| Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 085525
Manhattan, Block: 179, Lot: 6
13 Worth Street - TriBeCa West Historic District
A store and loft building designed by William Field and Son and
built 1873. Application is to construct a rooftop addition.
HDC Testimony
The presentation available for Public Review on Friday was incomplete
– only two boards with no elevations, plans or proposed materials.
The only boards presented were photos showing that the rooftop addition
would be visible and examples of other visible rooftop additions
(with no addresses given) that HDC would not have found appropriate.
With only this information with which to judge the project, HDC
cannot approve this application.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 083802
Manhattan, Block: 174, Lot: 7502
95 Franklin Street - TriBeCa East Historic District
An Itlianate style store and loft building built in 1864-66. Application
is to construct a barrier-free access ramp.
HDC Testimony
HDC is concerned about the practicality of this proposal. It does
not seem that the landing is large enough to allow for a wheelchair
to make the turn (although a stroller could). We recommend lining
the stairs up parallel to the ramp on the other side of the landing,
making the entrance more practical and less fussy.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 064428
Manhattan, Block: 572, Lot: 2
404 6th Avenue - Greenwich Village Historic District
A rowhouse built in 1831 and altered in 1931. Application is to
install a new storefront.
HDC Testimony
HDC feels this a very nice proposal for what seems to be a problematic
building. We would though like to see the mullions of the second
floor line up with those on the third and fourth. If the same tripartite
arrangement with a continuous transom could be used in the design
of the storefront, it would be even better. Doing so would tie the
latest design of the first two floors with those above.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 085921
Manhattan, Block: 1265, Lot: 1
Rockefeller Plaza - Individual Landmark Historic District
An Art Deco style office, commercial and entertainment complex designed
by the Associated Architects and built in 1931-33. Application is
to install ticket kiosks on Rockefeller Plaza and the Channel Gardens.
HDC Testimony
HDC believes with one less kiosk and a few design detail changes,
this application would be an appropriate change to Rockefeller Center.
The location of the ticket booth to the right of the skating rink
stairs, just off the Channel Garden in inappropriate. Besides being
an awkward, crowded location for a ticket line to form, the structure
would change and interrupt iconic views of Rockefeller Center. The
two other kiosks, near the RCA Building, selling tickets for the
observation deck of that structure are fine with two changes. We
were happy to see a design that omitted the ticket sign above the
window, and we feel the electric ticker should be also be removed.
In addition, HDC recommends that the ticket kiosks use the same
color pallet – black, gold and brass – as the rest of
the complex, not gray.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 086166
Manhattan, Block: 825, Lot: 1
71 West 23rd Street - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A neo-Renaissance style loft building designed by Harry P. Knowles
and built in 1911-1912. Application is to legalize the installation
of flagpoles without LPC permits.
HDC Testimony
HDC does not feel this application should be approved without a
few alterations. While flags could be appropriate on a large street
like 23rd, they are not fitting for a narrow side street like 24th
and HDC urges the Commission not to legalize flagpoles on that façade.
We recommend that the large flags (which are more like banners)
on 23rd Street be reduced in size. We find the way the flagpoles
are anchored directly into the masonry worrisome and urge the applicant
to work with staff to find a more appropriate location and manner
of attachment.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 086850
Manhattan, Block: 1257, Lot: 1
476 Fifth Avenue - Individual Landmark Historic District
A Beaux-Arts style library building designed by Carrere & Hastings
and built in 1898-1911. Application is to install signage.
HDC Testimony
HDC applauds the generous donation of Mr. Stephen Schwarzman, but
we feel there is a need to keep the acknowledgment of this gift
in historic, and aesthetic, perspective. Signage is not so much
a part of this proposal as is carving into historic fabric. The
amount of inscriptions and their proposed language, design and location
take away from the classical, austere grandeur of the Carrere &
Hastings landmark and overshadow the original gifts of the Astor
Library, the Lenox Library, and the Tilden Trust.
These organizations and their founders, without whom we would not
have this world-famous institution, are mentioned only once on the
building's facades, not five times as is proposed for this new donation.
