New historic district in Chelsea consists of twelve rowhouses and includes Underground Railroad stop. Landmarks voted to designate as the Lamartine Place Historic District twelve rowhouses located at 333 through 359 West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, Manhattan. William Torrey and Cyrus Mason built the three-and-a-half story Greek Revival rowhouses between 1846 and 1847 on what was then known as Lamartine Place.

James S. Gibbons and his wife, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, a renowned abolitionist, purchased the building at 337 West 29th Street in 1851. A short time later the Gibbons family also purchased the house next door at 339 West 29th Street. Family friend Joseph Hodges Choate cited 339 as being a stop on the Underground Railroad, noting that he dined with the Gibbons and a fugitive slave at the residence in 1855. Several homes on Lamartine Place were damaged during the Draft Riots of 1863, including 339 and a rowhouse at 335 owned by the New York Tribune editor Samuel Sinclair. (more…)

625-space garage had been operating over capacity since approximately 2003. On July 1, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved 111 Eighth Avenue Parking LLC’s application for a special permit allowing it to continue to operate a 625-space garage on the ground floor and cellar of an office building located between West 15th and 16th Streets, and Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Chelsea. The applicant began operating the 126,677 sq.ft. garage in 1999. It reached its current 625-space capacity a few years later, exceeding the 276 spaces permitted by the building’s Certificate of Occupancy.

At the Commission’s hearing, a representative for the garage apologized for its delay in rectifying the overcapacity, claiming that it had been unfamiliar with the application process for a special permit. Another representative stated that the garage had been consulting with the community and, based on community input, agreed to provide bicycle parking and storage at the garage. (more…)

Proposed district among the few documented underground railroad stops in New York City. On January 13, 2009, Landmarks heard testimony on the potential designation of Lamartine Place as a historic district. Lamartine Place is comprised of 12 buildings at 333 through 359 West 29th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Manhattan. Built in the 1840s, the Greek Revival rowhouses were commissioned by Cyrus Mason, a New York University professor. It is believed that Mason named the development for Alphonse de Lamartine, an anti-slavery French politician.

In 1851, 337 West 29th Street was purchased by James Gibbons, husband of Abigail Hooper Gibbons, a noted abolitionist and prison reformer. Abigail Gibbon’s father, Isaac Gibbons, was known as “a father of the Underground Railroad.” Other residents of Lamartine Place included Samuel Sinclair, editor of the New York Tribune, and Joseph Hodges Choate, a lawyer and diplomat. Though the houses were set on fire during the draft riots of 1863, they remained standing. And despite some alterations, the rowhouses have retained much of their original fabric. (more…)

Former industrial neighborhood receives landmark protection. On July 15, 2008, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate seven blocks in West Chelsea as a historic district. The new historic district lies between the West Side Highway and Tenth Avenue, and is roughly bounded by West 28th and West 25th Streets.

An industrial area for most of its history, West Chelsea was a manufacturing center in the mid-19th Century, with sawmills, ironworks, and coal yards; few buildings from this era remain. By the early 1900s the area became a center of the printing industry, as well as manufacturing and warehousing. As railroad companies were displaced from the Gansevoort Market area, they moved to West Chelsea and built freight yards and warehouses. Notable buildings in the area include the individually landmarked Starrett- Lehigh Building, the 1912 Otis Elevator Building, and the Cass Gilbert-designed R.C. Williams & Company Building. (more…)

New York Terminal Central Stores, Real Estate Board, and Cedar Lake Ballet testified against proposed designation. On May 13, 2008, Landmarks heard testimony on a proposal to designate a seven-block portion of West Chelsea as a historic district.

Located between West 25th and West 28th Streets, from the West Side Highway to Tenth Avenue, the proposed West Chelsea Historic District would protect brick industrial buildings dating as far back as 1885, some of which housed the operations of industrial giants such as the Otis Elevator Co. and Cornell Iron Works. The buildings represent some of the earliest examples of reinforced concrete construction and modern industrial design. (more…)