Community groups opposed fence on the City’s oldest bridge. On April 5, 2011, Landmarks approved the City’s proposal to build an eight-foot fence and undertake other alterations to the High Bridge footpath spanning the Harlem River between Washington Heights in Manhattan and the Highbridge section of the Bronx. The High Bridge was built in 1848 as part of the Old Croton Aqueduct to bring fresh water into Manhattan. It is the City’s oldest bridge.… <Read More>
City is in process of reclaiming landmarked building after owner failed to redevelop property. On March 22, 2011, the City’s Economic Development Corporation issued a request for expressions of interest for the purchase and redevelopment of what remains of the landmarked Corn Exchange Building at the corner of East 125th Street and Park Avenue in East Harlem. The Lamb & Rich-designed six-story building was built in 1884 and has deteriorated significantly … <Read More>
Kenneth J. Knuckles, vice chair of the City Planning Commission and CEO and president of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, has worn many hats during his career; a community advocate, student of architecture, lawyer, deputy borough president, public servant, and business leader. After serving in the United States Army, Knuckles in 1968 joined the Architects’ Renewal Committee of Harlem (ARCH). The Committee pursued two principal goals: advocating for urban renewal and socialequity in Harlem, and … <Read More>
Thirteen-story building would house the Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum, a day care center, and provide 124 affordable housing units. On September 15, 2010, the City Planning Commission approved Broadway Housing Communities’ rezoning proposal to facilitate the development of a thirteen-story affordable housing project in the Sugar Hill section of West Harlem. Broadway Housing proposed rezoning the northwest portion of a block bounded by West 155th and 153rd Streets and St. Nicholas Place and St. Nicholas … <Read More>
Church officials and congregation opposed designation. On January 12, 2010, Landmarks designated West Park Presbyterian Church at 165 West 86th Street in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The Romanesque Revival building’s development occurred in two phases. Leopold Eidlitz designed a small chapel completed in 1883. When the church outgrew the building in 1889, it commissioned Henry Kilburn to build a new sanctuary and redesign the small chapel’s facade. Kilburn’s design features distinctive red sandstone cladding, round … <Read More>
Property owners challenge ESDC’s authority to use eminent domain on behalf of Columbia. Looking to expand in West Harlem, Columbia University teamed up with the City’s Economic Development Corporation in 2001 to redevelop the area. Not long after, EDC issued a West Harlem Master Plan. The plan stated that West Harlem could be redeveloped through rezoning, and did not mention any blighted conditions in Manhattanville. Columbia began purchasing property in the area in 2002 for … <Read More>