Landmarks Preservation Commission

19th-century concrete building designated

New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company building in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Photo: LPC.

1872 Brooklyn building designated unanimously. Landmarks designated the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company Building at 360 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, the city’s earliest known concrete structure. Designed by William Field and Son, the 1872 building was meant to showcase the possibilities of concrete. Francois Coignet, the company’s founder, was an early proponent of concrete as an alternative to … <Read More>

Owner opposed SI designation

Owner purchased 1853 house with intent to demolish and develop. On July 11, 2006, Landmarks held a hearing on the John and Margaret Thompson House at 150 Taylor Street in the West New Brighton Neighborhood of Staten Island. The Thompson House was built in 1853 for John Thompson, an Irish immigrant who worked as a silk printer. The three-bayed house was built in the Greek Revival style, which was popular in mid-19th century Staten Island.… <Read More>

Modern 9-story residential building approved for SoHo

Residential and retail building to replace parking lot on Wooster Street. Landmarks approved the construction of a modern eight-story- plus-penthouse glass building within the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District, replacing a surface parking lot on the southwest corner of Wooster and Grand Streets. Designed by Henry Smith-Miller of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson, the building will be eight stories along Grand Street, clad by a glass curtain wall, and will wrap around the intersection with Wooster Street. The … <Read More>

Permit issued for 23rd Street residential tower

Townhouse and 22-story residential tower approved. Developers of a through lot at 39-41 West 23rd Street within the Ladies’ Mile Historic District received permits for a 22-story residential building to front West 23rd and a five-story glass and metal townhouse facing West 24th Street. The West 23rd Street side will have a five-story base below a 17- story tower, which will be cantilevered over the adjacent lot at 35 West 23rd Street.

Community Board 5 … <Read More>

Harlem theater and Staten Island house designated

Photoplays theater built in 1914. The Claremont Theater building, located at 3320-3328 Broadway in Harlem, Manhattan, is one of the oldest structures in New York City constructed specifically for showing motion pictures, originally called “photoplays.” The 1914 theater was designed in the neo-Renaissance style and faced in white terra cotta and white glazed brick by architect Gaetano Ajello, best-known for his apartment buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The building has an unusual arrangement with … <Read More>

Rooftop penthouse approved

Removal of water tower does not alter the historic character of Fifth Avenue building. Landmarks approved an application by Savanna Partners for removal of a water tower and rooftop mechanical equipment at 141 Fifth Avenue in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, Manhattan, in order to allow construction of a new penthouse addition. The approval also permits Savanna to install a new curved storefront, replicate historic columns, and partially remove the rear facade, expanding the building … <Read More>