Removal of water tower does not alter the historic character of Fifth Avenue building. Landmarks approved an application by Savanna Partners for removal of a water tower and rooftop mechanical equipment at 141 Fifth Avenue in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, Manhattan, in order to allow construction of a new penthouse addition. The approval also permits Savanna to install a new curved storefront, replicate historic columns, and partially remove the rear facade, expanding the building by twelve feet.

removal of the water tower from the turn-of-the-century Beaux-Arts loft would not damage its architectural significance because the new penthouse would retain the historic elements of the district’s skyline. The storefront renovations would restore the building closer to its original appearance and the rear facade work would not eliminate any significant features since the changes would be barely perceptible from surrounding streets.

Two WPA projects and firehouse designated. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks unanimously approved the designation of the Bronx’s Orchard Beach Bathhouse, Queen’s Astoria Play Center and a 1904 firehouse in Long Island City, Queens, home to Fire Engine Company No. 258, Ladder Company No. 115.

Both constructed in the midst of the Great Depression under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses and using the Works Progress Administration funds, the Orchard Beach Bathhouse and the Astoria Play Center received support from Landmarks as great examples of public architecture. The Astoria Play Center’s main feature, its 6,200 capacity pool, opened on July 4th in 1936 and has expansive views of the Triborough and Hell Gate bridges. It and the Orchard Beach Bathhouse, a giant recreational center with a 200,000-square-foot bathhouse, concessions, a beach and promenade, remain in operation under the Parks Department. In their comments before the vote, Landmarks commissioners stressed the importance of preserving examples of the City’s large civic construction projects.

Designation hearing held on one of the last remaining H&H automat structures in New York. Landmarks held a well-attended public hearing June 27, 2006 on the Horn and Hardart Building at 2710 Broadway, a former automat built in 1930 by the architecture firm F.P. Platt and Brothers. Currently home to a Rite- Aid drugstore, much of the building’s signature ornamentation is covered with signs. The flagship Horn and Hardart, or “H&H”, as they were known, at West 57th Street was recently demolished, leaving the 2710 Broadway branch as one of the few examples left.

The phenomenon of the automat started in Philadelphia around the turn of the century, and the last one closed in 1991. Beacons of modernism, customers bought food and beverages by inserting coins into vending machines, while restaurant staff worked out of sight.

The Horn and Hardart building possesses an Art Deco facade, with terra cotta in a rare gold-luster glaze. Rite-Aid planned to alter the facade, but an effort spearheaded by Michael Gotlin convinced it to cover the facade instead. Gotlin addressed Landmarks at the hearing. Other speakers included Steve Stallman, who maintains a website devoted to automats, who spoke of the automats egalitarian nature, and their function as a place where writers and artists could linger over an inexpensive meal. Stallman also called the hearing “tragic,” since it was only held after the loss of the West 57th Street branch.

Residential building will require the demolition of a 1937, one-story building. Landmarks approved an application by the owner of 120 West 72nd Street to demolish the existing one-story commercial building and construct a 16-story residential building within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District in Manhattan. The existing building sits between two 14-story buildings on West 72nd Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues, a block predominately comprised of large masonry apartment buildings and residential row houses. The proposed building will feature a limestone base, weathered yellow and red brick cladding with limestone details, and a two-story penthouse.

In approving the proposal, Landmarks determined that the existing one-story commercial building, built in 1937, was not deemed significant to the formation and approval of the historic district. The Commission noted that the existing one-story building created a gap within West 72nd Street’s 14- to 16-story buildings and found that the new building would unify the streetscape. Landmarks also noted that the proposed brick and limestone materials would match the look of the brownstones and early 20th century apartment buildings found in the district.

Owner’s opposition and valid permit to strip exterior fails to stop designation. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate former Public School 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the Lower East Side, despite the fact that its current owner, Gregg Singer, remained opposed to the designation and holds a valid Buildings permit to remove exterior details. 2 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2005); 3 CityLand 80 (June 15, 2006).

Reading a lengthy, emotionally- charged statement urging designation, Commissioner Roberta Brandes Gratz claimed the vote “will be the most significant decision of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in recent years.” Gratz traced the school’s history, explaining first that Elizabeth Irwin, founder of the Little Red Schoolhouse, taught at P.S. 64 before it closed in the late 1960s, but she focused her testimony on the period within the late 1960s and 1970s when many building owners and the City “turned their backs” on the Lower East Side and abandoned buildings. During that time the Adopt-a-Building program, which helped local residents take over deteriorating buildings, squatted in P.S. 64, making it “a symbol for the grass roots self-help movement” that spread through the Lower East Side, Gratz said. She added that “no amount of stripping away of detailing . . . can ever diminish its importance.”

Landmarks takes first step towards designation of new, 470-building historic district. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks voted to hold a public hearing on the proposed Crown Heights North Historic District, which will encompass 470 buildings, primarily along Dean and Pacific Streets; St. Mark’s, New York, Nostrand and Bedford Avenues; and Grand Square in Brooklyn.

At the June 20th vote, Landmarks staff provided a synopsis on the area’s transformation from farmland to the rapid row house construction that followed the Brooklyn Bridge’s opening. Among the buildings mentioned were the 1850-55 frame house on Dean Street, the Queen Anne style row houses at 1164-1182 Dean Street, and the New York Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.