Recreational boating on the Schoharie Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains. The Schoharie Reservoir is one of 19 DEP-owned reservoirs across the state that supply New York City with water. Image Credit: NYC DEP

New rules include an expanded recreational boating season and an e-cigarette ban. On May 31, 2019, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published the final updated rules governing recreation access to over 137,000 acres of water and the surrounding watershed lands. The rules were created to protect the water supply and promote outdoor recreation and go into effect on June 30^th.

The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York Headquarters at 215 East 71st Street in Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

Although the original landmarking proposal also included an application to designate the Headquarter’s interiors, the Colonial Dames Society withdrew their support for that application. On June 11, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Headquarters of the National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York as an individual landmark. The four-story Headquarters building is located at 215 East 71^st Street in Manhattan, between 2^nd and 3^rd Avenues. The National Society of Colonial Dames in the State of New York commissioned Richard Henry Dana Jr. to design the building in 1928 to serve as the Society’s headquarters and a house museum displaying colonial residential architecture and interior design. Dana, a specialist in colonial revival architecture, designed the Headquarters in the Georgian Revival style, using as inspiration a variety of colonial homes along the eastern seaboard, with the 1750 Colonel John McEver House as his primary reference.

The church was constructed by Emery Roth, a Hungarian immigrant. On June 11, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the First Hungarian Reformed Church as a New York City landmark. The First Hungarian Reformed Church is located at 346 East 69^th street in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. The church was constructed in 1915 by Emery Roth and serves as the home of the First Hungarian Reformed congregation. The church has continued to serve the Hungarian population in the neighborhood for 103 years.

HANAC Corona Senior Residence at 54-17 101st Street, Queens. Image Credit: Alexander Severin/HANAC Inc.

The development provides housing and supportive services to formerly homeless seniors. On May 29, 2019, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced the grand opening of HANAC’s $36 million Corona Senior Residence at 54-17 101^St Street in Corona, Queens. The newly constructed eight-story housing project is environmentally friendly and comes with 67 affordable studio and one-bedroom residences, 21 of which are for formerly homeless seniors. The building features an early childhood education center on the ground floor administered by the New York City School Construction Authority. The “Passive House” building was designed by Think! Architecture and Design in consultation with the Association for Energy Affordability.

Rendering of proposed 20-story building at 200 Montague Street, Brooklyn. Image Credit: Beyer Blinder Belle/LPC.

The Commission’s approval to demolish the existing building was primarily based on the collapse and replacement of the building’s original curtain wall in 2006. On May 21, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and voted to approve revised plans to demolish an existing four-story building and construct a new 20-story building at 200 Montague Street in the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District in Brooklyn. Designed by Philip Birnbaum, the existing four-story Modern-style building was initially constructed to two stories in 1959. Two additional stories were added in 1967-68. The building was used as a bank and had a drive through until the 1990s. In 2006, the building’s curtain wall collapsed from water and air infiltration and was replaced with a kalwall façade designed by FacadesMD. Landmarks classified the building as Altered Modern in its 2011 designation report on the historic district.

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CityLand tracks these applications through the review process to a final decision. The majority of these decisions are available on the Center for New York City Law’s CityAdmin database (found at http://www.cityadmin.org/).