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…)

New historic district in Chelsea consists of twelve rowhouses and includes Underground Railroad stop. Landmarks voted to designate as the Lamartine Place Historic District twelve rowhouses located at 333 through 359 West 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, Manhattan. William Torrey and Cyrus Mason built the three-and-a-half story Greek Revival rowhouses between 1846 and 1847 on what was then known as Lamartine Place.

James S. Gibbons and his wife, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, a renowned abolitionist, purchased the building at 337 West 29th Street in 1851. A short time later the Gibbons family also purchased the house next door at 339 West 29th Street. Family friend Joseph Hodges Choate cited 339 as being a stop on the Underground Railroad, noting that he dined with the Gibbons and a fugitive slave at the residence in 1855. Several homes on Lamartine Place were damaged during the Draft Riots of 1863, including 339 and a rowhouse at 335 owned by the New York Tribune editor Samuel Sinclair. (read more…)