Proposed Morningside Heights Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.

Designation of 115-property district widely supported by community and elected officials, though Columbia University and religious organizations opposed the inclusion of their properties within boundaries. On December 6, 2016, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Morningside Heights Historic District. The potential district consists of 115 properties and is bounded by Riverside drive to the west, with 119th Street and 109th Street as its rough northern and southern boundaries. Landmarks officially added the potential historic district to its calendar at its September 13, 2016, meeting.

The area was a latecomer in Manhattan’s history of residential development. In the 19th century, the future neighborhood was dominated by two large institutions, the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum and New York Hospital’s Bloomingdale Insane Asylum. Residential development was further hindered by the lack of public transportation, and its location on a rocky plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. (more…)

The Marine Midland Bank building. Image Credit: LPC.

See below for update.

Preservationists turned out to support designation of mid-century modern bank building. On April 2, 2013 and May 14, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard testimony on the potential designation of the Marine Midland Bank building at 140 Broadway in Manhattan’s Financial District. The building was designed by the Gordon Bunshaft-helmed firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and exemplifies mid-century modernism in its unadorned curtain walls of black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass, and trapezoidal form. The building is offset by a sculpture by artist Isamu Noguchi, a 28-foot-tall red cube balanced on a corner. The building primarily housed financial-services industry offices, and was named for one of its principal tenants, the Marine Midland Grace Trust Company. As of 2010, the primary building tenant is Brown Brothers Harriman. The 49-story structure was calendared by Landmarks on November 20, 2012. (See CityLand coverage here).

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EDC intends to transfer property to non-profit trade group. On September 18, 2007, Landmarks heard testimony on the possible designation of the former Public School 90 building in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Architect John Y. Culyer, also responsible for the nearby Flatbush Town Hall, a City landmark, designed P.S. 90 in 1878, before Flatbush assimilated into the city of Brooklyn. P.S. 90 built additions to the school in 1886 and 1906. Chair Robert B. Tierney stated that Landmarks originally considered the building for designation and held a hearing in 1989.

At the hearing, Christina DeRose from the Economic Development Corporation testified that the EDC had entered into a partnership with the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2005 with the intention of transferring the vacant school to the group to use as its headquarters. DeRose testified that the EDC supported designation if Landmarks designated only the building and not the surrounding lot, which the Chamber plans to convert into an exhibition space. Flatbush’s Council Member Kendall Stewart, speaking in support, stated that the building by itself “is not able to accommodate everything we propose and plan.” (more…)

If designated, the park would be the City’s first new scenic landmark in over 20 years. On April 10, 2007, Landmarks held a public hearing on the proposed designation of Morningside Park as a scenic landmark. If designated the park would be the City’s tenth scenic landmark and the first since 1983.

Resting on steep cliffs separating Morningside Heights from Harlem, the nearly 30-acre park is bound by West 110th and West 123rd Streets, Morningside Drive, and Manhattan and Morningside Avenues. Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the park in 1873, but Parks rejected their plan. In 1880, Jacob Wrey Mould reworked the Olmsted and Vaux plan, and construction finally began in 1883. When Mould died in 1886, Parks hired Olmsted and Vaux to finish the project. Several speakers at the hearing recalled Samuel Parsons Jr., Parks Superintendent when the project was completed, as writing “perhaps Morningside Park was the most consummate piece of art that [Vaux] ever created.” (more…)

Many in community testified in opposition to landmarking of Bronx neighborhood. On March 28, 2006, the City Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee held a hearing on the designation of the Fieldston Historic District, located in the northwestern portion of the Bronx. The 97-year-old community’s historic significance lies in its winding roads and eclectic mix of Medieval, English, Tudor, Dutch, and Mediterranean architecture. Fieldston was unanimously designated by Landmarks in January, 2006, despite strong opposition from many property owners. 3 CityLand 12 (Feb. 15, 2006).

At the hearing, Bronx Council Member Oliver Koppell spoke in favor of the designation. Residents argued in opposition that designation would take control away from property owners and dissuade young families from moving into the neighborhood. The Subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the designation on April 7, 2006. If approved, the Council’s Land Use Subcommittee could vote on April 11, 2006. (more…)