Bowne Street Community Church. Image Credit: LPC.

Landmarking of Bowne Street Community Church, originally the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Flushing, opposed by church representatives at second hearing due to misidentification of landmarked lot. On November 15, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a second hearing on the Bowne Street Community Church at 143-11 Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, Queens. The church was added to Landmarks calendar in 2003, and first heard as part of the Commission’s Backlog Initiative in October 2015. At the backlog hearing, the map incorrectly showed the entire tax lot, including a parking lot and annex was calendared, while only the church portion of the lot had been calendared in 2003. Because there had been no previous public hearing, Landmarks brought the correctly identified lot back for public testimony. (read more…)

Artist Rendering of 34 West 21st Street. Image Credit: LPC.

Majority of commissioners believe that vertically arranged limestone-faced building integrated well into the streetscape. At its meeting on November 1, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved a proposal to construct a new six-story plus penthouse building at 34 West 21st Street  in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The building will be used as a one-family dwelling. Landmarks approved a proposal for a similarly sized building at the site in 2007, but the project was never realized. Before previously approved construction stalled, a 1950s garage at the lot was demolished. The site is now a vacant lot. (read more…)

Image Credit: LPC

Originally developed as a residential rowhouse neighborhood, district grew to a mixed-use working class community in the early 20th century. At its meeting on November 1, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District to its calendar, formally commencing the designation process. The proposed district is composed of approximately 157 buildings south of Washington Square Park and east of Seventh Avenue. It would adjoin the existing SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District to the east, and the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District at its northwest corner.

The first wave of development in the area took place in the early 19th century when it was built as a residential rowhouse neighborhood. Between the Civil War and the First World War, the area underwent a second period of development which saw the construction of tenement buildings, lofts, and a few institutional structures, including the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua and an associated school. (read more…)

Rendering of the interior of the Museum. Image Credit: LPC.

Approved addition, occupying a quarter acre of parkland, will increase connections for better museum circulation, provide additional space to store collection materials, and allow visitors to watch scientists at work. At its meeting on October 11, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to issue a binding report for the construction of an addition, and associated demolition, to the American Museum of Natural History, an individual landmark on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The addition, to be named the Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation, will be the first significant intervention on the museum campus since the completion of the Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000. The addition would be sited on the western side of the museum, and would create new Columbus Avenue public entrance. (read more…)

United Nations Hotel. Image Credit: LPC

Early Postmodern bar and lobby a rare intact example of interior architecture and design from the late 1970s and early 1980s. On September 20 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add first floor interiors on the United Nations Hotel at 1 United Nations Plaza to its calendar, formally commencing the designation process. The interiors under consideration are the hotel’s lobby and the public areas of the Ambassador Grill. The lobby was completed in 1983, and the grill in 1976. Both were designed by the firm of Kevin Roche Dinkeloo Associates for the United Nations Development Corporation. (read more…)

LPC staff archaeologist Jessica McLean discussing select items from the repository. Image Credit: CityLand

The City’s archaeological resources now stored in one secure, climate-controlled space, catalogued, and collection digitized for public. On October 5, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a ceremony unveiling the New York City Archaeological Repository: Nan A. Rothschild Research Center at 114 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The repository holds 1518 boxes of archaeological artifacts in a 1439-square-foor climate-controlled space donated by the Durst Organization. Until consolidated at the repository, the items were stored at multiple locations throughout the City, with varying degrees of access and oversight. In a press release, Landmarks stated that the Center made New York the first municipality to systematically collect, catalogue, curate, and make accessible its archaeological resources. (read more…)