May 8, 2007

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: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 074706
Queens, Block: 8065, Lot: 68
211 Forest Road - Douglaston Historic District
An English Cottage style house designed by Louis W. Feldmann and built in 1923. Application is to legalize alterations to the driveway and the front yard, and the replacement of the garage door without LPC permits.

HDC Testimony
HDC understands that the applicant inherited these violations when they purchased the home and believes that with some work the problems can be fixed. The driveway apron is rather wide and should be straightened it out again allowing for more garden space, while the asphalt in the rear should be returned to the cobblestone present at designation. It was unclear in the presentation what material the new garage door is, but it should be wood, in keeping with the district's use of natural materials.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 075165
Manhattan, Block: 847, Lot: 1
111 Fifth Avenue - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A neo-Renaissance style store and office building designed by William Schickel and Company and built in 1894-1895. Application is to legalize the installation of signage and new entrance infill without LPC permits.

HDC Testimony
HDC does not approve of this application to legalize the installation of signage and new entrance infill. We find the back-lit signage projecting from the windows inappropriate would recommend the logo be affixed behind the glass. There were no historic photos or any other images or drawings to show the storefront's previous condition so it was impossible to tell what entrance infill was seeking legalization.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 076489
Manhattan, Block: 193, Lot: 50
383 Broadway - TriBeCa East Historic District
An Italianate style store and loft building designed by D&J Jardine and built in 1885. Application is to install a new storefront.

HDC Testimony
There are a number of good things about this proposed storefront including the wood cornice, sign band, and signage that is an appropriate scale. It is certainly an improvement over what is present. To balance out the proportions of the storefront, the transom bar should be made thicker and the bulkheads taller. Unfortunately, there were no historic photos presented with this application. They would help provide guidance towards a more appropriate, successful project.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 071038
Manhattan, Block: 512, Lot: 7502
599 Broadway - SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District
A store and loft building designed by J. Odell Whitenach and built in 1917. Application is to install windows.

HDC Testimony
While aluminum windows may be approvable for windows on the 10th floor, HDC feels that the 1-over-1 design proposed is not. The original 3-over-3 design still seen on most of the building should be retained. The large north façade on Houston Street is very prominent, more than the main Broadway façade, and will, in fact, become even more so with the reinstallation of "The Wall." Given this, HDC would like to recommend revisal of this proposal and that a Master Plan be created for the building.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 076286
Manhattan, Block: 606, Lot: 35
152 West 11th Street - Greenwich Village Historic District
A Greek Revival style house built in 1836 and altered in the 20th century. Application is to construct a rear yard addition.

HDC Testimony
The present rear façade of this home is already very attractive and charming. We appreciate the steel divided lights of the proposed addition that will recall the windows removed, but feel that four full-height stories of them are too much of a good thing. An extension with less glazing would be far more appropriate. While there is no real garden core to preserve, we do question the need to make an already very tight space tighter.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 074417
Manhattan, Block: 823, Lot: 37
162 Fifth Avenue - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A Beaux-Arts style store and loft building designed by Buchman & Fox and built in 1903. Application is to install signage.

HDC Testimony
HDC opposes another flood of signage courtesy of a bank chain. The letters in the sign band are too large, larger than the prior tenant's, and we question whether this proposed signage will be back lit. More signage proposed to cover nearly all the windows will certainly glow when the interior is lit. This application turns the entire corner storefront into a billboard, something a nationally prominent bank does not need. As seen in the photo, the prior tenant's storefront was much more dignified, doing greater justice to the business (also a national bank chain), the building and the district, with a smaller sign and awnings.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 075898
Manhattan, Block: 1251, Lot: 27
304 West 91st Street - Riverside - West End Historic District
A Renaissance Revival style rowhouse designed by Martin V.B. Ferdon and built in 1893. Application is to construct a rooftop addition.

HDC Testimony
As illustrated in the presentation, the rooftop addition will peak out over the Gothic Revival, stone church next door. With this in mind HDC would like to recommend different materials, masonry instead of stucco on wonderboard and copper flashing rather than aluminum, be used to create a more fitting backdrop for the church's roofline. We also question whether more mechanicals are to be installed atop the addition, something HDC would oppose.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 073883
Brooklyn, Block: 259, Lot: 32
2 Willow Place - Brooklyn Heights Historic District
A Gothic Revival style rowhouse built in 1847. Application is to create a curb cut and replace areaway ironwork.

