The Windermere and Dickey House designated. Despite strong opposition by current owners, on June 28, 2005, Landmarks designated the Windermere Apartments in Manhattan’s Clinton section, and the Robert Dickey House in Lower Manhattan.

The Windermere, constructed in 1881, is a visually compelling three-building complex located at 400-406 West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue. Its design, attributed to Theophilus G. Smith, features distinctive cornices and polychromatic brickwork. At the public hearings, the owner strongly opposed the designation, arguing the Windermere was not one grand apartment building worthy of designation, but, in fact, was three separate uninhabitable tenements. 2 CityLand 61 (May 15, 2005). In approving, Landmarks noted that the building was the oldest-known apartment complex in the area and that it played a significant role in the history of women’s housing when, in the 1890s, it was the home of young women entering the work force. (read more…)

The Plaza’s new owners testify in support, claiming $350 million to be spent on restoration. Landmarks held two public hearings in June on the proposed designation of interior spaces in the Plaza Hotel, including the Oak Room and Oak Bar, the Terrace and Edwardian Rooms, the Palm Court, the Grand Ballroom’s first floor, and the two entrance lobbies at West 59th Street and Grand Army Plaza. While the exterior of the Plaza was designated an individual landmark in 1969, no interior rooms were designated. Landmarks voted in March to consider the interior designations after the Plaza’s new owners, Elad Properties, filed a change of use application with the City seeking to permit permanent retail space in areas like the Terrace and Edwardian Rooms, historically used as hotel function rooms. See 2 CityLand 41 (Apr. 15, 2005).

The Landmarks Conservancy, the Historic Districts Council, AIA and the Municipal Arts Society testified with others in support of the designation at the first hearing on June 7, 2005, but Elad failed to testify. At the June 28th hearing, Landmarks heard testimony on three applications: the potential designation; the application to change the use, which needed Landmarks review of the preservation purpose relating to the change; and a permit for proposed alterations to the Plaza’s exterior, which included enlarging some window openings. (read more…)

Home designated cultural landmark, but community demands full historic district. On May 17, 2005, Landmarks held a public hearing and immediately voted to designate the neo-tudor style, single-family home at 115-24 Grosvenor Road in Kew Gardens as a cultural landmark since it was the home, from 1952 until his death in 1971, of Dr. Ralph Bunche. Dr. Bunche was appointed to the committee that oversaw the partition of Israel following the United Nations’ formation and, in this position, successfully negotiated an armistice agreement ending Israeli-Arab fighting in 1949. Dr. Bunche was greeted with a tickertape parade down Broadway and awarded the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. For his continued work with the U.N., President Kennedy awarded Dr. Bunche the Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor.

Opponents of the single-site designation, including the Kew Gardens Civic Association president and chair, cautioned Landmarks that, if it “spot landmarked” Dr. Bunche’s home, the rest of Kew Gardens would remain at risk of being replaced with the oversized homes becoming prevalent in Queens. They argued that Dr. Bunche, who was on the board of the civic association, would have opposed making his home into a museum at the potential cost of losing Kew Garden’s other great homes. Urging Landmarks to forego a vote and act quickly to establish a Kew Gardens historic district, they argued that Dr. Bunche had chosen a neighborhood, not solely a house. (read more…)

Lapidus-designed hotel at Lexington and East 51st designated. Following the no-vote on the Crawford Clothes building at 36 East 14th Street, Landmarks voted to designate the Morris Lapidus designed Summit Hotel at 569 Lexington Avenue at East 51st Street, currently operated as the Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel. Lapidus’ original design included dark green tile and turquoise brick, a dramatic Scurved slab facade, a distinctive oval-lettered blade sign and aluminum globe-shaped light fixtures lining the East 51st Street frontage.

Voting to designate, Chair Robert Tierney noted that Lapidus’ choice to put the Summit Hotel on the front cover of his 1979 autobiography, The Architecture of Joy, attested to its significance. Commissioner Thomas Pike, approving, stated that he hoped the designation would be a catalyst for the new owner, Oxford Capital, to restore lost historic building elements. (read more…)

Landmarks threatens to abandon process of contacting the owner prior to designation. By a unanimous vote on May 17, 2005, Landmarks refused to designate the Crawford Clothes Building at University Place and West 14th Street, which was considered one of the earliest noteworthy designs of New York City architect Morris Lapidus. The three-story brick and metal retail structure had included a glass center tower that revealed the retail activity on each level, but which the owner demolished before Landmarks could consider the structure.

Opening the discussion, Chair Robert Tierney provided a sequence of events, noting that Landmarks decided the building was worthy of consideration on February 1, 2005 and sent a letter of interest to the owner, Lloyd Goldman, six days later.On March 1st, Goldman filed a demolition permit solely for the glass tower. Tierney made several calls to Goldman up until the March 8th demolition. When the tower was demolished, the remainder of the building was left intact. (read more…)