While praising design of proposed new structure, commissioners generally agreed that demolition of contributing buildings in a historic district was inappropriate. On April 1, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered a proposal to demolish two adjoining buildings in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District at 51 and 53 West 19th Street, and build a 14-story residential structure at the site. Both buildings, constructed for residential use in 1854, were significantly altered in the 1920s when … <Read More>
Manhattan Community Board 5
New Adjmi-Designed Through-Block Building Proposed for Vacant Site [UPDATE: Project Certified Following Revisions]
Commissioners generally praised the concept and design, but asked for further refinements to be presented at a future meeting. On September 24, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the proposed project for a vacant lot at 7 West 21st Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The through-block site was cleared in the 1920s, and the applicants intend to build a 185-foot tall development with ground-floor retail and residential use of … <Read More>
New manufacturing district created for Midtown
New zoning district created to protect existing commercial uses will also facilitate private developer’s mixed-use project. On September 21, 2011, the City Council approved the Department of City Planning’s proposal to create the new M1- 6D manufacturing zoning district. The Council also approved an accompanying proposal by Edison Properties to apply the new M1-6D district to the mid-block portions of two blocks bounded by West 28th and West 30th Streets and Seventh and Eighth Avenues… <Read More>
Renovation of Fifth Avenue bank interior considered
Vornado proposed dividing building’s recently landmarked interior into two retail spaces. On March 15, 2011, Landmarks considered Vornado Realty Trust’s proposal to renovate the interior of the Manufacturers Trust Company Building at 510 Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street. The 1954 modernist, glass-walled building designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill is an individual City landmark. Landmarks recently designated the first two floors of the building as an interior landmark in February 2011. At Landmarks’ … <Read More>
LPC rule change debated
Rule amendment would expand staff-level approval authority for some types of window and sign alterations. On March 1, 2011, Landmarks held a public hearing on proposed amendments to the rules pertaining to construction work on properties under Landmarks’ jurisdiction. Landmarks proposed the changes to streamline the application review process, codify current practices and policies, and address inconsistencies. Chair Robert B. Tierney stated that the proposal was partially intended to remove from the calendar issues that … <Read More>
Conversion of illegal Midtown apartments approved
- 1182 Broadway. Image: CityLand.
Sixteen-story building was illegally converted to residential use in 1997. On January 26, 2011, the City Planning Commission approved Mocal Enterprises Inc.’s proposal to convert its sixteen-story commercial building at 1182 Broadway in Manhattan to partial residential use. The building, zoned for manufacturing and commercial uses, is located within the Madison Square North Historic District.
In 1997, Mocal illegally converted the portion of the building above the fifth floor into … <Read More>