAVERTREE is classified as a structure in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for WAVERTREE?

The period of significance for WAVERTREE is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near WAVERTREE?

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