March 17, 2009

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 applications that were before the Commission.

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 085737
Queens, Block: 8106, Lot: 69
240-35 43rd Avenue - Douglaston Hill Historic District
A neo-Colonial style free-standing house designed by D.S. Hopkins and built in 1900-1901. Application is to legalize the installation of posts and retaining walls without LPC permits.

HDC Testimony
HDC is opposed to this legalization. Although described as a retaining wall in the schedule, this wall does not appear to be retaining anything. There is no steep slope or change of grade as seen in some of the examples in the neighborhood. Instead, it is just a wall, somehting not appropriate to this district. While the piers flanking the drive way are of an apropriate design and size for the district, the lamps on top are strangely small. We recommend that the applicant work with staff on a design that is more proportionate.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 095978
Manhattan, Block: 515, Lot: 1
451 West Broadway - SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District
A commercial buiding designed by James Dubois and built in 1883-1884, with a sixth story added in 1906. Application is to legalize the installation of a flagpole without LPC permits.

HDC Testimony
HDC is opposed to this application to legalize the installation of a flagpole without LPC permits. There is enough advertising on the awnings, and the flag distracts from the building’s charming details, such as the balconies. 452 West Broadway can be its own best advertisement, catching the eye of the passerby who will then notice the business. In recent years, the Commission has consistently rejected proposals for the installation or legalization of flagpoles in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, and we ask that you please do so again now.

LPC Determination: Denied

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 095621
Manhattan, Block: 473, Lot: 14
484 Broadway - SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District
A store building designed by J.B. Snook, buit 1879, and altered in 1911. Application is to install a barrier-free access ramp.

HDC Testimony
The proposed barrier-free access ramp is very awkward, taking up too much of the sidewalk for such a small incline. HDC encourages the applicant to work with LPC staff to investigate other ways of gaining accesibiltiy, such as recessing the door some to enable a slope or dropping the door sill and altering the interior.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 096737
Manhattan, Block: 572, Lot: 10
61 West 8th Street - Greenwich Village Historic District
A rowhouse built in 1839, and altered in late 19th and early 20th centuries. Application is to install storefront infill.

HDC Testimony
HDC finds the proposed design for storefront infill to be rather stark, a problem made worse by the dark black paint which obscures any details. We recommend that either a new design with stronger details be created or a new color be chosen that will highlight, not mask them.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 096456
Manhattan, Block: 847, Lot: 29
881-887 Broadway - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A Second Empire Commercial style department store building designed by Griffith Thomas and built in 1868-1876. Application is to establish a master plan governing the future installation of storefronts and windows, and to install flagpoles and banners.

HDC Testimony
This project is a very positive step towards the restoration of this grand Ladies' Mile department store, the Arnold Constable Building. HDC overall supports this application, but we have a few questions on some of the details.

We approve of the windows proposed in the master plan, but would like to see them in a lighter color, as seen in the historic photos. It was typical for cast iron buildings to be all the same light shade, all mimicking stone. Dark paint around the windows and the cornice also would hide the details and shadows seen in the historic photos.

HDC questions the use of GFRC (Glass fiber reinforced concrete) for the ballustrade on the storefronts. At just a story above ground level, the ballustrade is much lower than the location at which the LPC typically allows faux materials and therefore will be much more discernable to the passerby. In addition, GFRC does not hold up well over time in our freeze-thaw climate. We urge the applicant, while going through all the effort the rest of this project entails, to use real cast iron.

Finally, HDC finds the flagpoles and banners, not typically our favorite type of signage, to be appriorpriate and well placed for a building of this grand size on this historic shopping avenue in Ladies’ Mile.

LPC Determination:

Hearing Date: 3/17/2009
LPC Docket Number: 096451
Manhattan, Block: 847, Lot: 1
109-111 Fifth Avenue - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A neo-Renaissance style store and office building designed by William Schickel & Co. and built in 1894-1895. Application is to install a flagpole and banner and to alter a service entrance.

HDC Testimony
Heard with 096456

LPC Determination: Approved

 

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