The Municipal Art Society of New York

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.

Manhattan’s Historic Districts may be bolstered by the proposed extensions to the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, the Upper East Side Historic District and the Greenwich Village Historic District Extension II (aka South Village). And we are also glad to see the outer boroughs get in on the action with the proposed Perry Avenue Historic District in the Bronx and the proposed extension to the Crown Heights North Historic District in Brooklyn.

Two other buildings being proposed are located on the Bowery, a thoroughfare that has seen a lot of demolition and large-scale development recently. One building, 97 Bowery, has been identified as the last remaining cast iron building on the Bowery, and the Germania Fire Insurance Company Building, at 357 Bowery, is a remnant from the time when the East Village was known as Kleindeutschland, or Little Germany. To this day, the Bowery continues to face ongoing development pressure that has resulted in the demolition of so many historic buildings in the area over the last decade. The vulnerability of both the Bowery and the Prospect Heights neighborhood to over-sized development makes the preservation of these buildings all the more important, and we applaud the LPC for this big day of designations.