Hearing held on oldest active synagogue in Queens

Elected officials urged Landmarks to designate Congregation Tifereth Israel. Photo: The New York Landmarks Conservancy.

Wide support for designation of 97- year-old synagogue. On January 15, 2008, Landmarks heard testimony on the potential designation of the Congregation Tifereth Israel synagogue located at 109-18 54th Avenue in the Corona section of Queens. Tifereth Israel is an example of the vernacular style, common amongst Lower East Side synagogues, and characterized by Gothic, Moorish, and Judaic design elements. … <Read More>


Early 20th century rooming house heard

Owner of renaissance-style building willing to accommodate landmark status. On December 18, 2007, Landmarks heard testimony on the Allerton 39th Street House, built between 1916 and 1918 at 145 East 39th Street in the East Side of Manhattan. The building was one of six Allerton Houses in the City, a chain of residences and clubs that served young middle-class men until the mid- 1920s. Arthur Loomis Harmon, who later worked on the Empire State Building, … <Read More>


Council OKs Eberhard Faber Pencil Hist. Dist

Historic district includes buildings from Brooklyn’s bygone industrial age. On January 30, 2008, the City Council voted to approve Landmarks’ designation of the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District, located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, between West and Kent Streets along Greenpoint Avenue. The factory buildings serve as an example of the German Renaissance Revival style, with some buildings dating as far back as the 1880s. In 2005, the Department of Buildings issued permits … <Read More>


Hearing held on 1891 Victorian house and garden

Voelker-Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary and Victorian Garden. Image: LPC.

1891 house currently serves as a museum and bird sanctuary. On September 18, 2007, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Voelker-Orth Museum, Bird Sanctuary, and Victorian Garden in the Murray Hill section of Flushing. The museum consists of a house and garden built in 1891 by shopkeeper James Bouton. Conrad Voelker, a German-language newspaper publisher, purchased the property in 1899, which remained … <Read More>


City Planning proposes plan for Sunnyside Gardens

Under proposal, Landmarks would be solely responsible for all permits to alter Sunnyside Gardens’ buildings. On August 20, 2007, the Planning Commission sent a proposal to Queens Community Board 2 and Borough President Helen Marshall that would make Landmarks solely responsible for all permits to alter buildings in Sunnyside Gardens, a planned community of single-family homes and apartments built in the 1920s.

Landmarks had voted in June 2007 to designate a 600-building historic district covering … <Read More>


MAS’s Kent Barwick Reflects on Promoting a More Livable City

Kent Barwick has a stickball bat hiding in the corner of his office. He swears he does not use it, and who can argue with him? His office is in the Villard Houses in Midtown, and its courtyard is too small for a game. But physical boundaries aside, he would never have the time to show off his skills. Mr. Barwick, a graduate of Syracuse University and a Harvard University Loeb Fellow, is the current … <Read More>