A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and Offerman Building Designated. On March 15, 2005, Landmarks designated the A.I. Namm & Son Department Store and the Offerman Building, both located on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn.

The A.I. Namm & Son Department Store, 450-458 Fulton Street, first opened in 1891 at 452 Fulton Street and gradually expanded in 1924-25 and 1928-29. Robert D. Kohn and Charles Butler created a modern design with a structural steel frame reinforced by concrete floors, Indiana limestone cladding and a horizontal tripartite division. In approving, Landmarks noted that the building is a significant architectural remnant of Brooklyn’s late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial nucleus.

Owners claimed designation will force them to close their business or hinder needed repair. On March 15, 2005, Landmarks held public hearings on its proposed designations of two separate commercial buildings in Queens: the Sohmer & Co. Piano Factory building in Long Island City and Elmhurst’s Jamaica Savings Bank.

The six-story Sohmer & Company Piano Factory building, built in 1886 and designed by Berger & Baylies, has a unique mansardroofed clock tower, making the building one of the most prominent structures along the Queens East River waterfront. After it was calendared for designation, public hearings followed in 1983, 1984 and 1990; however, the building was never designated.

Summit Hotel and Crawford Clothes Building considered for designation. On March 29, 2005, Landmarks held a joint public hearing on two buildings designed by the modern architect Morris Lapidus: the 1961 sea-foam brick Summit Hotel at Lexington and East 51st Street and the 1948 Crawford Clothes Building, also known as the Paterson Silk building, at West 14th Street and University Place.

brothers Preston Robert and Laurence Tisch, following the success of his modern Florida hotels, designed a dramatic 21-story, S-curved slab facade hotel, clad in turquoise brick and green Italian tile. The S-curve shape, both dramatic and practical, permitted Lapidus to increase the hotel room count to 800 from the 500 projected from a traditional box design. When challenged about the dramatic shape and its bright interior following its opening, Lapidus responded, “Why be exotic in private.” The three-story Crawford Clothes store, one of Lapidus’ earliest distinguished works, was noted for the slanted center glass tower that separated its metal-screen and Roman brick facades.

Landmarks takes first step towards designation of the Plaza’s interiors. On March 8, 2005, Landmarks voted to hold a hearing on the designation of five public interior rooms of the Plaza Hotel: the Oak Room, the Oak Bar, the Palm Court and the entrance lobbies at West 59th Street and Grand Army Plaza. By a second vote on March 15, 2005, Landmarks added the Plaza’s Terrace Room and first floor of the Grand Ballroom to its consideration.

The Oak Room, the Oak Bar and the West 59th Street lobby retain most of Henry Hardenbergh’s original 1905 design. Landmarks noted that the Palm Court, which still contains the original mirrored arched openings, marble Corinthian columns, and carytids, carved supporting columns, was modified in 1941 by Conrad Hilton when he acquired the hotel. The Grand Army Plaza lobby, the Terrace Room, and the Grand Ballroom date to a 1921 addition to the Plaza completed by Warren & Wetmore. Landmarks noted that the Grand Ballroom, known for its ornate chandeliers and balconies, was the location of Truman Capote’s famous 1966 Black & White Costume Ball. To be designated, Landmarks must first hold a public hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Buildings applied customary “square” method of measuring 100 ft. rear yard exemption. The Allen- Stevenson School, located at 128 East 78th Street in a C1-8X district, applied to Buildings for a permit to expand a two-story structure to five-stories and eliminate a courtyard at the rear of the lot. Buildings issued permits for the alterations, and Neighbors for Light and Air, a local community group, sought to have them revoked, claiming that zoning regulations required Allen-Stevenson to maintain a rear yard. Buildings refused to revoke the permits and Neighbors appealed to BSA.

On appeal, Buildings stated that Allen-Stevenson’s lot, lying within 100 ft. of an intersection of two streets, was exempt from rear yard requirements. Neighbors countered that the 100 ft. should be measured using the arc theory, referred to in other sections of the zoning text, which required drawing an arc from the corner of the two streets and exempting any area within the arc. Buildings replied that as a long-standing policy it used the square theory of measuring, which required drawing parallel and perpendicular lines from the street corner. Neighbors responded that even if the square theory were used, Allen-Stevenson was still required to maintain a rear yard for the portion of the lot that exceeded the 100 ft. square cut-off.

Owner converted garages into two residential units. Cyril Pereira, owner of two three-story buildings located at 85-14 and 85-16 63rd Drive in an R3-1 district of Rego Park, sought to legalize two residential units added within ground floor space that had previously been used for garage and recreational space. Each building already contained two residential units, the maximum allowed under the zoning text.

In the BSA applications, Pereira represented that additional units were needed to yield a reasonable return because the existing units could not be leased at market value. The units’ rental value had been greatly diminished, the owner argued, by the presence of a six-story building and several looming condominiums adjacent to the two buildings, and their proximity to Woodhaven Boulevard.