They are found in the attic of the main façade (the traditional
location for such inscriptions in classically inspired architecture),
not twice at eye-level at each entrance and on the floor of the
portico. Those proposed for the Fifth Avenue façade are to
be cut directly into areas designed to be blank, massive bases for
impressive pairs of columns, not locations for inscriptions. They
are to be read as part of the continuous, solid line of large blocks
that delineate the ground floor from the basement. In addition to
the disruption of the original design, we are concerned about the
fragile nature of the stone (illustrated by the condition of the
ornament in the area just above proposed location) and question
the desire to carve into the fabric of this landmark. The 42nd Street
façade was treated originally as the secondary façade
and no permanent inscriptions exist here. The inclusion of the new
inscriptions would be inappropriate, and they should be kept instead
to the primary façade.
From a design standpoint, the proposed inscriptions do not reference
the Beaux Arts design idiom. Other inscriptions on the building
are framed with ornament and stand out as stone plaques. We are
also a bit troubled by the wording. The date of the donation should
be part of whatever is approved, as the dates are included in the
design of the original plaques for Tilton, Astor and Lennox. It
should be made clear to visitors, now and in the future, that Mr.
Schwartzman's generosity did not build the library originally, but
has enabled the library’s continued growth as it proceeds
into its second century. The floor plaque could possibly simply
read "Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in recognition of his
exceptional generosity to the library, 2008" or say "re-named"
rather than "named" so as not to confuse the history of
the library.
In the future, the New York Public Library will certainly grow
and develop to meet the changing needs of its patrons much as it
has for over a century. In those future years, not yet imagined
projects sponsored by generous donors will enable the library’s
continuous evolution, and these gifts will also no doubt need to
be recognized. Rather than setting a precedent of carving into the
library’s façade and disrupting its original design,
this generosity should be recognized in other locations such as
the portico floor and the interior or through signage that will
not permanently change this landmark.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 083996
Manhattan, Block: 1502, Lot: 27,28,29
57-61 East 90th Street - Carnegie Hill Historic District
Three Romanesque Revival style rowhouses designed by J.C. Cady &
Co. and built in 1886-7. Application is to construct rooftop and
rear yard additions and extend a flue.
HDC Testimony
HDC does not believe the balustrade should be rebuilt as it is incongruous
with the Romanesque Revival style of these three rowhouses. And
we doubt they were part of the original design The main function
of the proposed balustrade appears to be to hide the massive rooftop
addition. The full width addition includes an elevator bulkhead
on top, essentially adding two stories to these three-and-a-half-story
buildings. The additional 20 feet on top of the building is roughly
half the height (43 feet) of the original structures.
In the rear HDC would like to see more of a distinction made between
the buildings. Although they will now be used as one home, the interior
use should not drive the design of the exterior and instead the
scale of three individual houses should be retained. We find the
design utterly unsympathetic to the homes’ original style
and to the garden core in general. The addition would contribute
to losing that “sense of place” described in the Landmarks
Law. The proposed also extends 5 1/2 feet beyond the existing additions
of these houses and the extensions of the neighbor's. As we have
on similar proposals through out the city, HDC asks the Commission
to stop this incremental creeping into the garden core and maintain
the existing depth.
HDC urges the Commission to scale back these proposed additions
that threaten to suffocate these historic homes.
LPC Determination: Approved w/mods
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 074048
Manhattan, Block: 1378, Lot: 6
3 East 63rd Street - Upper East Side Historic District
A building originally built c.1880 and altered in 1936 by James
E. Casale. Application is to construct a rooftop addition.
HDC Testimony
Due to this building’s location next to the parking lot of
820 5th Avenue, the proposed rooftop addition would be very visible.
HDC asks that the addition be reduced as much as possible to decrease
this visibility.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 080712
Manhattan, Block: 1459, Lot: 1
1194 1st Avenue - Individual Landmark Historic District
A model tenement complex designed by James E. Ware and Philip Ohm
and built in 1898-1915. Application is to create a Master Plan governing
the future installation of storefronts, signage and awnings.
HDC Testimony
While the proposed seeks to clean up the existing storefronts, HDC
recommends that no applications for the City and Suburban Homes
First Avenue Estates be approved until the owner-inflicted damage
on the York Avenue façade complex is repaired.
In the meantime, HDC feels further research and refinement is needed
for the proposed storefronts. Surely original elevation drawings
exist at the Department of Buildings or images earlier than the
tax photos can be found of the innovative housing complex. In comparison
to the tax photos presented, the proposed is too bulky, the proportions
off, and details of the bulkhead, pilasters and friezes are wrong.
