Credit: SRA Architecture + Engineering

Opposition feared construction would adversely impact individually landmarked building. On September 11, 2012, Landmarks held a hearing on Gary Spindler’s plan to demolish a one-story garage and develop a new nine-story building at 27 East 4th Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension. The property is located at the northern edge of the historic district and is adjacent to the individually landmarked Merchant’s House at 29 East 4th Street, which is not part of the historic district. The Merchant’s House was designated as a landmark in 1965 (a portion of its interior was designated in 1981), and the building currently functions as the Merchant’s House Museum.

Adrian Figueroa and Edward Carroll of SRA Architecture and Engineering presented Spindler’s proposal. According to Carroll, the nine-story building would not be out of context with the block’s “eclectic environment,” and would match the height of the neighboring building to the west at 25 East 4th Street. The building would feature a tripartite glass and steel facade framed by limestone with red masonry on the visible eastern sidewall. Structural engineer Phil Murray, also representing Spindler, testified that they would brace the Merchant’s House’s western wall and excavate the lot in segments, using seismographs to monitor any potential impacts.

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Designations span nearly a century of Manhattan history. On March 22, 2011, Landmarks designated the Japan Society Headquarters in Turtle Bay, the Engineers’ Club Building in Midtown, and the Lower East Side’s Neighborhood Playhouse as individual City landmarks. The buildings feature disparate architectural styles and represent distinct periods of the City’s history.

The Japan Society Headquarters at 333 East 47th Street was designed by Junzo Yoshimura and completed in 1971 on land donated by John D. Rockefeller III. The building fuses modernism and traditional Japanese architecture, and features a concrete, charcoal-colored facade, slatted window screens, and vertical brass latticework. At a public hearing, the Japan Society submitted a letter endorsing designation. 7 CityLand 94 (July 15, 2010). Before the designation vote, Chair Robert B. Tierney stated that Japan was “very much in our minds today,” noting the recent earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the country. (more…)

Brian Cook

Brian Cook, Director of Land Use for Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, first developed an interest in land use while pursuing a degree in Metropolitan Studies from New York University. Cook stayed on to pursue a master’s degree in Public Policy with the hopes of learning how international governments shape land use policy. During his studies, however, Cook says he was “fascinated” by a course that centered on New York City’s Uniform Land Use Review Process (ULURP), and this led him to focus on land use at the local level. Cook secured an internship with former Borough President C. Virginia Fields. The internship developed into a job as Fields’s public policy advisor, and when Stringer took over, Cook was reassigned as a dedicated urban planner. Last July, Stringer appointed Cook to be his Director of Land Use following the departure of former director Anthony Borelli.

Adding value to ULURP. Within the land use context, Cook describes Stringer’s office as the balance between local community concerns and borough-wide obligations. By applying technical expertise, the office strives to harmonize development with neighborhood issues, always considering how to create “true benefits” for the community when reviewing a project. (more…)

Landmarks unanimously voted to protect a five-story building on Bowery, a Canal Street theater, and an East Village church. On September 7, 2010, Landmarks designated three Manhattan buildings as individual City landmarks. Landmarks unanimously approved a five-story cast-iron building at 97 Bowery, the terra cotta-adorned Loew’s Canal Street Theatre, and the Gothic-Revival style Eleventh Street Methodist Episcopal Chapel.

The Lower East Side’s 97 Bowery Building was built in 1869 to house a carriage-supply business and hardware store at a time when the Bowery was a major commercial thoroughfare. Architect Peter Tostevin designed the five-story structure featuring a three-bayed cast-iron facade with arched windows framed by Corinthian columns. Prior to 1961, the building’s third window bay of each floor was filled in to accommodate an elevator shaft. A visible, one-story rooftop addition was also added to house the elevator machinery. Vice Chair Pablo Vengoechea pointed out that designation would increase the possibility of creating a building restoration plan. Commissioner Margery Perlmutter noted that cast-iron architecture was rare along the Bowery and that its isolation lent the building a special quality. (more…)

Tribeca, West Village, and Rosedale in SE Queens would be affected. On June 7, 2010, the City Planning Commission certified the Department of City Planning’s rezoning proposals for sections of Queens and Manhattan. The Queens rezoning would impact the 193-block Rosedale section of southeast Queens. Planning’s North Tribeca rezoning would impact a 25- block area below Canal Street. A third plan would rezone a six-block portion of the West Village bounded by Washington and Greenwich Streets.

Rosedale is a suburban neighborhood bordering Nassau County characterized by one- and two-family homes built along tree-lined streets. Sunrise Highway divides the neighborhood. Rosedale’s northern portion is primarily zoned R2, which permits single-family detached homes. The southern portion is zoned R3-2 and permits a variety of building types, including rowhouses, garden apartments, and semidetached homes, which are inconsistent with Rosedale’s development patterns. The rezoning would replace the R3-2 district with contextual zoning districts — R3A, R3X, and R3-1 — that would tailor future development to the prevailing scale of blocks within the area. The plan would also modify the area’s commercial overlays to better reflect commercial and retail uses and reduce required off-street parking. Queens Community Board 13 approved the plan on June 28. (more…)