This morning, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to “calendar” (the first step in the landmark designation process) the Shore Theater building in Coney Island.  MAS President Vin Cipolla said, “MAS has long advocated for the renewal of Coney Island, and the Shore Theater represents Coney Island’s distinct status as a recreation and amusement destination. The Landmarks Commission took a huge step today to ensure that this wonderful theater will play a role in Coney Island’s future.”

During the Coney Island rezoning process, MAS recommended to the City that the area’s historic resources, like the Shore Theater, be protected, as they are key to a revitalized Coney Island.  The Shore Theater has long been one of Coney Island’s most striking buildings.  Opened in 1925 as the Coney Island Theatre and designed by noted theater architects, Reilly & Hall, the Shore Theater sat nearly 2,400 people in its auditorium and featured both live vaudeville shows and moving pictures.  Although it has long been vacant, if reinvigorated, the Shore Theater could present a unique opportunity for theater and other performance space in the amusement area. Continue Reading>>

Today is another large Designation Day at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The focus of today’s hearing is expanding some of the city’s existing historic districts to include worthy buildings that were excluded from the original designations. See our slide above and continue reading to learn more about the LPC’s activities today. Continue Reading>>

The designation of the Prospect Heights Historic District is almost complete. Tomorrow the City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting and Maritime Uses will hold a hearing on the designation. With 850 buildings, the district is the largest designated in two decades. It’s also one of the city’s finest unprotected brownstone districts, with blocks of beautiful late-19th and early 20th-century residential buildings (for detailed information, read the LPC’s incredible 488-page designation report). Given the strong support of Council Member Letitia James, we expect the Council to uphold the designation, but MAS will be on hand to urge the Council to affirm the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation.  Read our statement here.

MAS made a video about the process of creating the historic district, featuring Councilmember Letitia James, Chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission Robert B. Tierney, historian Francis Morrone, and Gib Veconi of Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), and showing how we worked with PHNDC to survey the historic buildings and promote the area for designation. The result was not just the designation; the act of engaging residents in the process brought the community together and provided a new sense of neighborhood identity. Continue Reading>>

MAS testified on Tuesday before the Landmarks Preservation Commission in support of the landmark designation of two buildings in Midtown built in 1909 for the B.F. Goodrich Company. The buildings, both designed by Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, occupy an L-shaped site fronting the east side of Broadway (pictured here) and the north side of 57th St (both pictured after the jump). Unfortunately, the buildings’ owner only supports the designation of the Broadway building and is opposing the designation of the 57th St. structure.  MAS joined our colleague NYC preservation groups, as well as several groups based in Shaw’s home state of Illinois, in urging the LPC to designate both buildings.

Founded in Akron, Ohio, in the 1870s, B.F. Goodrich rapidly grew in the early 20th c. with the rise of the automobile industry.   As a leading automobile tire and rubber manufacturer in the United States at the time, the company wanted a New York presence for its new corporate headquarters.  The company selected an L-shaped location on Broadway and 57th Street, at the heart of what was then considered “automobile row.”  Running along Broadway and its side streets, from north of Times Square to north of Columbus Circle, automobile row held a concentration of showrooms, repair shops, offices, and other uses all associated with automobile companies like B.F. Goodrich, General Motors, Ford, and Fisk Tires. Continue Reading>>

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is devoting tomorrow morning to the consideration of 5 new individual landmarks in Manhattan, images of which can be viewed in this slideshow. Continue Reading>>

The Landmarks Preservation Commission agenda is packed today with numerous worthy designation items. Check out our slide show of the items being calendared, heard, and designated today. MAS is particularly pleased with the proposed designation of the Prospect Heights Historic District in Brooklyn. For nearly three years, the MAS has worked closely with community members, elected officials and the LPC towards protecting the unique character of this largely intact neighborhood with landmark designation for over 800 buildings. Click here to read more about its history. Continue Reading>>

Although today one can get Nathan’s hot dogs in towns all across America, Nathan’s Famous is still synonymous with Coney Island. The Coney Island legend opened in 1916 and has been serving hot dogs on Surf Avenue ever since. While Coney Island has changed over the last 93 years, Nathan’s has remained a constant, remaining open all year round, rain or shine.

Nathan Handwerker, a Polish immigrant and founder of Nathan’s, did not in fact invent the hot dog, but he does deserve credit for making it one of America’s most popular foods. Moreover, it has been argued that Handwerker is the father of American fast food, providing cheap, quick, and easy food for the masses then as now. Continue Reading>>

The Landmarks Preservation Commission today designated two new landmarks in the Bronx and added two other items to the “calendar” – which is the first step in the designation process. The city’s newest landmarks, the Hunts Point and Woodstock branches of the New York Public Library, are both Carnegie libraries, located in the Bronx. The items that were calendared are a proposed Ridgewood South Historic District in Queens and a private residence in Staten Island.

The two landmarked libraries were created using the famous 1901 grant from Andrew Carnegie. The grant was intended for the design and construction of new library buildings, allowing the New York Public Library to create 39 neighborhood branches. Continue Reading>>

The former Childs restaurant building on Surf Avenue and 12th Street is today home to the organization, Coney Island USA, but the building’s role in Coney Island’s amusement area extends much further back. The building was originally constructed in 1917 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style for the Childs restaurant chain, a cafeteria-style restaurant founded in the 1880s in lower Manhattan which eventually grew to have over 100 locations in America and Canada. This building was the first of two Childs restaurants constructed in Coney Island; the other building on the Boardwalk was designated a landmark in 2003 and is currently home to Lola Staar’s Dreamland Roller Rink.

The Childs restaurant chain was the creation of Samuel and William Childs. They revolutionized the American restaurant chain by creating a uniform look to each of their branches in order to make their restaurants recognizable. Continue Reading>>

Despite its late 20^th-century alterations, the Grashorn Building on Jones Walk and Surf Avenue is the oldest building in Coney Island’s amusement area. Behind the synthetic siding is a wood-framed building dating from the late 1880s. If one looks carefully, the building’s Second Empire mansard roof and dormer windows can still be discerned.

As early as 1898 and continuing for at least a half-century, the building was the home of Henry Grashorn’s hardwood store, which served the amusement industry. Coney Island in the late-19^th and early 20^th centuries was so dense with mechanical amusements and attractions that easily accessible hardware stores like Grashorn’s were a necessity. Continue Reading>>