UPDATE: Landmarks voted to designate the interior at its meeting August 8, 2017. Commissioner Adi Shamir-Baron spoke of the “rare condition of two block’s worth of interior space,” with 50-foor ceilings. She said the interiors remind us of the meaning of civic space, as a place that “honors and elevates the spirit of the individual and the collective.”
Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan stated that designation as an imperative step in Landmarks’ mission, that would preserve … <Read More>
Main reading room and catalog room of New York Public Library’s main branch lauded for both architecture and social significance. On July 18, 2017, Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the Main Reading Room and Catalog Room of the main branch of the New York Public Library as an interior landmark. The Carrere & Hasting designed library, whose exterior is designated an individual City landmark, stands at 476 Fifth … <Read More>
1736 structure is the second-oldest surviving religious building in New York City. On June 27, 2017, Landmarks unanimously voted to add the Old St. James Episcopal Church at 86-02 Broadway in Queens’ Elmhurst neighborhood, to its calendar, officially beginning the designation process. The building is the one of the oldest purpose-built religious structures in the City, second only to the 1694 Friends Meeting House in Flushing, an individual City landmark designated in 1970.
Despite reductions in addition’s scale and visibility, and promises to install a diorama commemorating escape of abolitionists from Draft Riots mob, Commissioners determined that any rooftop interventions were inappropriate. At its meeting on May 23, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission disposed of an application for facade alterations and rear and roof additions to 339 West 29th Street in the Lamartine Place Historic District. In the 19th century, the building was home to prominent abolitionists … <Read More>
Speakers at hearing on designation lavish praise on quality and significance of hotel’s opulent Art Deco interior spaces. On January 24, 2017, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of certain interior spaces in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The exterior of the hotel, with its block-sized footprint, was designated an individual landmark in 1993. Landmarks officially added the interiors to its calendar on November 1, 2006. The specific … <Read More>
Commission voted to designate 157-building district without altering boundaries. On December 13, 2016, Landmark voted to add the Sullivan Thompson Historic District to its portfolio of designated districts. The district moved swiftly through the landmarking process, added to the Commission calendar at its November 1, 2016 meeting, with a hearing held on November 29. The district is comprised of approximately 157 properties, mostly dating from the early 19th century to the early 20th century. … <Read More>