Nos. 47 – 55 West 28th Street were the home of many sheet music publishers in the 1890s and 1900s. Image Credit: NYC LPC
The designation received strong public support despite objections from the owner. On April 30, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing to designate five buildings located at 47 – 55 West 28th Street collectively known as “Tin Pan Alley.” Landmarks calendared the five buildings on March 12, 2019. The street was the home of sheet music publishers in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The street received its moniker from the sound of different pianos playing from the various publishers along the block, which collectively sounded like tin pans banging together. For CityLand’s prior coverage of the Tin Pan Alley designation process, click here. (read more…)
Rowhouses along 50th Street in Proposed Sunset Park 50th Street Historic District. Image Credit: LPC.
On May 7, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed landmark designation of four historic districts in Sunset Park, Brooklyn: Sunset Park North, Sunset Park South, Sunset Park 50th Street, and Central Sunset Park. The four proposed districts encompass blocks that were found to be the most cohesive and intact concentrations of Sunset Park’s architecture, representative of its primary periods of development. If approved, designation would provide Landmark protection to over 539 buildings, the majority of which are rowhouses constructed between the 1890s and 1910s. (read more…)
Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten, at 236 President Street. Image credit: LPC.
Owner of one of two buildings associated with Methodist Church and the immigrant community of Carroll Gardens threatened litigation should Landmarks designate the property. On June 26, 2018, Landmarks held a joint hearing on the potential individual landmark designations of two buildings in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. The adjoining buildings are the 238 President Street House and the former Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten, at 236 President Street. The Italianate-style building at 238 President Street was built in 1853 as a one-family residence, and converted to a training center and residence for Methodist deaconesses in 1897. The two-story Beaux Arts building at 236 President Street is a rare early example of a purpose-built Kindergarten in the United States. (read more…)
Maurice T. Lewis House. Image credit: LPC
Turn-of-the-century mansion, identified as part of Sunset Park survey, was calendared as a last-minute addition to agenda two weeks prior to hearing, followed immediately by designation. Landmarks voted to designate the Maurice T. Lewis House, at 404 55th Street in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, immediately following a public hearing on March 6, 2018. Landmarks had only added the item to its calendar two weeks prior, as a last-minute addition to the day’s agenda. (read more…)
New York Curb Exchange Building
The 1929 building, with a 1931 addition, has been vacant since the AMEX closed in 2009. On June 12, 2012, Landmarks held a public hearing on the potential designation of the New York Curb Exchange Building at 78 Trinity Place in Lower Manhattan as an individual City landmark. The origin of the building’s name, which was once known as the New York Curb Market, dates to the mid-1800s when stocks and securities were traded on the streets of the Financial District by “curbstone traders.” The original Starrett & Van Vleck-designed building was completed in 1921 and faced Greenwich Street. Despite 1929’s stock market crash, a 14-story, Art Deco addition was built facing Trinity Place in 1931. Also designed by Starrett & Van Vleck, the addition features metal reliefs depicting the types of commodities traded, and a set-back crown with large windows and free-standing piers. The Curb Exchange was renamed the American Stock Exchange in 1953, and it merged with a group headed by the New York Stock Exchange in 2008. The building has been vacant since 2009.
Attorney Valerie Campbell, representing the building’s owner, testified that the owner was amenable to landmarking. (read more…)
