Historic Buildings Identified as Potential Landmarks ahead of East Harlem Rezoning

Potential individual landmarks added to the Commission’s calendar include two schools and a former meat packing plant. On November 14, 2017, Landmarks voted to add three items in East Harlem to its calendar for consideration as individual City landmarks. The three buildings are: The Richard Webber Harlem Parking House, at 207 East 109th Street; the former Public School 109, at 215 East 99th Street;  and the former Benjamin Franklin High School, at 260 <Read More>


Landmarks to Consider Expansion of Boerum Hill Historic District by 288 Buildings

Composed of three distinct areas to the north, south and west of the existing historic district, proposed expansion shares a character and development history designated section of Boerum Hill. Landmarks voted to add an extension to the Boerum Hill Historic District to its calendar for consideration for designation on October 31, 2017. The extension, as calendared, would bring approximately 288 properties under Landmarks’ purview. The extension is not contiguous, but composed of three separate sections … <Read More>


Designation of 280-Year-Old Church Building Proceeds Apace

No objections to designation raised at hearing; concerns about closeness of potential development on undesignated portion of lot to church building raised by Commissioners. On August 8, 2017, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Old Saint James Episcopal Church at 86-02 Broadway in the Elmhurst section of Queens. Landmarks added the 1736 building to its calendar at its June 27, 2017, meeting. The building is the second oldest surviving religious … <Read More>


New York Public Library Main Reading Room Officially Enters Designation Process [UPDATE: Designation Approved]

UPDATELandmarks voted to designate the interior at its meeting August 8, 2017. Commissioner Adi Shamir-Baron spoke of the “rare condition of two block’s worth of interior space,” with 50-foor ceilings. She said the interiors remind us of the meaning of civic space, as a place that “honors and elevates the spirit of the individual and the collective.”

Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan stated that designation as an imperative step in Landmarks’ mission, that would preserve <Read More>


Support Voiced for Designation of Library’s Main Reading Room

Main reading room and catalog room of New York Public Library’s main branch lauded for both architecture and social significance. On July 18, 2017, Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the Main Reading Room and Catalog Room of the main branch of the New York Public Library as an interior landmark.  The Carrere & Hasting designed library, whose exterior is designated an individual City landmark, stands at 476 Fifth <Read More>


Queens Colonial-Era Church Enters Designation Process

1736 structure is the second-oldest surviving religious building in New York City. On June 27, 2017, Landmarks unanimously voted to add the Old St. James Episcopal Church at 86-02 Broadway in Queens’ Elmhurst neighborhood, to its calendar, officially beginning the designation process. The building is the one of the oldest purpose-built religious structures in the City, second only to the 1694 Friends Meeting House in Flushing, an individual City landmark designated in 1970.