Simeon Bankoff: Taking the Context out of Contextual Zoning

In March 2015, the City Planning Commission announced a proposal called Zoning for Affordability and Quality, which broadly calls for three principal changes in the current citywide zoning resolution. The plan proposes to change and enlarge definitions of senior housing to include more types of housing providers than currently permitted. It also proposes to increase buildable space for senior housing in some instances. The proposal also seeks to lessen or some instances no longer mandate … <Read More>


HDC’s Simeon Bankoff Talks About Life on the Preservation Front Lines

The temperature was in the 90s the day Simeon Bankoff met with City- Land. Mr. Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, a prominent city preservationist organization founded in 1971 as part of the Municipal Art Society, and operating independently since 1986, had just returned from a demonstration on the steps of City Hall. While most would have wilted, the charming and voluble Mr. Bankoff animatedly discoursed for over an hour on the Historic … <Read More>



Historic Districts Council Names Frampton Tolbert as Next Executive Director

On March 2, 2022, the Historic Districts Council announced that Frampton Tolbert will be the next Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. The Historic Districts Council advocates for the preservation of New York City’s historic neighborhoods and buildings. The appointment of Tolbert follows the departure of Simeon Bankoff, the previous Executive Director, last September, after 20 years at the helm.


Landmarks Holds Public Hearings for Holyrood Church, Educational Building

Support for landmarking included a push for further preservation of the area south of Union Square. On March 23, 2021, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on two proposed landmarks located in Manhattan. The Holyrood Episcopal Church-Iglesia Santa Cruz at 715 West 179th Street in Washington Heights and the Educational Building at 70 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village were two landmarks originally calendared as part of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s new Equity Framework. The <Read More>


Landmarks Designates East 25th Street Historic District

Residents led the efforts to preserve the block from future development. On November 17, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the East 25th Street Historic District in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The East 25th Street Historic District consists of 56 row houses on both sides of East 25th Street between Clarendon Road and Avenue D in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The historic district consists of the houses between 314 – 378 East 25th <Read More>