Hamilton Grange at its current location./Image Credit: LPC

The Federal-style mansion is also a national historic landmark. On May 19, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar a decision to amend the individual landmark designation for the Hamilton Grange mansion located in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan. Hamilton Grange is a two-story frame mansion that belonged to Alexander Hamilton. The mansion was located at 287 Convent Avenue at the time of its designation but it was moved to 414 West 141st Street in 2008. The amendment would rescind the designation for the former site and designate the current site.

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Kingsland Homestead Image Credit; Queens Historical Society

Landmark’s works to make sure Kingsland Homestead’s designation is accurate. On May 19, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar a proposed amendment that would update Kingsland Homestead’s landmark designation to its current location. Kingsland Homestead was built in 1785 on tract of land located near Block 5270 in Flushing, Queens. In 1965, the two-story home was designated as a landmark at 40-25 155th Street in Flushing. Shortly after, in 1968, Landmarks approved a Certificate of Appropriateness to move the landmark to its current Weeping Beech Park location. This amendment would update the landmark designation to 143-35 37th Avenue, the Weeping Beech Park address in Flushing. Timothy Frye, Director of Special Projects and Strategic Planning, presented the application to the commission.

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AT&T Building. Image credit: LPC.

Proponents of revitalization stressed need for adaptability in redeveloping currently vacant building, others lamented destruction of lobby, and urged Landmarks to maintain oversight of entire lot. On June 19, 2018, Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the former AT&T Corporate Headquarters at 550 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The 37-foot-tall tower was completed in 1984 and designed by Philip Johnson, recipient of a 1979 Pritzker Prize, and John Burgee. An early significant work of postmodern architecture, in the Headquarters Johnson and Burgee, rejected the unadorned glass curtain walls of International Style modernism, exemplified in New York by the Seagram Building. The building is clad in masonry and employs historicist quotations, including its famous pediment recalling design motifs in Chippendale furniture. It possesses a monumental entrance arch on Madison Avenue that is flanked by more arches that originally opened to Italian Renaissance-inspired arcades beneath the tower, and covered pedestrian space between east 55th and 56th Streets. The arcades have since been filled in. (more…)

Coney Island Boardwalk. Image credit: LPC.

Many speakers asked Landmarks to seek more binding control to ensure the boardwalk’s wood planking is replaced in kind. The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential scenic landmark designation of the Coney Island Boardwalk at its meeting on April 17, 2018. The designation would include the boardwalk and all structures on it, including furniture, concession pavilions, comfort stations, and lifeguard stations. A 100-foot-wide corridor of sand below and adjoining the boardwalk would be included in the designation. (more…)

Loew’s 175th Street Theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Image Credit: LPC.

Six designations sent to full Council where they were ratified; three items held over for further deliberation. On February 27, 2017, City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses heard testimony and voted on the items designated at the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s last meeting devoted to the backlog initiative. The designated properties were introduced to the Subcommittee by Landmarks’ Lisa Kersavage and Lauren George. The Subcommittee approved designations for six of the items, but laid over three items for further consideration in instances where the property owners objected to designation. The three items not advanced to the Land Use Committee and full Council were the Lakeman-Cortelyou House, the Loew’s 175th Street Theater, and the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing.

Prior to hearing public testimony, Council Member Steven Matteo discussed the designation of the Lakeman-Cortleyou House in New Dorp, Staten Island. The House dates to the 17th century, with the oldest part of the building constructed of fieldstone, and possesses a gambrel roof. Commissioners at Landmarks were advised that designation would likely be overturned at the Council level, but nonetheless awarded the property landmarks status due to its antiquity and rarity. (more…)