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    Landmarks refuses to legalize unauthorized addition

    Certificate of Appropriateness  •  Upper West Side,Manhattan

    New owners proposed to modify fifth-floor addition previously denied by Landmarks. On March 16, 2010, Landmarks voted to deny a proposal to modify and legalize a one-story rooftop addition built without Landmarks’ approval at 12-14 West 68th Street in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. The building’s previous owners, Thomas Haines and Polly Cleveland, built the 506 square-foot, fifth-floor addition on top of a 1925-era studio building added to the rear of a Queen Anne-style mansion built in 1895.

    Haines and Cleveland applied to Landmarks to legalize the addition. At an April 2009 hearing, architect Lester Evan Tour testified that he did not intend to bypass Landmarks when designing the addition. Evan Tour claimed that Buildings had failed to flag the property as landmarked, and that the plan examiners also missed the oversight. He argued that the addition was only minimally visible from the street and it related well to its host building and surroundings. Landmarks voted unanimously to deny legalization in June 2009. According to the Commissioners, the addition was too tall and made the rear building inappropriately higher than the main house. 6 CityLand 92 (July 15, 2009). (read more…)

    Tags : 12-14 West 68th Street, Hotel des Artistes, Lester Evan Tour, Manhattan Community Board 7, Polly Cleveland, Stephen B. Jacobs Group, Thomas Haines, Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District
    Date:04/15/2010
    Category : Landmarks Preservation Commission
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    LPC refuses to approve illegal, completed addition

    Certificate of Appropriateness  •  Upper West Side, Manhattan

    Rear yard addition did not meet standard of appropriateness. Following a contentious hearing in April over a one-story addition constructed without Landmarks approval at 12- 14 West 68th Street in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, Landmarks reconvened to discuss the matter on June 9, 2009. The owners built the addition on top of a 1925 studio building, located at the rear of an 1895 Queen Anne-style mansion, and also installed an illegal, antique, wrought-iron fence at the front of the property.

    At the April hearing, architect Lester Evan Tour testified that Buildings’ database failed to flag the building as landmarked, and the plan examiners also missed it. Emphasizing that he never intended to bypass the landmarks law, Tour called the addition appropriate for the historic district. 6 CityLand 59 (May 15, 2009). (read more…)

    Tags : 12-14 West 68th Street, 1895 Queen Anne-style mansion, Lester Evan Tour, Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District
    Date:07/15/2009
    Category : Landmarks Preservation Commission
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