Rending of modified design for 11 Hubert Street./Image Credit: E Cobb Architects, SPAN Architecture, Higgins Quasebarth and Partners, LLC, and LPC

The modifications to the Hubert Street facade and the ground-floor shutters are more contextual for the historic district. On May 8, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a Certificate of Appropriateness to demolish an existing three-story garage and office building at 11 Hubert Street, Manhattan, and replace it with a new five-story residential building. The new building will be located on the corner of Hubert and Collister Streets within the Tribeca West Historic District. Landmarks originally held a public hearing on the application on December 3rd but the Commissioners had concerns about the proposed design. Modified designs for the building were presented at the March 3rd public hearing, but Landmarks still had some concerns about the building’s front facade and cornice design. For CityLand’s prior coverage, click here.

At the May 8th public hearing, the applicants made modifications to the design of the glass panels on the Hubert Street facade, the shutters on the first floor, and the cornice. There are only two vertical blackened steel window liners that line the second to fourth-floor facade currently on the east side of the glass panel. The applicants added two horizontal blackened steel window liners to the west side of the glass panel. The liners span the fourth and fifth floor of the building from the end of the west side of the building to the center of the facade. The first-floor shutters now have small vertical details instead of horizontal ones. The cornice is changed from gray to black in order to match the other cornices on the street.

The Commissioners approved the modifications to the glass panels, first-floor shutters, and the cornice. Commissioner Jeanne Lufty noted that adding the borders to the west side of the glass panels now gives the Hubert Street facade more articulation. Commissioner Anne Holford-Smith noted that the modification of the first-floor shutter design is in context with shutters seen within the historic district.

Landmarks unanimously voted to approve the Certificate of Appropriateness, noting that the applicants have worked well to address the Commissioners’ concerns.

By: May Vutrapongvatana (May is the CityLaw Fellow and New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2019)