Image Credit: LPC.

Commission voted to designate 157-building district without altering boundaries. On December 13, 2016, Landmark voted to add the Sullivan Thompson Historic District to its portfolio of designated districts.  The district moved swiftly through the landmarking process, added to the Commission calendar at its November 1, 2016 meeting, with a hearing held on November 29. The district is comprised of approximately 157 properties, mostly dating from the early 19th century to the early 20th century. The district lies to the south of Houston Street, and is bordered at points by the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District and SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District Extension. (more…)

Proposed Morningside Heights Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.

Designation of 115-property district widely supported by community and elected officials, though Columbia University and religious organizations opposed the inclusion of their properties within boundaries. On December 6, 2016, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of the Morningside Heights Historic District. The potential district consists of 115 properties and is bounded by Riverside drive to the west, with 119th Street and 109th Street as its rough northern and southern boundaries. Landmarks officially added the potential historic district to its calendar at its September 13, 2016, meeting.

The area was a latecomer in Manhattan’s history of residential development. In the 19th century, the future neighborhood was dominated by two large institutions, the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum and New York Hospital’s Bloomingdale Insane Asylum. Residential development was further hindered by the lack of public transportation, and its location on a rocky plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. (more…)

United Nations Hotel. Image Credit: LPC

Some speakers testified that landmarked space should be expanded to connect bar and lobby as one designated interior. At its meeting on November 22, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard testimony on the potential designation of two interior spaces on the first floor of the United Nations Hotel at 1 United Nations Plaza in East Midtown. The interiors under consideration are the Ambassador Grill and the Hotel Lobby, built as part of a hotel and office complex by the United Nations Development Corporation. Both designed by the firm Kevin Roche Dinkeloo Associates. The grill was completed in 1976, and the Lobby in 1983. Landmarks voted to add the interiors to its calendar on September 20, 2016. (more…)

Waldorf-Astoria Interior. Image Credit LPC.

Art Deco lobbies, galleries, staircase, a ballroom and their connecting spaces over three floors of iconic hotel to be considered for interior landmark status. On November 1, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission added interior spaces of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at 301 Park Avenue to its calendar, the first formal step in the path to designation. The 1931 hotel, designed by the firm Schultze and Weaver, is already an individual City landmark, but its interiors are unprotected. The proposed designation encompasses select spaces on ground floor, first floor, and third floor, as well as the connecting spaces between them. (more…)

Image Credit: LPC

Originally developed as a residential rowhouse neighborhood, district grew to a mixed-use working class community in the early 20th century. At its meeting on November 1, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District to its calendar, formally commencing the designation process. The proposed district is composed of approximately 157 buildings south of Washington Square Park and east of Seventh Avenue. It would adjoin the existing SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District to the east, and the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District at its northwest corner.

The first wave of development in the area took place in the early 19th century when it was built as a residential rowhouse neighborhood. Between the Civil War and the First World War, the area underwent a second period of development which saw the construction of tenement buildings, lofts, and a few institutional structures, including the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua and an associated school. (more…)