HDC Testimony
HDC is mainly in favor of this application. We do however urge retention of the historic front fence if its condition allows. We also feel that the proposed 15-foot curb cut is too large and that the 6-foot fence in the back yard is too tall. These elements should be reduced in size to remain more in keeping with the district.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 076186
Manhattan, Block: 1392, Lot: 160
22 East 78th Street - Metropolitan Museum Historic District
An Italianate style rowhouse designed by Silas M. Styles and built in 1871. Application is to replace stoop and areaway ironwork.

HDC Testimony
HDC does not object to ironwork being installed here, but we do feel that, at 5 foot 3 inches, the fence is too tall. We urge the commission to keep such fences in this district and others at 4 feet or less.

LPC Determination: Incomplete

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 075983
Manhattan, Block: 1500, Lot: 58
1236 Madison Avenue - Carnegie Hill Historic District
A Romanesque Revival style apartment hotel designed by Thomas Graham and built in 1892-1893. Application is to legalize the installation of a storefront and recladding the base of the building in non-compliance with C of NE 07-2723.

HDC Testimony
HDC is opposed to this application to legalize the installation of a storefront that creates a bland first floor and covers historic fabric that unites the building.

The sign band is far too large - 5 feet 3 inches on a storefront of 10 feet 1/2 inch. It is similar in size to the sign band in the 1940 photo, but this was a sign band created before the 1961 signage code. Beyond its inappropriate size the sign band covers up interesting historic fabric.

The Graham House, the first apartment house hotel built on the Upper East Side, is ornamented with hundreds of distinctive windows including the arched windows that line the ground floor of the 89th Street façade. On the Madison Avenue side, while filled in, these arches are still part of the façade as clearly shown in images A, B and H. A more sympathetic treatment would be to use a smaller sign band and reveal those arches. Doing so would make the storefront look less blank and tie it in with the rest of the landmarked building.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 075660
Brooklyn, Block: 263, Lot: 41
12 Sidney Place - Brooklyn Heights Historic District
A Greek Revival style residence built in 1845. Application is to modify the rear façade.

HDC Testimony
HDC does not approve of this application to modify the rear façade of this 1845 Greek Revival home. The proposal calls for the removal of too much original fabric, the wood double hung windows and their brick arched openings. In exchange, for this loss we get a very contemporary, inappropriate design.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 071253
Manhattan, Block: 849, Lot: 3
139 Fifth Avenue - Ladies' Mile Historic District
A Renaissance Revival style store and office building designed by Alfred Zucker and built in 1893-1894. Application is to construct a rooftop addition

HDC Testimony
HDC does not support the construction of a 2-story roof top addition, something this commission has regularly turned down in the past. Although it would not be very visible from 5th Avenue or 20th Street, the addition would be visible from Broadway, much more than the photos of a plywood outline against a clear sky reflect.

LPC Determination: Approved

Hearing Date: 5/8/2007
LPC Docket Number: 074221
Manhattan, Block: 1168, Lot: 56
250 West 77th Street - Individual Landmark Historic District
An Art Nouveau/Secessionist style hotel designed by Emery Roth and built in 1901-1903. Application is to create a new entrance at the West 77th Street façade.

HDC Testimony
HDC largely approves of this application which is a vast improvement over the present entrance and moves the building closer to its original grandeur. The railing should be redesigned to appear more like the iron railing apparent on the 1914 photo. We would also like to suggest that the applicants consider reinstalling stained glass seen in the charming historic photos in either the transoms or the entire windows. Also we are concerned about the signage. There is no indication of any on the proposal, but we do assume that the building will somehow be identified. The Hotel Belleclaire has the potential, with proper restoration, to be a premium property and to live up to its title of Individual Landmark. With some changes, this proposal can be part of that movement forward.

LPC Determination: Approved w/mods

 

 

Return to Recent Testimony