Honest owner returns to Commission; gets permit

One-story addition was visible from adjacent street. In 2002, the owners of 363-65 Greenwich Street, an 1866 Italianate loft in Manhattan’s Tribeca West Historic District, sought approval to add a one-story rooftop addition. Landmarks’ staff approved without a hearing after concluding that the addition would not be visible from any public street. When construction was completed, the owners realized that the addition was visible along Harrison Street and consequently the staff-level approval was flawed. The … <Read More>


DeBeers second plan ok’ed

Changes to St. Regis Hotel approved. DeBeers, after its original plan was denied in November 2004, sought approval of a second, less elaborate proposal to alter a portion of the facade of the landmarked St. Regis Hotel for its retail space along Fifth Avenue. The second application sought to remove the modern storefront, replacing it with large display windows with maroon framing and installing etched glass panels directly behind the display windows. Six maroon awnings, … <Read More>


Changes to former Cocoa Exchange Building Ok’ed

Beaver Building gets new 16th-story addition and significant renovations. Richard Fownes of Cocoa Partners, LP gained approval to renovate the Beaver Building, an individual landmark that housed the N.Y. Cocoa Exchange from 1931-1972. Located on a narrow lot at the junction of Beaver and Pearl Streets, the Beaver Building is flatiron- shaped, steel-framed and has a tripartite design, prevalent in early New York skyscrapers, with three sections: a vertically-aligned stone base, a horizontal-patterned brick center … <Read More>


New 4-story building wins approval

Owner gets 2 approvals: 4-story cast-stone/brick building to replace existing garage; 1910 mansion to be expanded. The 1 Montgomery Place Association, the owner of two lots within the Park Slope Historic District, applied for permission to alter the existing 1910 neo-Federal-style mansion at 1 Montgomery Place and, immediately adjacent at 125 8th Avenue, to demolish a one-story garage and build a new four-story building.

BKSK Architects designed a cast-stone and brick four-story structure to replace … <Read More>


Balducci’s to return to Greenwich Village

Landmarked bank to be converted to market. On February 15, 2005, Landmarks unanimously approved the adaptive reuse of the New York Savings Bank, located at West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue, by Balducci’s, a high-end food market that traces its roots to a Greenwich Village fruit and vegetable stand. Constructed in 1896, the marble-facade Classical Revival-styled bank was designated an individual and an interior landmark in 1988. In 1994, it was converted to a large … <Read More>


Owner ordered to restore and maintain landmark

Owner of Skidmore House allowed it to fall into state of disrepair. Skidmore House, a 159-yearold Greek revival residence located at 37 East 4th Street, was designated as an individual landmark in 1970. Since acquiring Skidmore House in 1988, the owner, 10-12 Cooper Square, Inc., neglected to maintain it and ignored several requests by Landmarks to repair it. After the roof collapsed in 2002, Landmarks sued the owner to return the landmark to a state … <Read More>