5Pointz: The Anti-Rebellion Message of the Graffiti Dispute

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 … <Read More>


Strong Community Support Voiced for Twin Commercial Buildings which Housed Studio of de Kooning, and other Post-WWII Artists

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 … <Read More>


Twin 19th-Century Buildings Associated with Abstract Expressionism to be Considered as Landmark

Twin 1867 structures served as home for Willem de Kooning, as well others associated with Abstract Expressionism. The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add two buildings to its calendar for consideration as an individual City landmark at its meeting on September 19th, 2017. The significance of the twin buildings, collectively labeled the 827-831 Broadway Buildings, largely derives from their association with Abstract Expressionist artists in post-World War II-era, particularly Willem de Kooning. The buildings … <Read More>


City Council Approves SoHo Residential Conversion

The residential conversion project includes the restoration of cast-iron building in SoHo Cast-Iron Historic District. On September 7, 2017, the City Council voted 45-0 to approve an application for a special permit to allow residential and retail uses at 40 Wooster Street in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood. The applicant, 40 Wooster Street Restoration LLC which is a subsidiary of the Northwind Group, sought the special permit to allow for residential and retail uses in what was … <Read More>


Extensive Revisions Demanded for Canal Street Development

Developers proposed to demolish five heavily altered 19th-century structures to make way for a new 8-story-plus-penthouse residential building with retail base. On June 6, 2017, Landmarks considered an application to redevelop five lots at 312 through 322 Canal Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The five buildings were originally constructed in the 1820s, at two-and-a-half stories, but saw repeated additions, reductions and alterations throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and currently stand … <Read More>


Two-Story Addition Approved Over Community Opposition

As part of a zoning application, both facades of through-block cast-iron building will be restored and maintained. On May 9, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on a proposal for the construction additions and facade restoration to 121 Chambers Street in the Tribeca South Historic District. The through-block building also faces 103 Reade Street. The Italianate-style structure dates to 1861, and is characteristic of the cast-iron and masonry store-and-loft buildings that … <Read More>