Two Adjoining Bank Buildings Designated as Individual Landmarks

“Bank Row” buildings represent two eras of 20th-century economic expansion. Landmarks voted to designate two bank buildings in Brooklyn as individual City landmarks at its meeting on January 24, 2017. The elder of the two landmarks, the People’s Trust Company Building, stands at 181 Montague Street, and the second item, the National Title Guaranty Building, adjoins it at 185 Montague Street. The buildings are the only unprotected historic structures on what is known … <Read More>


Waldorf-Astoria Interiors Proceed Toward Designation

Speakers at hearing on designation lavish praise on quality and significance of hotel’s opulent Art Deco interior spaces. On January 24, 2017, Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of certain interior spaces in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The exterior of the hotel, with its block-sized footprint, was designated an individual landmark in 1993. Landmarks officially added the interiors to its calendar on November 1, 2006.  The specific … <Read More>


City’s Newest Landmark also its Youngest

Late 1970s and early 1980s hotel interiors are a rare preserved exemplar of late Modern and early Postmodern design. Landmarks voted to designate as an interior City landmark the hotel lobby and Ambassador Grill of the United Nations Hotel at its meeting on January 17, 2017. The hotel, at 1 United Nations Plaza was built as part of a larger complex by the United Nations Development Corporation. The two interior spaces were completed seven … <Read More>


Landmarks Leaves Only One Backlog Item Remaining After Last Meeting of 2016

Ten of thirteen items brought to a final disposition were designated by Landmarks and will proceed to City Council for ratification. On December 13, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission made its final dispositive votes on items prioritized for designation in the commission’s Backlog Initiative, with one exception. The initiative, began in 2015, sought to address the backlog of designation items that had been added to the commission’s calendar before 2001 but never brought to … <Read More>


New South Village Historic District Designation

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. … <Read More>


Wide Support for Landmarking of St. John the Divine Complex

Landmark site would include six associated buildings, as well as massive Episcopal cathedral. Landmarks held a hearing on the potential designation of St. John the Divine and the Cathedral Close at its meeting on December 6, 2016. Landmarks previously designated the Cathedral an individual City landmark in 2003, but the designation was overturned by the City Council. Council Members wished to see a designation that included surrounding properties, rather than just the footprint of the … <Read More>