Previous and modified proposals for 339 West 29th Street. Image credit: LPC

Despite reductions in addition’s scale and visibility, and promises to install a diorama commemorating escape of abolitionists from Draft Riots mob, Commissioners determined that any rooftop interventions were inappropriate. At its meeting on May 23, 2017, the Landmarks Preservation Commission disposed of an application for facade alterations and rear and roof additions to 339 West 29th Street in the Lamartine Place Historic District. In the 19th century, the building was home to prominent abolitionists Abigail and James Sloan Gibbons, and is the only documented stop on the Underground Railroad in New York City. During the Draft Riots that engulfed the City in 1863, a mob attacked and set fire to the building, and the occupants escaped via rooftops to a nearby relative’s home. (read more…)

339 West 29th Street. Image Credit: NY Public Library

With previous development plan stopped mid-operation by DOB permit revocation and landmark designation, applicant sought approval for the creation of a rear addition, a two-story roof addition, and a new brick-faced facade. On September 20, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on a proposal for alterations and additions to 339 West 29th Street, in the Lamartine Place Historic District. The building was constructed in 1847, and underwent alterations in the 20th century. The LLC that owns the property is reported to be controlled by Tony Manoumas. (read more…)

Current vacant lot at 74 Grand Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: Google.

New seven-story building in vacant SoHo lot approved after changes in architect and height. On August 6, 2013, Landmarks approved the issuance of a certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a new residential building at 74 Grand Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The site was previously the location of a six-story 1886 neo-Grec store-and-loft building. The building was demolished with Landmarks’ approval in 2009 after it was destabilized by nearby construction work. The owners agreed to dismantle, catalogue, and store the building’s original cast-iron facade for its eventual reinstallation in a new structure at the site.

At a March 2013 public hearing, applicants proposed a plan by Bone/Levine Architects for a new eight-story-plus-penthouse building. The restored cast-iron facade would be installed approximately eight feet in front of the new building’s glass curtain wall, attached by a steel armature. The historic facade’s window opening would not align with the floors of the new structure. Representatives of Manhattan Community Board 2 and preservationist organizations spoke in strong opposition to the proposal. Commissioners also determined that the historic facade needed to be better integrated into the new building, and asked the applicants to return at a later date with a revised proposal.

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