Holyrood Episcopal Church-Iglesia Santa Cruz, one of the three sites calendared by LPC on January 19th. Image Credit: LPC

Support for landmarking included a push for further preservation of the area south of Union Square. On March 23, 2021, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held public hearings on two proposed landmarks located in Manhattan. The Holyrood Episcopal Church-Iglesia Santa Cruz at 715 West 179th Street in Washington Heights and the Educational Building at 70 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village were two landmarks originally calendared as part of the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s new Equity Framework. The Equity Framework highlights the agency’s efforts for landmark designations that represent the city’s diverse and inclusive history. For CityLand’s prior coverage of the Equity Framework and calendaring, click here.  (read more…)

Harriet and Thomas Truesdell House Image Credit: LPC

The designation retains its historical significance despite having alterations. On February 2, 2021, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designated the Harriet and Thomas Truesdell House as an individual landmark. The house, located at 227 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn, recognizes abolitionists Harriet and Thomas Truesdell and the City’s abolitionist movement. For CityLand’s prior coverage of this designation process, click here. (read more…)

Angel Guardian Home, Main Building Image Credit: Brooklyn CB10

Angel Guardian Home would be first landmark designation in the Dyker Heights neighborhood. On June 30, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar the designation of the Angel Guardian Home, located at 6301 12th Avenue in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.  The former orphanage, which encompasses the entire 12th avenue frontage between 63rd and 64th Streets, is composed of four original, completely intact buildings: a central administration building, a nursery building, a reception and intake building, and a laundry building. The designation is sought only for a partial portion of the block, specifically the main building.

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Harriet and Thomas Truesdell House Image Credit: LPC

LPC seeks to honor Brooklyn’s abolitionist history with Downtown Brooklyn landmark. On June 30, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar the designation of the Harriet and Thomas Truesdell House located at 227 Duffield Street in Brooklyn. The property is situated in Downtown Brooklyn, between Willoughby Street and Fulton Street. The designation is sought to preserve the historical significance the Truesdells played into the pre-civil war abolitionist movement, having lived in their 227 Duffield home for more than a decade.

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The five buildings selected to receive grants from LPC for repair work. Image credit: LPC

Recipients in all five boroughs received anywhere from $10,000 to $35,000 to restore, repair or rehabilitate the facades of their buildings. On January 16, 2020, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) awarded five grants to low and moderate-income homeowners and nonprofits to offset the cost of repairs to their landmarked properties as part of the Historic Preservation Grant Program. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). Created in 1965, the Landmarks Preservation Commission is responsible for protecting and preserving New York City’s architecturally, historically and culturally significant buildings and sites. (read more…)

Dean Sage Mansion. Image Credit: CityLand

The owners of the Dean Sage Mansion in Crown Heights North Historic District sought to build addition to the 1870’s mansion. In the mid-nineteenth century the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn underwent suburban development of freestanding villas. Today, only a few of the Sturgis villas remain, one of which is the Dean Sage Mansion at 839 St. Mark’s Avenue, a rare High Gothic style mansion built in 1870 by architect Russell Sturgis. The Mansion, which gained additional wings in the 1930s, is one of only a few of Sturgis’s designs in New York today. (read more…)