Claim alleges that the City improperly skipped land use approvals in Randall’s Island agreement on private school use. Parents of public school students and community residents from East Harlem filed an article 78 petition in Supreme Court on June 14, 2007, seeking to void the City’s approval of a concession agreement between 20 private schools and the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation. The petition asks the court to invalidate the agreement and force the City to … <Read More>
Landmarks to consider Lord & Taylor’s 5th Ave. bldg.
Hearing set for August 7th. On July 17, 2007, Landmarks voted unanimously to consider the Lord & Taylor building on 424 Fifth Avenue at West 38th Street for individual designation. Architectural firm Starrett & Van Vleck designed the 1914 building, and was also responsible for other iconic department stores, including the landmarked Saks Fifth Avenue building. Landmarks’ research department found that the Lord & Taylor building appeared to be Starrett & Van Vleck’s first department … <Read More>
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>