Five-story addition proposed for six-story building in Ladies’ Mile. On July 21, 2009, Landmarks considered a certificate of appropriateness for a five-story addition at 33 West 19th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. Designed by architect Morris Adjmi, the addition would be built on top of a 1903 six-story neo- Renaissance store and loft building.

Adjmi’s design features a translucent woven metal mesh in front of the addition’s rain wall. The mesh would be suspended from the addition’s cornice, aligning with the existing building’s edge, while the addition’s main facade would be set back four feet. On the addition’s side wall, the mesh would take a brick pattern, and on its main facades the mesh would be layered, creating a shadow effect reminiscent of the building’s original facade. Behind the mesh, balconies at every floor would provide further depth. Adjmi characterized the proposal as “an extension of an existing building in a new language.” (more…)