Preservation Buffalo Niagara urged the Committee on Legislation on Tuesday to endorse local landmark designation for 840 William Street, a former Schlitz Brewery tide house that the preservation group says is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The nomination matters because local landmark status would give the city’s preservation process stronger tools to protect the building and would allow owners or advocates to pursue preservation funding and grants to stabilize and restore the structure.

Emily Jarnott, a preservation planner with Preservation Buffalo Niagara, told the committee the property is “a little bit complicated” because it is caught up in an estate, which has hindered maintenance. Jarnott said the organization succeeded in getting the property found eligible for the National Register in February and has worked with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation on that listing. She described the building’s history: built about 1909 as a tide house for the Schlitz Brewing Company, with ground-floor retail and boarding rooms above, and said the property sits in the Broadway-Fillmore commercial hub.

“The tide house was a piece of the commercial fabric that helped make the East Side vibrant,” Jarnott said, noting the group’s recent cleanup and vegetation work around the site.

Council Member Nowakowski told the committee he had reviewed the preservation material and believed the property met the criteria for local landmark designation and moved to approve the nomination. The motion was seconded and the committee moved the nomination forward for approval.

Discussion only: Preservation Buffalo Niagara described the property’s National Register eligibility, condition and the organization’s outreach and cleanup work. Direction/decision: Council Member Nowakowski moved the nomination forward; the committee voted to approve the nomination for transmittal consistent with committee practice. No funding commitment was made at the meeting.

If approved by subsequent steps in the city’s landmark process, local designation would allow additional review and make the property eligible for preservation incentives and grants that require local protection.