Puck Building rooftop additions proposed

Penthouses would add six apartments to landmarked commercial office building. On September 20, 2011, Landmarks considered Kushner Companies’ proposal to build two, two-story additions on top of the landmarked Puck Building at 295 Lafayette Street. The red-brick Romanesque Revival building occupies the entire block bounded by East Houston, Jersey, Mulberry, and Lafayette Streets. Landmarks designated the Puck Building as an individual City landmark in 1983.

Jared Kushner, principal of Kushner Companies, testified that … <Read More>


Council refused to landmark Bowery rowhouse

135 Bowery. Image: CityLand

Owner of Federal-style building plans to redevelop site with sevenstory office building. On September 21, 2011, the City Council rejected Landmarks’ June 2011 designation of the Hardenbrook-Somarindyck House at 135 Bowery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The three-and-ahalf story Federal-style rowhouse was built circa 1817 and is owned by First American International Bank. Pursuant to the Charter the Council may modify or disapprove a landmark designation.

The bank purchased 135 Bowery … <Read More>


The AIA Guide’s Fran Leadon on Preservation, Development, and the Guide’s Future

Fran Leadon, architect and professor at City College’s Spitzer School of Architecture, coauthored the fifth edition of the American Institute of Architects Guide to New York City along with Norval White, who passed away prior to its publication in 2010. The Guide, published by Oxford University Press, is a comprehensive, and compulsively readable, handbook to the City’s architecturally significant buildings and spaces. It was created in 1968 by former Landmarks Preservation Commission Vice Chair Elliot … <Read More>


Renovation of Fifth Avenue landmark blocked

Preliminary injunction issued after preservationists claim renovations exceeded proposal approved by Landmarks. In April 2011, Landmarks approved Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Landmarks designated the Skidmore, Owens & Merrill-designed, glass and metal building as an individual City landmark in 1997. In February 2011, Landmarks designated the building’s first two floors as an interior landmark.

Shortly after the interior landmarking, Vornado proposed … <Read More>


Six-story building on Lafayette Street proposed

Apartment building would replace 1930s one-story garage. On August 9, 2011, Landmarks considered a proposal to replace a one-story garage with a six-story apartment building on a corner lot at 372 Lafayette Street in the NoHo Historic District. Landmarks in 2005 approved the demolition of the 1930s garage building and the construction of a six-story building on the site. The project was never developed and the property changed ownership.

The new project, designed by … <Read More>


Bowery bank designated

Citizens Saving Bank at 58 Bowery. Image: LPC.

Beaux-Arts style building stands across from entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. On August 9, 2011, Landmarks designated the Citizens Savings Bank at 58 Bowery in Manhattan as an individual City landmark. Architect Clarence W. Brazer designed the domed, granite-clad bank in 1922. The monumental Beaux-Arts style building sits on a square lot at the corner of Canal Street, across from the Manhattan Bridge. The building rises to … <Read More>