STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The gates of the old Bayley Seton Hospital are rusted. Parts of the building's facade have been stripped of copper piping and much of the space is rundown.
This was Staten Island's first hospital, the Seaman's Retreat, for retired naval and commercial sailors, a distinction that caught the eye of the borough's preservation league which wants the city to landmark the building.
"It would actually give the north shore a real sense of pride that this building is visible from miles around," said John Kilcullen of the Preservation League of Staten Island.
Landmark designation is meant to preserve and protect historically significant buildings.
But Kilcullen says the group his made little progress convincing the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to protect Bayley Seton despite the local city councilwoman's support.
He says he's noticed a disturbing trend in the last four years: Staten Island buildings are not being landmarked at the same rate as they are in the other boroughs. He points to 16 new designations in 2018 in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but none on Staten Island since 2016.
"There's a bias, a perceived bias, to Manhattan and Brooklyn," said Kilcullen. "Staten Island has such a unique character versus those other boroughs. It is Staten Island; it has green and porches and neighborhoods that are without question very unique and should be protected."
The Preservation League says it currently has about 10 open applications before the Landmarks Commission, applications it says it opened more than a year ago.
In some cases, the Commission said the buildings had changed too much to qualify for designation like the old Tompkinsville Theatre. It was the borough's first movie theater in 1925.
It was renamed the Victory Theater, and closed in the 1960s.
"Staten Island is one of the only boroughs that doesn't have a landmark theater," Kilcullen said.
But the Landmarks Commission says it is studying a number of local sites and that the landmarking process requires extensive research, which takes time.
The agency points out it recently named the home where acclaimed black lesbian feminist writer and activist Audre Lorde lived in the 1970s and 80s one of its LGBT historic sites.