Owners allegedly bribed DOB to ignore violations; other allegedly filed plans with forged architect’s signature. In June 2006, the Department of Investigation arrested three Brooklyn property owners for allegedly bribing a Buildings inspector. After an inspector issued a citation and a stop-work order for work at 245 Exeter Street in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, David Safir, the lot’s owner, allegedly offered $3,000 to the Buildings inspector at a follow-up inspection, asking that no additional violations be … <Read More>
Landmarks nixes two storefront signs
A West Side drugstore and an East Side Dunkin Donuts refused sign approvals. Bernard Weiser, owner of Thomas Drugs located at 179 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side, Manhattan, installed without permits an illuminated storefront sign, neon lights, and a fixed awning over the entrance. The store, located in a neo-Grec style flats building, displayed two grandfathered neon signs in the windows that read “Drugs.”
On March 17, 2004, Landmarks issued NOVs to Weiser … <Read More>
AT&T Building and its colonnaded lobby designated
Landmarks unanimously designated neo-classical building and its colonnaded interior. At its July 25th meeting, Landmarks unanimously designated the American Telephone and Telegraph Building and its interior at 195 Broadway in lower Manhattan. The AT&T Building was designed by William Welles Bosworth, who also designed much of MIT’s campus and the Rockefeller’s Hudson Valley estate, and built in stages between 1912 and 1922. The granite facade features decorative elements inspired by Greek excavations, and sculpted relief … <Read More>
19th-century concrete building designated
- New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company building in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Photo: LPC.
1872 Brooklyn building designated unanimously. Landmarks designated the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building at 360 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, the city’s earliest known concrete structure. Designed by William Field and Son, the 1872 building was meant to showcase the possibilities of concrete. Francois Coignet, the company’s founder, was an early proponent of concrete as an alternative to … <Read More>
Owner opposed SI designation
Owner purchased 1853 house with intent to demolish and develop. On July 11, 2006, Landmarks held a hearing on the John and Margaret Thompson House at 150 Taylor Street in the West New Brighton Neighborhood of Staten Island. The Thompson House was built in 1853 for John Thompson, an Irish immigrant who worked as a silk printer. The three-bayed house was built in the Greek Revival style, which was popular in mid-19th century Staten Island.… <Read More>
Modern 9-story residential building approved for SoHo
Residential and retail building to replace parking lot on Wooster Street. Landmarks approved the construction of a modern eight-story- plus-penthouse glass building within the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, replacing a surface parking lot on the southwest corner of Wooster and Grand Streets. Designed by Henry Smith-Miller of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson, the building will be eight stories along Grand Street, clad by a glass curtain wall, and will wrap around the intersection with Wooster Street. The … <Read More>