December 16, 2008

Statement of the Historic Districts Council before the Landmarks Preservation Commission
Certificate of Appropriateness Hearing

The Historic Districts Council is the advocate for New York City’s designated historic districts and neighborhoods meriting preservation. Its Public Review Committee monitors proposed changes within historic districts and changes to individual landmarks and has reviewed the following application that was before the Commission.

Hearing Date: 12/16/2008
LPC Docket Number: 091782
Brooklyn, Block: 325, Lot: 1
239-245 Degraw Street - Cobble Hill Historic District
A neo-Grec style store and residence built circa 1880. Application is to replace storefront infill and windows.

HDC Testimony
In general, HDC feels this is a nice application that will improve 239-245 Degraw Street. There are a few modifications that could be made though that would bring this application from simply nice to truly appropriate instead.

Our main concern is whether any probing has been done to determine what, if any, of the historic storefront lies beneath the present one. The existence of historic fabric and its layout should guide the design and might help with some awkward moments in the proposed plans such as overly wide, continuous expanse of show windows and the stone around the grocery store and garage. The details, such as the double doors, seen in the very clear tax photos should also be incorporated.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

 

Hearing Date: 12/16/2008
LPC Docket Number: 094492
Queens, Block: 5917, Lot: 1
Fort Totten - Fort Totten Historic District
Application is to construct a playground.

HDC Testimony
HDC is disappointed that a more creative design that draws from the Fort Totten Historic District is not proposed for this playground. What is more inviting to play than a fort, that structure that countless children have spent countless hours designing, constructing and using? Fort Totten with its massive, historic stone battery, “worthy of ancient Rome” as the AIA Guide to New York City describes it, has all the makings of a childhood adventure. In addition, there are numerous other 19th and 20th century buildings, over 100 of them, from a torpedo storehouse to a bakery. They were all once integral parts of fort life, and yet none but the Officers’ Club is referenced in this proposal. Their materials, use, history and design could serve as design and play inspiration for a unique playground.

Unfortunately nothing in this design speaks to Fort Totten. Instead the “fort” design chosen is a rather generic one, straight out of a catalog. Over the years at LPC we have heard about the interesting history and theory of Central Park’s Adventure Playgrounds and more recently the creative new playground for the South Street Seaport Historic District. While budgets may not enable something of that scale here, Fort Totten and its young visitors do deserve the same thought and consideration. An addition to a historic district should further an area’s special sense of place, and this design does not do that. Furthermore design that is more evocative of historic Fort Totten would serve as an important introduction to the real fort to children and adults and serve as a real interpretive tool – an adventure for the mind, body and spirit. HDC urges the commission to guide this proposal towards this goal.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

 

Hearing Date: 12/16/2008
LPC Docket Number: 092149
Manhattan, Block: 828, Lot: 56
12 West 27th Street - Madison Square North Historic District
A neo-Gothic style store and loft building designed by Buchman & Fox and built 1912-1913. Application is to install new storefront infill.

HDC Testimony
HDC appreciates the new proportions of this proposed storefront which seem to better reflect the upper floors of 12 West 27th Street. While we are pleased that the three-story base will be united with one paint color, we would like to know if paint analysis has been carried out to determine this color. The proposed storefront is very flat and could use the well articulated upper floors as design inspiration. In addition, granite (for which no material sample was given) seems an odd choice for the bulkhead, and we recommend that metal be used instead. Finally, there seems to be an awful lot of vents proposed that will lead to the loss of the glass transom, and we question whether that much in that location is really necessary.

LPC Determination: Approved

 

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