The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s (LPC) process for designating New York City historic districts is being used more and more to take the place of zoning. The designation of historic districts has been pursued to promote many different agendas: to address issues of height and scale, to stop new development and to limit development on vacant or near-vacant sites by purposefully including these sites within the boundaries of historic districts. These objectives are contrary to the … <Read More>
Search Results for: Landmarks Designation Hearing
Landmarks Declines to Designate Heavily Altered Federal-Era Rowhouse as an Individual Landmark
Early 1800s rowhouse on West Broadway had undergone extensive ground-floor reconstruction and gained an additional floor. On June 26, 2012, Landmarks declined to designate a three-story Federal-style rowhouse at 177 West Broadway in Tribeca as an individual landmark. The rowhouse was built circa 1802 as a two-story building. It is one of the neighborhood’s earliest structures, and one of the few remaining Federal-style buildings in Manhattan. The building served as private residence in its … <Read More>
Landmarks Hears Mixed Testimony on Proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District
New district would encompass more than 300 buildings in an area that was home to successive waves of immigrant groups. On June 26, 2012, Landmarks heard extensive testimony on the proposed designation of the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. The proposed district would encompass approximately 330 buildings located primarily along Second Avenue between St. Marks Place and East 2nd Street and adjacent side streets. A portion of the district would extend along … <Read More>
City Council Proposes Important Changes to Landmarks Law
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (“LPC”) has designated more than 1,400 individual landmarks and 107 historic districts. Approximately 29,000 buildings are under LPC regulation. With only five percent of that total comprising individual landmarks,95 percent are subject to LPC regulation solely because they are located within historic districts, regardless of individual merit.
With the proliferation of buildings subject to LPC regulation, both as individual landmarks and within historic districts, attention has increasingly focused … <Read More>
[Update] Bowery Mission Considered for Landmarks Status
Broad support for landmarking one of the country’s oldest extant Christian missions. On June 12, 2012, Landmarks held a public hearing to consider designating the Bowery Mission at 227 Bowery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side as an individual landmark. The red brick neo-Grec store-and-loft building was constructed in 1876 for use by an undertaker. The Bowery Mission relocated to the building in 1909 after its former home at 55 Bowery was demolished to accommodate … <Read More>
[Update] Two Hotels in Midtown Designated as Individual Landmarks
Turn-of-the-century residential hotels, which served rising professional class, among City’s newest landmarks. On June 12, 2012, Landmarks voted to designate two Midtown hotels constructed in the early 20th century as individual landmarks. The Beaux-Arts Hotel Mansfield is located at 12 West 44th Street, and the Renaissance Revival Martha Washington Hotel is located at 30 East 30th Street.
The 12-story Hotel Mansfield is on the same block as several other individual landmarks, including … <Read More>