October 27th, 2009
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>>
June 23rd, 2009
Today, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Prospect Heights Historic District. At 850 buildings, it is the largest historic district designated in two decades.
“MAS applauds the Landmarks Preservation Commission for moving to protect this very special neighborhood,” said Lisa Kersavage, senior director of advocacy and policy for the Municipal Art Society. “This is an important act that will protect one of Brooklyn’s finest and well-preserved historic neighborhoods. Designation will protect the neighborhood from pressure from the Atlantic Yards project and other developments.”
Prospect Heights is rich in historic architecture, with blocks of beautiful Italianate and neo-Grec rowhouses, interspersed with churches, small commercial and apartment buildings. Continue Reading>>
June 23rd, 2009
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>>
April 14th, 2009
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>>
March 31st, 2009
In light of the City’s plan to rezone 25 blocks of the Gowanus Canal corridor, MAS is conducting an investigation of the area’s historic resources, including the canal itself. Although the Gowanus Canal is sometimes better known for the pollutants from decades of heavy manufacturing and industrial use which earned it the nickname “Lavender Lake,” the canal should also be considered a historic industrial landscape. In fact, the waterway has been officially recognized as eligible for inclusion on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. MAS recently completed a historic resources survey of the Gowanus Canal rezoning area, and will expand the study to include the other blocks along the canal and adjacent to the rezoning area that may be affected by the rezoning. The survey has already identified several unprotected potential historic buildings and structures, many of which are featured in this slide show. Continue Reading>>
March 25th, 2009
Yesterday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted in favor of designating 3 new individual landmarks: the Museum building and the Fountain of Life and Tulip Tree Allée at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx; Jamaica High School in Queens; and the Rutan-Journeay residence in Tottenville, Staten Island.
In a disappointing turn of events, the Greek Revival-style Dissosway-Cole House on Arthur Kill Road in Staten Island was deemed too altered for NYC landmark status after incurring fire damage and subsequent replacement of some of the building’s original fabric. MAS had testified in favor of all four designations, stating in particular that there was enough remaining material and documentation at the Dissosway-Cole House to allow for an authentic restoration.
The commission also held public hearings on 11 designation proposals, and MAS testified in favor of all of them. Continue Reading>>
March 10th, 2009
St. Vincent’s can now check another item off the long list of approvals it needs to construct a new hospital. Today, the LPC, in another split vote, approved the design of the new hospital building and the design of the triangular accessory site across 12th Street.
The new hospital building will replace the 1960s O’Toole building, which the LPC determined last year could be demolished because of hardship. The design features an elliptical tower sitting on top of a rectangular base; overall the height of the building will be 286 feet, reduced from previous reiterations (shown here) of 330 feet and 299 feet. Eight of the eleven LPC Commissioners felt that this new height and the design are appropriate to the Greenwich Village Historic District.
Although a group of Greenwich Village neighbors filed a lawsuit recently to block the demolition of the O’Toole building, St. Vincent’s intends to more forward in seeking its zoning and other required approvals. The Municipal Art Society will continue to follow this project.
March 4th, 2009
The Mathews Model Flats, located in the Ridgewood, Long Island City, Woodside and Elmhurst neighborhoods of Queens, were nominated to the Census of Places that Matter for providing dignified affordable housing for New Yorkers.
The Mathews Model Flats were built by speculative developer Gustave X. Mathews and designed by Louis Allmendinger in the early part of the 20th Century. Considered to be some of the most innovative housing in the city, these “new law” tenements were designed with more space and better sanitation than their overcrowded 19th Century counterparts. By making use of generous lot sizes, introducing wide air shafts to provide improved air circulation and light quality, including bathrooms in each unit, and limiting the number of apartments per floor, Mathews established a new housing paradigm that was a welcome departure from the congested tenements of the Lower East Side. Continue Reading>>
February 18th, 2009
On Tuesday, February 17th, the LPC took the first step in the landmark designation process when it “calendared” five new items. The collection of potential new landmarks includes the Ridgewood Theater in Queens, the Brooklyn Union Gas Company Building, the West-Park Presbyterian Church, the Fort Washington Presbyterian Church and the proposed Audubon Park Historic District in Manhattan.
Check out the slide show above to learn more about the five new proposed landmarks.
February 9th, 2009
Answer: They are both scheduled to become NYC landmarks tomorrow (Tuesday, February 10th). Continue Reading>>