Two East 56th Street townhouses designated

French Renaissance Revival style buildings housed financiers in area known as “Banker’s Row.” On July 24, 2007, Landmarks unanimously designated both the Frederick & Birdsall Otis Edey Residence and the Henry Seligman Residence as individual City landmarks. Both French Renaissance revival style residences were built off Fifth Avenue at the turn of the century.

Architectural firm Warren & Wetmore designed the Edey residence, as well as several other City landmarks, including Grand Central Terminal and … <Read More>

McCarren Pool and Play Center landmarked

WPA-funded pool currently used for concerts and other performances. On July 24, 2007, Landmarks designated the McCarren Play Center in northern Brooklyn as an individual City landmark. The play center includes one of the largest swimming pools in the city, as well as a bath house and viewing terraces.

Named after state assemblyman Patrick Henry McCarren, the pool and play center was built with Works Progress Administration funds under the aegis of Parks Commissioner Robert … <Read More>

Proposed DUMBO district set for landmark hearing

Proposed DUMBO Historic District. Map: LPC.

Rapidly gentrifying neighborhood starts process towards landmark status. On July 24, 2007, Landmarks calendared a 15-block area on Brooklyn’s waterfront adjacent to the Manhattan Bridge approach as a potential historic district. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, DUMBO developed as a primarily industrial area at a time when Brooklyn was counted among the country’s largest manufacturing centers. DUMBO’s East River location attracted a wide variety of industries, … <Read More>

Two Federal row houses designated as landmarks

Despite homeowner objections, rare residences designated unanimously. Landmarks designated two Federalera row houses at 486 and 488 Greenwich Street as individual landmarks on July 24, 2007. The two-and-a-half story houses, built in 1823 for German tailor and developer John Rohr, now contain commercial establishments on their ground floors. The houses retain their peaked dormered roofs, stone lintels and sills, and essential identity as three-bayed row houses despite numerous alterations over the years. The buildings’ survival … <Read More>

Eberhard Faber factory cluster heard by Landmarks

Nearby demolition and development lent urgency to potential designation. On July 24, 2007, Landmarks heard testimony on the proposed Eberhard Faber Pencil Company Historic District. The proposed historic district comprises five buildings dating from the 1880s to the 1920s relating to the former Eberhard Faber pencil factory. The company moved to this Brooklyn location after a fire at its Manhattan plant in 1872 and remained there until 1956. The buildings feature stone lintels and terra … <Read More>

BSA hears dispute over interpretation of Sliver Law

Neighbors claimed that two Manhattan developments violated the height limit. On July 17, 2007, BSA held public hearings on the Department of Buildings’ issuance of permits for two projects: a one-story penthouse addition to 515 East Fifth Street and a one-story mechanical room addition to 441 East 57th Street. Local residents claimed that the penthouse and the mechanical room violated Section 23-692 of the zoning resolution, also known as the Sliver Law.

The City enacted … <Read More>