Court declares art organization, not building owner, owns artwork on exterior wall of SoHo historic district building. In September 2004, Judge Deborah A. Batts allowed the Board of Managers of Soho International Arts Condominium to proceed with its Fifth Amendment takings claim against the City, pending an inquiry as to who owned the well-known minimalist sculpture by artist Forrest Myers that had been attached to 599 Broadway since 1973. (See CityLand’s past coverage here.)… <Read More>
Complaint dismissed for failure to join owner
Controversial luxury condos to proceed adjacent to new Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal. In 2002, 160 Imlay Street LLC applied to BSA for a use variance to allow the conversion of a vacant six-story industrial building and the addition of three stories for a proposed luxury condominium building in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The proposed site, a 61,546-square-foot, manufacturing- zoned lot located at 160 Imlay Street, is adjacent to the new Brooklyn Cruise Ship … <Read More>
Bunche House designated
Home designated cultural landmark, but community demands full historic district. On May 17, 2005, Landmarks held a public hearing and immediately voted to designate the neo-tudor style, single-family home at 115-24 Grosvenor Road in Kew Gardens as a cultural landmark since it was the home, from 1952 until his death in 1971, of Dr. Ralph Bunche. Dr. Bunche was appointed to the committee that oversaw the partition of Israel following the United Nations’ formation and, … <Read More>
Summit Hotel designated
Lapidus-designed hotel at Lexington and East 51st designated. Following the no-vote on the Crawford Clothes building at 36 East 14th Street, Landmarks voted to designate the Morris Lapidus designed Summit Hotel at 569 Lexington Avenue at East 51st Street, currently operated as the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. Lapidus’ original design included dark green tile and turquoise brick, a dramatic Scurved slab facade, a distinctive oval-lettered blade sign and aluminum globe-shaped light fixtures lining the East 51st … <Read More>
Crawford Clothes Building: designation denied
Landmarks threatens to abandon process of contacting the owner prior to designation. By a unanimous vote on May 17, 2005, Landmarks refused to designate the Crawford Clothes Building at University Place and West 14th Street, which was considered one of the earliest noteworthy designs of New York City architect Morris Lapidus. The three-story brick and metal retail structure had included a glass center tower that revealed the retail activity on each level, but which the … <Read More>
Whitney wins a modified expansion plan
Plan calls for a 176-foot tower, an expanded entry along Madison and a two story rooftop addition to the existing building. On May 24, 2005, Landmarks approved a modified plan for the expansion of the Whitney Museum of American Art along Madison Avenue and East 74th Street within the Upper East Side Historic District.
The original expansion plans designed by Renzo Piano included a two-story addition to the Whitney’s existing home, the 1964 Marcel Breuer … <Read More>