E-BULLETIN OF THE HISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL

November 2006, Volume 3 Number 11

Tower Proposal for Madison Avenue Heard By Landmarks Commission:
Public Record Still Open for Comments

“A glass dagger in the heart of the Upper East Side”, that’s how one neighbor described the proposal to place architect Norman Foster’s 355-foot glass tower on top of the Moderne Parke-Bernet Building at 980 Madison Avenue across from the Carlyle Hotel. On October 24th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a four-hour public hearing where over 30 individuals inveighed against the proposal – arguing against the inappropriateness of its proposed style, scale and materials to the protected character of the Upper East Side Historic District. See http://hdcvoice.blogspot.com/2006/10/news-press-roundup-on-980-madison.html for additional reports on the hearing.

In addition to the irreparable damage this proposal would do to the historic streetscape of Madison Avenue, it would also set a terrifying precedent for new development in historic districts citywide. HDC is extremely concerned that this proposal, if approved, will undermine the standards of appropriateness that the Landmarks Commission uses to regulate the 23,000 designated properties and will open the door to approving almost any plan proposed. This concern has been shown to be warranted. In an-almost exact replay of the 980 Madison Avenue proposal, the New-York Historical Society announced in the New York Times on November 1st that it planned to “allow a developer to build a 23-story glass apartment tower behind the society’s museum and library, altering the skyline” and that “the proposal to potential developers specifies that a “star architect” be chosen to design the tower”. See the full story at http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/nyregion/01society.html

The following 59 neighborhood and preservation groups from all 5 boroughs have signed on in opposition to this proposal:
10th & Stuyvesant Streets Block Association, Bay Improvement Group, Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Borough Historian's Office, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Brooklyn Heights Association, Brownstone Revival Coalition, Cambridge Place Action Coalition, Carnegie Hill Neighbors, Civitas, Concerned Citizens of Greenwood Heights, Council of Chelsea Block Associations, Crown Heights North Association, Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, Ditmas Park Association, Drive to Protect the Ladies' Mile District, East 85th/86th Lex-Park-Mad Block Association, East 86th Street Merchants/Residents Association, East Village Community Coalition, Fort Greene Association, Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, Friends of Historic New Utrecht, Friends of Terra Cotta, Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, Fulton Ferry Landing Association, Gramercy Neighborhood Associates, Greater Astoria Historical Society, Greenwich Village Community Task Force, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Historic Neighborhood Enhancement Alliance, Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, Jackson Heights Beautification Group, Landmark West!, Manhattan Community Board 8, Modern Architecture Working Group, Municipal Art Society, Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, New York Landmarks Conservancy, New York Marble Cemetery, New York Preservation Alliance, NoHo Neighborhood Association, North Shore Waterfront Greenbelt, Preservation League of Staten Island, Preserve and Protect, Queensborough Preservation League, Richmond Hill Historical Society, Riverdale Historic District, Roosevelt Island Historical Society, Senator Street Historic District, Society for the Architecture of the City, SoHo Alliance, Tribeca Community Association, West 122nd St. Block Association, West 54 - 55 Street Block Association, West Brighton Restoration Society, West Cunningham Park Civic Association, Westerleigh Improvement Association, Wyckoff House & Association, Union Square Community Coalition. (Don’t see your group’s name? Email sbankoff@hdc.org and say “Sign me up!”)

Preservation needs your support. The Landmarks Commission is keeping the public record on this item open until Tuesday, November 7th. Please write to the LPC at comments@lpc.nyc.gov and let them know that our city’s historic districts must be protected against inappropriate development! See http://hdcvoice.blogspot.com/2006/10/alert-help-save-nycs-historic.html for a sample letter.

Designation Goes Digital!

The Neighborhood Preservation Center (HDC’s always-gracious landlord and downstairs colleague) and the Landmarks Preservation Commission launched a new online database of LPC designation reports. These reports explain the architectural, historic, and cultural importance of each structure. The first installment consists of reports from 1965, the year the Commission was established. Eventually designation reports for all of the city’s 1145 individual landmarks, 107 interior landmarks, nine scenic landmarks and 86 historic districts will be included. The database, searchable by keyword, is an invaluable resource for preservationists, researchers, and anyone curious about New York City’s landmarks. Take a look at http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/designation_reports.htm. And if after looking at the reports you would like to see pictures of NYC’s historic districts or even purchase historic district holiday cards, make sure to visit HDC’s Digital Image Library at http://www.hdc.org/.

19th Century Houses Saved and Lost in Brooklyn

SAVED?: In August, CM Letitia James asked HDC to advise the Lefferts Place Civic Association in Clinton Hill on an unfolding situation with a 19th-mansion at 70 Lefferts Place at risk of demolition. Thanks to an active public campaign (http://www.leffertsplace.org/numberseventy.html) and strong support from CM James, the mansion – a Civil-War-era Italianate villa-style home once occupied by the famous and controversial religious leader Father Divine – was calendared on October 31st by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for consideration as an individual NYC landmark (the building is already listed as a contributing structure to the Clinton Hill South National Register Historic District). Much thanks to the LPC for their swift action on this significant structure, kudos to the LPCA for their organization and activism to get this far and special thanks to CM James for her strong support. Keep the champagne chilled though – just yesterday we heard reports of work going on at the property, so until the building is designated, its fate is still uncertain.

LOST: Not far away from Clinton Hill in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, last week Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference announcing the demolition of the Admiral’s Row houses. HDC has been working with a coalition of neighborhood groups to try to save these houses since last April and is outraged by the City’s actions in this matter. Despite community interest and historic significance (one house, and possibly two others, was built by Thomas U. Walter, architect of the U.S. Capitol & Treasury Buildings in Washington DC), the City refused to even entertain any notion of preservation of these buildings. After months of researching this project, attorneys working pro-bono for HDC finally received copies of a Memorandum of Agreement from 1996 between the Army Corp of Engineers, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the New York State Historic Preservation Officer and the Landmarks Preservation Commission agreeing that although demolition of the buildings was deemed a negative impact on the historic resource, the mitigation was to be a level 2 HABS documentation and salvage of the architectural elements. Despite 10 years of inaction, the subsequent revolution in the New York real estate market and a complete change in all the signatory parties, this death sentence was upheld. Needless to say, after the announcement of their demise, there has been a great deal of public attention, and some outcry, but in this case, it is too late. Quoting from the City Planning Commission’s report of September 28, 2005 on the transfer of property from the Army Corp to the Navy Yard, “In response to the testimony heard at the Commission's public hearing regarding the preservation and adaptive reuse of Admirals Row, the Commission notes that in 1994 the City prepared a Preliminary Case Report (PCR) that explored all potential alternatives for preservation of Admirals Row…(which) concluded that none of the preservation alternatives explored were financially or structurally feasible and recommended demolition of the houses and mitigation in the form of photographic documentation…The Commission believes that all required documentation has been completed and no further study is necessary.”

ROOARR!!! Landmarks Lion Next Week!

Seats are still available for the Annual Landmarks Lion Award Dinner honoring preservation engineer, Robert Silman on Thursday, November 9th. Among Mr. Silman’s countless good works was his pro-bono assessment of the Admiral’s Row houses – in his preliminary assessment, they appeared structurally sound and could have been “mothballed” for future re-use at a very reasonable expense (as mentioned above, the City unfortunately chose another option). This is just one recent example of why HDC is pleased to be honoring Mr. Silman. We hope you can join us for this fun dinner, which will take place in the rotunda of Low Library. Tickets begin at $300 – RSVP to ftolbert@hdc.org by Monday!


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