Restaurant’s landlord built glass café enclosure without Landmarks’ approval. In 2004, the owner of a building at 270 Columbus Avenue, located within the Central Park West Historic District, sought legalization of a sidewalk glass enclosure it constructed without Landmarks’ approval. Landmarks denied legalization in July 2004, finding that it diminished the character of the block and drew attention from the adjoining 1885 Grecian-style flathouse. Subsequently, the owners of @SQC, a new upscale restaurant and bar on the site, sought Landmarks’ approval of the glass enclosure used as a sidewalk café. @SQC continued to operate its sidewalk café under temporary approval letters from Consumer Affairs until March 2005, when it failed to obtain a renewal of the temporary letters. DCA charged @SQC with unlicensed operation of an enclosed sidewalk café. After a hearing, ALJ Bruce M. Dennis fined the restaurant $2,000 and ordered @SQC sealed for five days, finding that @SQC failed to obtain DCA approval. The owner’s unresolved application with Landmarks was not a mitigating factor in operating an unlicensed sidewalk café. (read more…)

Owner, without a permit, had installed a row of planters and pergola on mansard roof. 34 West 74th Street is located in the Central Park West Historic District and the Central Park West-West 73rd-74th Street Historic District. The structure is one of a row of eighteen Georgian Revival style rowhouses with Beaux-Arts style elements, designed by Percy Griffin and built in 1902. In 2002, after the Landmarks Preservation Commission issued a notice of violation to 34 West 74th Street for installing a row of planters and a pergola on the roof without a permit, the items were removed and Landmarks rescinded the warning. In 2004, the building owners applied to Landmarks for a permit to re-install both. On September 7, 2004, Landmarks granted the permit to re-install the wood pergola, but denied the application to re-install the planters.

Landmarks found that the natural-finish wood pergola, which would be secured to a chimney on the eastern side of the roof, would not detract from the appearance of the building, its mansard roof, or the row of houses on the block. The pergola, an arbor or trellis framework that supports climbing plants, is a feature often seen on rooftops within the two Historic Districts. The row of planters extending the full length of the building, however, significantly changed the appearance of the mansard roof. Landmarks found it stood out against the skyline in a way that drew undue attention. (read more…)