Previous and modified proposals for 339 West 29th Street. Image credit: LPC

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 Abigail and James Sloan Gibbons, and is the only documented stop on the Underground Railroad in New York City. During the Draft Riots that engulfed the City in 1863, a mob attacked and set fire to the building, and the occupants escaped via rooftops to a nearby relative’s home. (more…)

The Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Image Credit: LPC.

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 interiors in the potential designation were identified by Landmarks staff as the most important spaces, as well as the corridors that connect them. The hotel was designed by the firm Schultze and Weaver, with partner Lloyd Morgan overseeing the project. (more…)

Image Credit: LPC.

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. The district lies to the south of Houston Street, and is bordered at points by the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District and SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension. (more…)

Proposed Morningside Heights Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.

Designation of 115-property district widely supported by community and elected officials, though Columbia University and religious organizations opposed the inclusion of their properties within boundaries. On December 6, 2016, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Morningside Heights Historic District. The potential district consists of 115 properties and is bounded by Riverside drive to the west, with 119th Street and 109th Street as its rough northern and southern boundaries. Landmarks officially added the potential historic district to its calendar at its September 13, 2016, meeting.

The area was a latecomer in Manhattan’s history of residential development. In the 19th century, the future neighborhood was dominated by two large institutions, the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum and New York Hospital’s Bloomingdale Insane Asylum. Residential development was further hindered by the lack of public transportation, and its location on a rocky plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. (more…)

United Nations Hotel. Image Credit: LPC

Some speakers testified that landmarked space should be expanded to connect bar and lobby as one designated interior. At its meeting on November 22, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard testimony on the potential designation of two interior spaces on the first floor of the United Nations Hotel at 1 United Nations Plaza in East Midtown. The interiors under consideration are the Ambassador Grill and the Hotel Lobby, built as part of a hotel and office complex by the United Nations Development Corporation. Both designed by the firm Kevin Roche Dinkeloo Associates. The grill was completed in 1976, and the Lobby in 1983. Landmarks voted to add the interiors to its calendar on September 20, 2016. (more…)