Court upheld designation even though developer had valid permit to alter facade. 9th & 10th Street LLC owned 605 East 9th Street in Manhattan, the former Public School 64. After the owner received a permit from Buildings to alter the facade, Landmarks designated the site as an individual landmark. In reaching its decision, Landmarks found that P.S. 64 was of special architectural, historical, and cultural significance. 3 CityLand 93 (July 15, 2006). The owner filed an article 78 petition challenging the designation.

Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich denied the owner’s petition, ruling that Landmarks had a rational basis to conclude that the building was worthy of designation. Though the owner claimed that P.S. 64 lacked sufficient architectural, historical, or cultural significance to merit designation, Kornreich found that the Commission had relied upon evidence that was adequate to refute the claim, especially since Landmarks found that P.S. 64 was the oldest extant Snyder “H-plan” school with an auditorium accessible from the street. Despite the prior legal removal of some of the decorative facade, Kornreich determined that designation was warranted since Landmarks based its decision on the remaining “special” architectural features as well as the historical and cultural qualities that were beyond removal. (read more…)

Developer’s plan to build dorm requires connection to a local school. In 1999, the City auctioned off the lot at 605 East 9th Street, containing the former P.S. 64 building, to Gregg Singer by a deed restricting it to a community facilities use under the zoning code. Singer applied for permits to construct a 19-story “college or student school dormitory” with floor plans showing units with bathrooms and kitchens. Buildings objected, asking Singer to prove that the building would be a dorm since dorms could be constructed with a greater floor area than a residential building.

Buildings asked Singer to show institutional control of the property by a lease or deed with a local school. In response, Singer explained that he would form a non-profit and have participating school representatives sit on its board. Buildings rejected the plan and denied the permit; Singer appealed to BSA, which upheld Buildings’ decision. 2 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2005).

Singer then filed an article 78 petition, arguing that Buildings must issue permits for projects that comply with the code and lacked authority to add an institutional connection condition since the code did not require it. Singer also cited to the restriction in the City’s deed as a sufficient limit on the property’s use. (read more…)

Owner’s opposition and valid permit to strip exterior fails to stop designation. On June 20, 2006, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate former Public School 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the Lower East Side, despite the fact that its current owner, Gregg Singer, remained opposed to the designation and holds a valid Buildings permit to remove exterior details. 2 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2005); 3 CityLand 80 (June 15, 2006).

Reading a lengthy, emotionally- charged statement urging designation, Commissioner Roberta Brandes Gratz claimed the vote “will be the most significant decision of the Landmarks Preservation Commission in recent years.” Gratz traced the school’s history, explaining first that Elizabeth Irwin, founder of the Little Red Schoolhouse, taught at P.S. 64 before it closed in the late 1960s, but she focused her testimony on the period within the late 1960s and 1970s when many building owners and the City “turned their backs” on the Lower East Side and abandoned buildings. During that time the Adopt-a-Building program, which helped local residents take over deteriorating buildings, squatted in P.S. 64, making it “a symbol for the grass roots self-help movement” that spread through the Lower East Side, Gratz said. She added that “no amount of stripping away of detailing . . . can ever diminish its importance.” (read more…)

Landmarking process begins for P.S. 64, a former school,now facing renovation. On May 16, 2006, Landmarks heard emotional testimony regarding the potential designation of P. S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street in the East Village.

P.S. 64 was built in 1903-04 by C. B. J. Snyder, then superintendent of school buildings for the City. The school is in the French Renaissance Revival style, and built in Snyder’s signature H-plan to maximize light and air at the mid-block site. Several schools designed by Snyder have already been designated landmarks, including Stuyvesant High School and Flushing High School. One of P.S. 64’s innovative features is an auditorium that is directly accessible from the street. When the school was closed in the 1970s, the building morphed into the Charas/ El Bohio community center.

In 1998, a private owner, Gregg Singer, purchased the building and planned to transform it into a dormitory. Buildings denied Singer’s dorm permit application when he failed to show any connection to a New York City school. Singer appealed to BSA, which upheld Buildings’ denial. 2 CityLand 152 (Nov. 15, 2005). (read more…)