Besides refining the design to replicate the original, HDC encourages
the applicant to consider retaining some of the now historic signage
like that on the drug store.
The proposed would be nice enough for a building highly altered
with no documentation. However for a large, individual landmark
of an unusual typology, built as a model of quality housing, no
generic storefront will do – the original should be restored
or replicated.
LPC Determination: Approved w/mods
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 085523
Manhattan, Block: 1498, Lot: 69
1056 Fifth Avenue - Carnegie Hill Historic District
A modern style apartment building designed by George F. Pelham and
built in 1948. Application is to enlarge planting beds and replace
doors and railings.
HDC Testimony
HDC is in favor of much of this proposal, but we are concerned about
the replacement railing. We understand, based on the designation
report, that original railing does exist on parts of the building.
HDC asks that this railing be retained where extant and replicated
elsewhere as needed.
LPC Determination: Approved w/mods
Hearing Date: 5/6/2008
LPC Docket Number: 082324
Manhattan, Block: 1254, Lot: 1
West 101st Street - Scenic Landmark Historic District
An English Romantic-style park and parkway, built in 1873-1902 and
designed by Frecerick Law Olmsted with modification and additions
built in 1934-37. Application is to replace artificial turf.
HDC Testimony
HDC is not in favor of the use of artificial turf in Riverside Park
for a number of reasons. Aesthetically, HDC is disturbed by the
increasing artificiality of our city’s parks, particularly
in Scenic Landmarks. There are presently only three parks designated
Scenic Landmarks and a handful of other public parks that fall under
LPC jurisdiction as parts of historic landmark designations. Extra
effort should be put into keeping these spaces as natural and authentic
as possible.
While we prefer the green turf and are certainly pleased to hear
this artificial turf does not use recycled tires that were of particular
health concern, there are still health and environmental issues
to consider. In this era of talk of greening the city, vast fields
of artificial turf do the opposite. They contribute to the urban
heat island effect, absorbing sunlight and emitting heat. While
grass fields have been found to be a few degrees cooler than their
surroundings on hot summer days, synthetic turf fields have been
known to be 30 degrees hotter. This poses not only an environmental
issue, but also a health and safety issue for those on the field.
Water is used to temporarily cool down the fields as well as to
decrease static cling and wash away bacteria and fluids that may
be on the fields – decreasing the argument that such artificial
turf does not require water as natural fields do. On the economic
side, the special report titled “A New Turf War” put
out by New Yorkers for Parks in Spring 2006 found that the annual
cost of synthetic versus natural fields was not considerably different.
If environmental concerns and cost effectiveness are the main argument
for artificial turf, one should also take into account the removal
and disposal of such fields every eight to ten years.
There are other options. A sand-based field of natural grass with
a drainage and irrigation system, like that installed at the Great
Lawn in Central Park, could be installed. Or there could possibly
be a trade off – reinstating natural grass at the 104th Street
ballpark where baseball, a sport much kinder to grass than soccer,
is played if artificial turf is allowed here. Our city’s scenic
landmarks are certainly worth the extra effort.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 066884
Brooklyn, Block: 1958, Lot: 48
432 Clermont Avenue - Fort Greene Historic District
An Italianate style house built in 1857. Application is to construct
a rear yard addition and rooftop additions.
HDC Testimony
The proposed rear yard addition will be visible, and we appreciate
the window details and the appropriate brick to glazing ratio that
make this design sympathetic to these rowhouses. We ask though that
the addition be pulled back some to be the same depth of others
in this garden core. HDC is also concerned that the soldier course
detail along the top of the building seen in drawings of the existing
condition is not seen in the proposed drawings. HDC urges the retention
of this design detail that lines up nicely with those on neighboring
buildings.
LPC Determination: Approved
Hearing Date: 4/22/2008
LPC Docket Number: 086047
Brooklyn, Block: 5096, Lot: 41
1505 Albermarle Road - Prospect Park South Historic District
A Queen Anne style house and garage designed by John J. Petit and
built 1904. Application is to construct a garage.
HDC Testimony
HDC appreciates the whimsical design of this garage and the way
it compliments the home. We do however have questions as to the
paint colors and location on the lot. Elevations of the house and
garage, photos of a mock up and/or a photo montage would be helpful
also in determining the appropriateness of the application. As attractive
as it is, the garage should be set back well behind the home.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
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