Iconic Postmodern Tower Takes Step Toward Individual Landmark Designation

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 … <Read More>


Threatened Mansion Designated Two Weeks after Calendaring

Turn-of-the-century mansion, identified as part of Sunset Park survey, was calendared as a last-minute addition to agenda two weeks prior to hearing, followed immediately by designation. Landmarks voted to designate the Maurice T. Lewis House, at 404 55th Street in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, immediately following a public hearing on March 6, 2018. Landmarks had only added the item to its calendar two weeks prior, as a last-minute addition to the day’s agenda.


Hearings Held on Two East Midtown Early-20th-Century Buildings

Support for individual landmark designations of Beaux-Arts Hotel and Neo-Renaissance Office Building expressed at hearing. On February 20, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on the potential designations of Hotel Seville and the Emmet Building, both in East Midtown, in the area to the north of Madison Square. Landmarks added both buildings to its calendar in December of 2017.


Civil War-Era Commercial Buildings that Later Housed Artists’ Studios Designated

Buildings’ significance largely derives from their association with post-World-War-II Abstract Expressionist movement; owners expected to soon apply for permit to build additions. Landmarks voted to designate two twin adjoining buildings as an individual City landmark at its meeting on October 31st, 2017. The buildings, at 827 and 831 Broadway in Manhattan, date to 1867 and were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for Pierre Lorillard, heir to the Lorillard Tobacco Company. The building’s facade is composed … <Read More>


Eleven Buildings Individually Landmarked as part of the Greater East Midtown Initiative

Hearing were held on twelve buildings over two meetings, with vary degrees of opposition— Citicorp Center Complex will be voted on separately at a later date. On November 22, 2016, Landmarks voted to designate eleven buildings in the Midtown area as individual City landmarks. Public testimony on the buildings was considered at two meetings on July 19 and September 13 of 2016. Landmarks undertook the surveying of the area as part of a mayoral program … <Read More>


Addition to American Museum of Natural History on Columbus Avenue Side Approved

Approved addition, occupying a quarter acre of parkland, will increase connections for better museum circulation, provide additional space to store collection materials, and allow visitors to watch scientists at work. At its meeting on October 11, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to issue a binding report for the construction of an addition, and associated demolition, to the American Museum of Natural History, an individual landmark on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The addition, … <Read More>