City amended law to obstruct loopholes. In 1993, adult establishments had proliferated within the city, growing from only nine in 1965 to 177 in 1993. A 1993 Planning Department study, precipitated by this increase, concluded that adult uses produced secondary negative impacts like increased crime, property value depreciation and a reduction in commercial activity in areas where the uses were heavily concentrated. This study became the basis of a 1995 citywide zoning amendment that prohibited … <Read More>
Windemere Apartments gets second hearing
Landmarks continued public hearing at owner’s request. On April 21, 2005 Landmarks held a second public hearing on the proposed designation of the Windemere Apartments located at 400-406 West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. Constructed in 1881 and considered the “Gateway to Hell’s Kitchen” separating Clinton from the Upper West Side, the Windemere is one of only two remaining large, early apartment buildings in the area. Theophilus Smith designed each building of the … <Read More>
Keuffel & Esser Building
Home to nation’s leading architectural equipment manufacturer designated. On April 26, 2005, Landmarks designated the Keuffel & Esser Company Building at 127 Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan. Constructed in 1893 and designed by De Lemos & Cordes, the eight-story Renaissance Revival style through-block building stretching from Fulton to Ann Streets, consists of brick, ornamented terra-cotta and cast iron.
Landmarks unanimously voted to designate the building, which served for over seven decades as the general offices … <Read More>
Owners challenge designation
Experts clash over rehabilitation cost for 1811-built Lower Manhattan townhouse. On April 21, 2005, Landmarks held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the four-story Robert Dickey House, a 41-foot wide Federalstyle townhouse located at 67 Greenwich Street and Trinity Place. The Dickey House, constructed in 1811, is the only surviving Federal-period, bowed-facade townhouse in Manhattan and one of only two intact townhouses of this period remaining south of Chambers Street.
The Schessel family, … <Read More>
Owner defends right to demolish structure
Owner of Crawford Clothes Building justifies tower demolition based on contract to construct new building. On April 21, 2005, Landmarks held a second public hearing on the proposed designation of the Morris Lapidus designed Crawford Clothes Building, also known as the Paterson Silk Building, at East 14th Street and University Place. At the hearing, the owner responded to accusations that the building’s central glass tower was demolished to quash Landmarks interest in its designation. See … <Read More>
New fifteen-story residential building for Ladies’Mile
Site in Ladies’ Mile Historic District currently vacant. 27 West 19th Street, LLC applied for a permit to build a 15-story stone and brick residential building on a vacant lot currently used for surface parking located at 27 West 19th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. At the April 5, 2005 public hearing, Morris Adjmi, the architect, presented a design, which had been modified slightly to address Landmarks’ concerns at the initial February 22, … <Read More>