Basement apartment ruled legal; Condo’s “peace” sign ruled illegal

Buildings charged that owner unlawfully converted basement into additional rental apartment. In 2013 the Department of Buildings charged the owner of 345 W 70th Street, a multiple dwelling, with creating an illegal apartment in the basement. At the administrative hearing, Buildings submitted three I-cards for the building from 1916, 1938 and 1945. Before 1938, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development used I-cards to record the occupancy and arrangement of the buildings HPD had inspected. … <Read More>


Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Six Auxiliary Buildings Collectively Designated an Individual Landmark

Unfinished cathedral, the largest in the world, designated a landmark for second time. On February 21, 2017, Landmarks commissioners voted to designate the St. John the Divine Cathedral and Close an individual City landmark. The cathedral, the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, is the largest church in the United States, and the largest cathedral in the world. It stands at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights neighborhood.

The Landmarks … <Read More>


Jane Street Development Approved after Refinements

Residential development, which will replace 1920s garage, incited opposition within the community. On February 14, 2017, Landmarks voted to issue a certificate of appropriateness to the developers of 11 Jane Street in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The development had been the subject of three prior meetings, and the plan was revised and refined throughout the approval process. A two-story garage building dating to 1921 currently stands on the site. The planned development will incorporate … <Read More>




New Townhouse Approved for Vacant Lot

Sculptural dwelling takes cues from arched bays of carriages houses common to Clinton Hill’s Vanderbilt Avenue. On February 7, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved an application to construct a new building on a vacant lot at 311 Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill Historic District. The site, currently used for parking, is on a through-block lot, with an existing 1890 townhouse facing Clinton Avenue. The planned building will rise to … <Read More>