Landmarks designates civic construction projects

Two WPA projects and firehouse designated. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks unanimously approved the designation of the Bronx’s Orchard Beach Bathhouse, Queen’s Astoria Play Center and a 1904 firehouse in Long Island City, Queens, home to Fire Engine Company No. 258, Ladder Company No. 115.

Both constructed in the midst of the Great Depression under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and using the Works Progress Administration funds, the Orchard Beach Bathhouse and the Astoria Play Center … <Read More>


Hearing held on former automat

Designation hearing held on one of the last remaining H&H automat structures in New York. Landmarks held a well-attended public hearing June 27, 2006 on the Horn and Hardart Building at 2710 Broadway, a former automat built in 1930 by the architecture firm F.P. Platt and Brothers. Currently home to a Rite- Aid drugstore, much of the building’s signature ornamentation is covered with signs. The flagship Horn and Hardart, or “H&H”, as they were known, … <Read More>


New sixteen-story residential building for West 72nd

Planned 120 West 72nd St. development. Used with permission of Rick Berstein, www.threedt.com.

Residential building will require the demolition of a 1937, one-story building. Landmarks approved an application by the owner of 120 West 72nd Street to demolish the existing one-story commercial building and construct a 16-story residential building within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District in Manhattan. The existing building sits between two 14-story buildings on West 72nd Street between Amsterdam and … <Read More>


Landmarks designates P.S. 64

Owner’s opposition and valid permit to strip exterior fails to stop designation. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate former Public School 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the Lower East Side, despite the fact that its current owner, Gregg Singer, remained opposed to the designation and holds a valid Buildings permit to remove exterior details. 2 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2005); 3 CityLand 80 (June 15, 2006).

Reading a lengthy, emotionally- … <Read More>


Crown Heights historic district to be considered

Landmarks takes first step towards designation of new, 470-building historic district. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks voted to hold a public hearing on the proposed Crown Heights North Historic District, which will encompass 470 buildings, primarily along Dean and Pacific Streets; St. Mark’s, New York, Nostrand and Bedford Avenues; and Grand Square in Brooklyn.

At the June 20th vote, Landmarks staff provided a synopsis on the area’s transformation from farmland to the rapid row house … <Read More>


Emotional hearing held on Lower East Side school

Landmarking process begins for P.S. 64, a former school,now facing renovation. On May 16, 2006, Landmarks heard emotional testimony regarding the potential designation of P. S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the East Village.

P.S. 64 was built in 1903-04 by C. B. J. Snyder, then superintendent of school buildings for the City. The school is in the French Renaissance Revival style, and built in Snyder’s signature H-plan to maximize light and air … <Read More>