Hotel construction threatens Federal row houses

Disputed ownership of potential landmark property lent twist to hearing. On January 30, 2007, Landmarks held designation hearings on three Federal-style row houses at 94, 94 1/2, and 96 Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan.

Constructed between 1789 and 1799, contractors built the row houses soon after the laying out of Greenwich Street. They are among the few post-Revolutionary upperclass houses left in Manhattan and among the very oldest residences south of Chambers Street. The buildings … <Read More>


BSA rejects developer seeking a dormitory use permit

Developer planned a 19-story dormitory building without an existing school affiliation. BSA denied developer Gregg Singer’s appeal from a Department of Buildings determination rejecting Singer’s application to build a 1 9- story, 222-unit student dormitory building on the site of former P.S. 64, located at 609 East 9th Street in the East Village. Singer had acquired the five-story, former elementary school from the City for $3.15 million at a 1 998 auction. The existing building … <Read More>


Court rejects challenges to sale of Two Columbus Circle

Preservation group opposes conversion and remodeling of modernist building. Landmark West, a historic preservation group, seeks to stop the EDC’s sale of the nine-story modernist building at Two Columbus Circle to the Museum of Arts and Design. In February 2005, it lost its first two challenges to the sale, (2 CityLand 28 (Mar. 15, 2005)), when the First Department ruled that the Landmarks Preservation Commission was under no obligation to hold a public hearing on … <Read More>


Owner defends right to demolish structure

Owner of Crawford Clothes Building justifies tower demolition based on contract to construct new building. On April 21, 2005, Landmarks held a second public hearing on the proposed designation of the Morris Lapidus designed Crawford Clothes Building, also known as the Paterson Silk Building, at East 14th Street and University Place. At the hearing, the owner responded to accusations that the building’s central glass tower was demolished to quash Landmarks interest in its designation. See … <Read More>


Germania Bank Building designated

Landmarks designates building over owner’s objection. On March 29, 2005, Landmarks designated the Germania Bank Building, the 1898 Beaux Art Bank located at the intersection of Bowery and Spring Street, as an individual landmark over the current owner’s objection. Considered one of the most important designs of Robert Maynicke, the six-story, granite and brick facade building has large arched openings on the ground and fifth floor with voussoirs topped with a detailed cornice.

At the … <Read More>


Sale of Two Columbus Circle gets go ahead

Environmental study ruled proper; Landmarks not obligated to hold public hearing. Two Columbus Circle, the white marble-clad, nine-story modernist building fronting Columbus Circle, was at the center of two suits filed against the City. The building, commissioned in 1964 by the A & P Supermarket heir Huntington Hartford for the Gallery of Modern Art, was donated to the City in 1980 after the Gallery closed. In 2003, the Planning Commission approved its sale from the … <Read More>