Proposed Rendering of Tammany Hall Addition. Image Credit: LPC

Applicants argued that addition would echo the domes of classical architecture, pay homage to the Lenape who once occupied Manhattan. On November 25, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to construct an addition to a building that housed the Tammany political machine at 44 Union Square East, an individual City landmark. The building was the third Tammany Hall constructed, and the only one extant. Designated in 2013, the neo-Georgian 1929 building was later utilized as a union hall, theater, and film school. The building is substantially intact, though storefronts have been created at the ground level facing Union Square Park. (more…)

Landmarks had originally scheduled removal of 94 potential individual landmarks and two historic districts from its calendar for December 9th. On December 5, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission rescinded plans to remove 96 items from its calendar without bringing the items to a vote of designation. The items planned to be removed included 94 items calendared as potential individual City landmarks, and two potential historic districts. The action, called a decalendaring, was scheduled to take place at its public meeting on December 9, 2015. (more…)

Former Tammany Hall at 100 East 17th Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

Speakers largely emphasized the role of Tammany in New York City’s social and political history. On June 25, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the former Tammany Hall, at 100 East 17th Street off of Union Square, as an individual City landmark. Landmarks calendared the building on May 14, 2013. The building was Tammany’s second headquarters, replacing a meeting hall on 14th Street. Built at the height of the political organization’s power in 1929, the neo-Georgian building’s design was inspired by Federal Hall in Manhattan and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia. After Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia came to power, Tammany’s fortunes ebbed, and it sold the building to the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. In the 1980s the building was converted to an off-Broadway theater, and is currently home to the New York Film Academy. Margaret Cotter, speaking on behalf of the owners, Liberty Theaters Inc., testified that the owner would not oppose designation, and looked forward to working with Landmarks going forward.

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Emergency hearing held on East Village horse stable and auction house. On September 7, 2006, less than one month after calendaring, Landmarks held a hearing on the possible designation of the Van Kearney and Van Tassel Horse Auction Mart at 126 East 13th Street in the East Village. The 1903 Beaux-Arts building, which has also served as an automobile showroom, a women’s assembly-line training center during the second World War, and the studio of painter Frank Stella, was recently purchased by a developer who received a building permit to construct a seven-story building on the site, but had yet to receive demolition permits. In response to community petitioning, Landmarks calendared the building, which halted the issuance of demolition permits by Buildings. 3 CityLand 126 (Sept. 15, 2006).

Numerous public figures spoke in favor of designation or sent representatives to the hearing, including State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Member Rosie Mendez, and State Senator David Chang. Mendez spoke of her community’s recent struggles to protect P.S. 64 and St. Brigid’s Church, and asked that Landmarks work more closely with Buildings to avoid the destruction of important historic buildings. (more…)