Civil War-Era Commercial Buildings that Later Housed Artists’ Studios Designated

Buildings’ significance largely derives from their association with post-World-War-II Abstract Expressionist movement; owners expected to soon apply for permit to build additions. Landmarks voted to designate two twin adjoining buildings as an individual City landmark at its meeting on October 31st, 2017. The buildings, at 827 and 831 Broadway in Manhattan, date to 1867 and were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for Pierre Lorillard, heir to the Lorillard Tobacco Company. The building’s facade is composed … <Read More>


Strong Community Support Voiced for Twin Commercial Buildings which Housed Studio of de Kooning, and other Post-WWII Artists

Attorney for owner threatened to seek demolition through a hardship application should landmarks designate the property and not permit a visible addition. At its meeting on October 17, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible individual landmarks designation of two twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway. Completed in 1867, the buildings were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for tobacco-company heir Pierre Lorillard in an Italian palazzi-inspired design. Built … <Read More>


Waldorf-Astoria Interiors Proceed Toward Designation

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>


Second Hearing Held on Late-19th Century Flushing Church

Landmarking of Bowne Street Community Church, originally the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing, opposed by church representatives at second hearing due to misidentification of landmarked lot. On November 15, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a second hearing on the Bowne Street Community Church at 143-11 Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens. The church was added to Landmarks calendar in 2003, and first heard as part of the Commission’s Backlog Initiative in October 2015. At … <Read More>


Seven More Buildings Considered for Designation Under East Midtown Initiative

Items considered at hearing were from three development periods: the pre-Grand Central Terminal Era, the Grand Central/Terminal City Era, and the post-Grand Central/World War II Era. On September 13, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held hearings on the potential designation of seven individual landmarks in Midtown Manhattan. The items heard were among the twelve properties identified as potentially worthy of Landmarks protection in the agency’s Greater East Midtown Initiative. The initiative is part of … <Read More>


Thirty of 95 backlogged items prioritized for 2016 designation votes

Some items will be removed from calendar due to political reality that designations will not be ratified by Council; others are found to be adequately protected so as to not require prioritization; others to lack significance that would merit immediate designation. On February 23, 2016, Landmarks made determinations on the disposition of 95 items added to Landmarks’ calendar before 2010, but never subjected to a vote on designation. In 2015 the commission had announced … <Read More>