The Beaumont Apartments, 730 Riverside Drive, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

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Residents, local cultural organizations, and preservationists testified in support of designation of ornate Arts & Crafts-style apartment building; owners deny any architectural significance. On June 18, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential individual landmark designation of the Beaumont Apartments, at 730 Riverside Drive at the corner of 150th Street, in Harlem. The building was constructed in 1912-1913 to the designs of George and Edward Blum, French-born architects specializing in apartment buildings. The eleven-story structure features a wide array of decorative brickwork and terra cotta ornament above its two-story limestone base, including foliated terra-cotta bandcourses and octagonal panels with birds in high relief. U.S. Representative Jacob Javits and singer Marian Anderson were tenants of the building, and Ralph Ellison, author of Invisible Man, was also a long-time resident.

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Proposed Bedford Historic District. Credit: LPC.

Potential district is characterized by late 19th-century masonry residential structures. The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a well-attended hearing on the potential designation of the Bedford Historic District in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant community on January 15, 2013. The proposed district would be comprised of approximately 800 buildings, roughly bounded by Bedford and Tompkins Avenues from west to east, and Monroe and Fulton Streets from north to south. The area was mostly developed during the period between 1870 and 1900. Many of the late 19thcentury residents were people of New England origin, as well as German and Irish immigrants. Following World War I, African-Americans increasingly moved to the area, drawn by the area’s affordable, high-quality housing. By the 1920s and 1930s, the area became a quiet residential alternative to Harlem. The neighborhood later saw an influx of Caribbean-American residents.

Architecturally, the area is characterized by masonry rowhouses and small apartment buildings constructed between 1870 and 1900. Brooklyn architects Isaac D. Reynolds and Montrose Morris are heavily represented in the proposed district. Individual landmarks in the district include the Alhambra Apartments at 500 Nostrand Avenue, the Renaissance Apartments, at 140 Hancock Street, and the  Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools, both constructed in the 1890s.

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120 East 125th Street, Manhattan. Credit: CityLand.

Commissioners suggested retaining former firehouse’s garage door and rethinking mural sizes for planned cultural center. On November 13, 2012, Landmarks considered a proposal by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), to make modifications to the individually landmarked Fire Hook and Ladder Company No. 14 at 120 East 125th Street in Harlem. The Romanesque Revival firehouse, designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons and completed in 1889, was designated in 1997.  The firehouse was closed in 2003 due to budget cuts. The City Council approved sale of the building in 2007, on the condition that it be transferred to a community service provider. (See CityLand’s past coverage here.) CCCADI was awarded the firehouse, and presented the proposal in order to convert the firehouse into a new space for the Institute.

Melody Capote, Director of External Affairs for the Institute, stated that moving to the 125th Street location, from the present Hell’s Kitchen location, would “place us in greater proximity to the constituencies we serve.” She stated that the site would host exhibitions, concerts, lectures, after-school programs, and “community-based learning.” Capote expressed hope that the location would allow the Institute to become a place where community members could “share ideas and dialogue.”

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New district would include 825 buildings primarily built at the turn of the 20th century. On August 2, 2011, Landmarks heard testimony on the proposed Bedford-Stuyvesant/ Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District in Brooklyn. The proposed district is generally bounded by Halsey and Macon Streets to the north, Fulton Street to the south, Malcolm X Boulevard to the east, and Tompkins Avenue to the west, and would surround the 1971-designated Stuyvesant Heights Historic District. The new district would encompass 825 buildings that were primarily developed between 1880 and 1910. The district is primarily characterized by rowhouses and small apartment buildings, with attendant commercial structures and institutional buildings. The buildings represent several architectural styles including Romanesque Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Neo Grec.

The earliest extant buildings in the neighborhood are wood-framed houses dating to the mid-19th century that are thought to have been occupied by freed slaves. Arrivals from New England, as well as German and Irish immigrants, moved to the area in the late 19th century. After the first World War, African Americans and ethnic groups facing discrimination in Manhattan began moving into Bedford- Stuyvesant. The neighborhood became a residential counterpoint to Harlem, the center of black cultural life in the City.

Landmarks initially considered the proposed district in the early 1990s. It held a public hearing in September 1993, but no action was taken.  (more…)

Community groups opposed fence on the City’s oldest bridge. On April 5, 2011, Landmarks approved the City’s proposal to build an eight-foot fence and undertake other alterations to the High Bridge footpath spanning the Harlem River between Washington Heights in Manhattan and the Highbridge section of the Bronx. The High Bridge was built in 1848 as part of the Old Croton Aqueduct to bring fresh water into Manhattan. It is the City’s oldest bridge.

The City in 1917 ceased using the bridge as an aqueduct. In 1927, the City replaced five of the bridge’s original fifteen masonry arches with a central steel span to allow large ships to pass underneath. The bridge gained notoriety in the late 1950s after children threw rocks at a passing Circle Line tour boat. After the High Bridge was closed to the public in 1970, Landmarks designated the  bridge as an individual City landmark. The City in 2009 announced plans to restore and reopen the High Bridge to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. (more…)