Theater District hotel’s architect was primarily known as a theater designer. On November 17, 2009, Landmarks voted to designate the Paramount Hotel, located at 235 West 46th Street in Manhattan. Thomas W. Lamb built the 600-room French Renaissance hotel between 1927 and 1928. The Scottish-born Lamb was a prolific theater and cinema architect, having designed more than 300 theaters around the world. The … <Read More>
Community board and preservation groups supported rowhouses’ facade alterations but not the proposed rooftop addition. On November 10, 2009, Landmarks heard testimony on Aurora Capital Associates’ redevelopment proposal for four, three-story Greek Revival rowhouses at 21 through 27 Ninth Avenue in the Gansevoort Market Historic District. The proposal included restoring the 19th century buildings’ red-brick … <Read More>
Proposed addition approved almost three years after initial proposal. On October 13, 2009, Landmarks voted to approve Aby Rosen and RFR Holdings LLC’s proposal to build a four-story addition to the former Parke- Bernet Galleries building at 980 Madison Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side Historic District. The application had changed dramatically since January 2007 when Landmarks rejected architect Norman Foster’s proposal calling for a 26- story tower on top of … <Read More>
Commission expressed doubts about whether Jean Nouvel-designed tower should equal Empire State Building. On September 9, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved a modified version of Hines Interests’ proposal to build an 85-story, 1,250-foot tall mixed-used building, which would reach the Empire State Building’s height below its antenna, adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art complex at 53 West 53rd Street in Midtown, Manhattan. The 19,615 sq.ft. through-block site is located in the Special Midtown … <Read More>
Joshua Benson, the 33-year-old Acting Director of Bicycle & Pedestrian Programs for the New York City Department of Transportation, admits to being particularly fond of the basket sitting at the front of his simple single-speed bike, noting how it allows him to carry anything from groceries to his laptop and projector on the bike. Benson started riding a bike as a student at NYU and now commutes to Downtown Manhattan every weekday from his home … <Read More>
Owner will store cast-iron facade after damaged building is demolished. On September 22, 2009, Landmarks approved SoHo Equities Inc.’s application to demolish a George DaCunha-designed five-story loft building at 74 Grand Street, in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. According to Landmarks Deputy Counsel John Weiss, for many decades 74 Grand Street’s five-story building leaned approximately 10 inches to the west. In 2004, as a result of excavation and construction work at the neighboring site at … <Read More>