Rendering of 827-831 Broadway in Manhattan, Image Credit: LPC.
Developer’s representatives said application was presented as alternative to hardship application to demolish landmark; proposed four-story addition would celebrate and honor history of building. On January 9, 2017, Landmarks held a hearing for proposed work on 827-831 Broadway, an individual City landmark. The twin buildings—completed in 1867 and designed by Griffith Thomas—were recently designated landmarks for their commercial history, original cast-iron Italianate architecture, and their connection to 20th century art. The buildings are associated with Abstract Expressionism and the New York School of painting. The landmark housed the last New York City studio of Willem de Kooning as well as other artists. Developer applicants recently proposed to build a four-story addition on top of the buildings, and to restore and alter the facades and storefronts. (more…)
Courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission
Proposed 164-property historic district constructed in late 19th century for upper-middle-class housing; served important role in Harlem and history. On December 12, 2017, Landmarks voted to add the Central Harlem West 130-132nd Street Historic District to its calendar for possible designation. The proposed district consists of the interiors of three blocks on 130th, 131st, and 132nd Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Lenox Avenue. Landmarks staff identified the potential historic district while surveying the area for historic resources related to the Civil Rights movements, and were struck by its architectural integrity and consistency. (more…)
346 Broadway. Image Credit: Brett.
Landmarks permit that would have seen designated interior converted to inaccessible private residence, and historic clock mechanism disconnected, is ruled to have been issued irrationally and influenced by erroneous legal counsel. The Landmark Preservation Commission designed spaces in the former New York Life Insurance Building, located at 346 Broadway, constructed in 1894 to 1898, as an interior City landmark in 1987. The designation included the 13th floor clock tower, which held the four glass clock faces and the clock mechanism, driven by a 1000-pound weight, with a 5,000-pound bell above the mechanism. At the time of designation, the property was owned by the City, and the clock tower was occupied by a gallery, artist studios, and a public service radio station. (more…)
Graffiti has become much more than spray-painted tags and quickly disappearing pieces on train cars and underpasses. In some quarters it is now high art. Highly prized are works by Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the “Hope” poster Fairey made for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist and whose works today command huge prices, and Banksy, whose street works are carefully preserved. These dramatic changes in the nature and importance of graffiti have created major shifts in and problems for artists and intellectual property law, as well as for property owners. The tensions are very evident in the most recent judicial opinions in the dispute between artists who used to paint at 5Pointz in Long Island City in Queens and the developers who destroyed the highly decorated buildings for construction of two large apartment buildings which are now under construction. (more…)
Twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway, Image LPC.
Attorney for owner threatened to seek demolition through a hardship application should landmarks designate the property and not permit a visible addition. At its meeting on October 17, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible individual landmarks designation of two twin adjoining buildings at 827 and 831 Broadway. Completed in 1867, the buildings were designed by architect Griffith Thomas for tobacco-company heir Pierre Lorillard in an Italian palazzi-inspired design. Built in marble with cast-iron piers and columns, the buildings represent a transitional period in Griffith’s career, before he fully embraced the use of cast iron. (more…)
