Hearing held on former automat

Designation hearing held on one of the last remaining H&H automat structures in New York. Landmarks held a well-attended public hearing June 27, 2006 on the Horn and Hardart Building at 2710 Broadway, a former automat built in 1930 by the architecture firm F.P. Platt and Brothers. Currently home to a Rite- Aid drugstore, much of the building’s signature ornamentation is covered with signs. The flagship Horn and Hardart, or “H&H”, as they were known, … <Read More>


Parking in Viacom Building goes public

Times Square garage permitted to open up to public and increase capacity to 386 spaces. Owners of the Viacom Building, located at 1515 Broadway between West 44th and West 45th Streets in Times Square, applied to City Planning in 2005 to convert the building’s existing 225-space accessory parking garage into a public parking garage and to increase its capacity by 161 spaces and 19 reservoir spaces. The garage would be fully attended and access would … <Read More>


Forest City Ratner’s 75-story project to contain public school

Lower Manhattan to get 630- seat primary/intermediate school. The City Council unanimously approved the New York School Construction Authority’s proposal for a new 100,000-square-foot primary/ intermediate school to be located within Forest City Ratner’s proposed residential development on a site at Beekman, Gold, Spruce and Nassau Streets in lower Manhattan. Currently, the 44,532- square-foot site contains a privately- owned surface parking lot, which Forest City will replace with its 75-story condominium and rental apartment building.… <Read More>


Emotional hearing held on Lower East Side school

Landmarking process begins for P.S. 64, a former school,now facing renovation. On May 16, 2006, Landmarks heard emotional testimony regarding the potential designation of P. S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the East Village.

P.S. 64 was built in 1903-04 by C. B. J. Snyder, then superintendent of school buildings for the City. The school is in the French Renaissance Revival style, and built in Snyder’s signature H-plan to maximize light and air … <Read More>


Estey Piano Company Factory receives hearing

New York’s oldest known piano factory begins landmarking process. On April 11, 2006, Landmarks held a public hearing on the Estey Piano Factory, located at 112 Lincoln Avenue in the Mott Haven area of the Bronx. The factory was built between 1885 and 1886 by the firm of A. D. Ogden and Sons. An addition was added in 1890, and further additions were built between 1895 and 1919. Though not as renowned as Astoria … <Read More>


162-space garage starts hearing process

City Planning receives three different applications for garages in the Columbus Circle area. On April 3, 2006, the Planning Commission certified an application by William Zeckendorf, on behalf of 15 CPW Realty, LLC, for a special permit to allow a 162-space public parking garage to be located within the as-of- right development on the former Mayflower Hotel site. The certification begins the public review process and starts the time clock for review set by ULURP, … <Read More>