Somers Brothers Tinware Factory Building Image Credit: Landmarks

Gowanus community wants Landmarks to continue designating sites before rezoning. On September 24, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing to designate five buildings in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn as individual landmarks. The five proposed buildings are the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station and Gate House, the Somers Brothers Tinware Factory (later American Can Company), Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) Central Power Station Engine House, Montauk Paint Manufacturing Company Building and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Rogers Memorial Building. All of the buildings hold a connection to the Gowanus Canal’s industrial history. To read Cityland’s prior coverage of each building, click here.

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Booth House

Landmarks’ designations of two residential buildings on City Island rejected due to objections of local council member. On March 12, 2018, the City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses voted against upholding the individual landmark designations of two residential buildings on City Island in the Bronx. The buildings are the Samuel H. and Mary T. Booth House at 30 Centre Street, and the Captain John H. Stafford House, at 95 Pell Place. Both houses were unanimously designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 28, 2017. (more…)

Loew’s 175th Street Theater in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Image Credit: LPC.

Six designations sent to full Council where they were ratified; three items held over for further deliberation. On February 27, 2017, City Council’s Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses heard testimony and voted on the items designated at the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s last meeting devoted to the backlog initiative. The designated properties were introduced to the Subcommittee by Landmarks’ Lisa Kersavage and Lauren George. The Subcommittee approved designations for six of the items, but laid over three items for further consideration in instances where the property owners objected to designation. The three items not advanced to the Land Use Committee and full Council were the Lakeman-Cortelyou House, the Loew’s 175th Street Theater, and the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing.

Prior to hearing public testimony, Council Member Steven Matteo discussed the designation of the Lakeman-Cortleyou House in New Dorp, Staten Island. The House dates to the 17th century, with the oldest part of the building constructed of fieldstone, and possesses a gambrel roof. Commissioners at Landmarks were advised that designation would likely be overturned at the Council level, but nonetheless awarded the property landmarks status due to its antiquity and rarity. (more…)

Four buildings date to 19th century community founded by African- American freedmen. On February 1, 2011, Landmarks celebrated the beginning of Black History Month by designating as landmarks four buildings in the Sandy Ground community of Rossville, Staten Island. Sandy Ground was established in the 19th century as one of the country’s earliest African-American freedmen communities. The community grew when African-American oystermen migrated from the Chesapeake Bay after Maryland passed laws restricting African-Americans from captaining their own boats.

Landmarks designated the cottages at 565 and 569 Bloomingdale Road as a single landmark, and in separate hearings, designated the Rossville A.M.E. Zion Church at 584 Bloomingdale Road and the Coleman House at 1482 Woodrow Road. Landmarks initially held hearings on the buildings in August 2010. 7 CityLand 126 (Sept. 15, 2010). (more…)

Landmarks provides forum for accord and controversy during numerous hearings. On June 24, 2008, Landmarks heard testimony on eight potential City landmarks, as well as one historic district extension. According to spokesperson Lisi de Bourbon, Landmarks grouped the designation hearings on one day to demonstrate certain themes and priorities like post-war architecture, public libraries, and the Commission’s recent review of architecture in the West Village.

The proposed extension of Queens’ Douglaston Historic to encompass 22 more buildings proved controversial, with some area property owners vigorously opposing the plan. Council Member Tony Avella, who represents the district, testified that he supports designation, but stated that the proposal had generated “a real civil war” in the neighborhood and that ill will would remain long after the issue had been settled. In contrast, Midtown Manhattan’s 275 Madison Avenue building, a 1930s Art-Deco skyscraper designed by Kenneth Franzheim, received support from both its owners and preservationists.

The F. W. Devoe & Company Factory, built in 1882 by the firm of Kimball & Wisedale, exemplifies 19th Century industrial design. Currently in residential use , the building occupies a site in the far West Village close to the Hudson River and the former Gansevoort Market. In Harlem, the George Bruce and 125th Street Branches of the New York Public Library were both funded by Andrew Carnegie and designed by Carrere and Hastings and McKim, Mead & White, respectively. The Municipal Art Society endorsed the libraries’ designation and urged Landmarks to look at other buildings along the 125th Street corridor.

Abram and Ann Dissoway Cole House, a 1840s residence, adamantly opposed landmarking, claiming it amounted to condemnation by eminent domain without compensation. The owner’s attorney, Philip Rampulla, testified that the building’s original fabric had been extensively damaged in a 1999 fire, and a representative of Council Member Vincent Ignizio testified that while many buildings in southern Staten Island deserve designation “this is not one of them.” The owner intends to sell the property to a developer aspiring to build a mall at the site, lending urgency to preservationists’ calls for landmarking.

Landmarks has not yet set a date to vote on designations.

LPC: Douglaston Historic District Extension, Queens (LP-2301); 275 Madison Avenue Building, Manhattan (LP-2286); F.W. Devoe & Company Factory Building, 110 Horatio St., Manhattan (LP-2308); N.Y. Public Library, George Bruce Branch, 518 W. 125th St., Manhattan (LP-2304); N.Y. Public Library, 125th Street Branch, 224 E. 125th St., Manhattan (LP-2305); Dissoway Cole House, 4927 Arthur Kill Rd., Staten Island (LP-2310) (June 24, 2008).