19 East 72nd Street. Image credit: Google Maps

City Planning approved a special permit for a retail establishment in the bottom floor of a 17-story building on the Upper East Side. On October 4, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on an application for a special permit from the 19 East 72nd Street Corporation—owner of 19 East 72nd Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The application sought a special permit to modify the use regulations of Section 22-10 and the sign regulations of Section 22-30 of the Zoning Resolution to allow for retail uses on portions of the ground floor of the existing 17-story building. (read more…)

Architect’s elevation study of front and rear facades of proposed townhouse. Image credit: LPC

Townhouse to be constructed in a modified Beaux-Arts style where 1880s townhouse was destroyed in an explosion. On July 12, 2016, Landmarks considered and approved an application to construct a new building at 34 East 62nd Street, in Manhattan’s Upper East Side Historic District. The site is currently vacant. It was occupied by an 1880s Neo Grec townhouse until 2006, when it was destroyed in an explosion. A plan to replace the destroyed townhouse with a contemporary residential building designed by Abelow Sherman Architects was approved by Landmarks in 2007, but never realized. The proposal before Landmarks at the July meeting was a completely new plan by a different design team, but is officially an amendment to the 2007 certificate of appropriateness.

(read more…)

15 East 75th Street. Image Credit: Stephen Wang + Associates.

Application would turn three adjoining rowhouses on the Upper East Side into one, one-family home. At its public hearing on April 4, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered a proposal for work related to the conversion of three rowhouses in the Upper East Side Historic District into one single-family dwelling. The rowhouses, at 11, 13, and 15 East 75th Street were originally constructed as part of a row of six Queen Anne-style rowhouses in the late 1880s. In 1923, the front facade at 11 East 75th Street was reconstructed in the neo-Federal style by architect Henry Polhemus. The remaining Queen Anne buildings have also undergone alteration, with their stoops removed and areaways modified. (read more…)

20-22 East 71st Street. Image credit: Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts

Permit would allow vacant commercial building to convert into a single-family residence.  On May 6, 2015 the City Planning Commission approved a special permit for Tower Management Holdings LLC to convert a vacant commercial building at 20-22 East 71st Street in the Upper East Side Historic District of Manhattan into a single-family residence.  The building was constructed as a single-family five-story townhouse in 1923, but was used as commercial offices from 1986 until 2007.  The permit exempts the building from requirements on inner courts and minimum distance between windows.

(read more…)

Eric Palatnik testifies before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

BSA found the proposed expansion would not alter the neighborhood character or interfere with any pending public improvements.  On December 9, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant the applicant, Galt Group Holdings, a special permit to extend the rear portion of an existing building as part of the building’s conversion into a single-family home.  The building is located at 127 East 71st Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side Historic District, between Park Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east. (read more…)

Proposed Rendering of 1010 Park Avenue, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

Park Avenue Christian Church, which would demolish annex for mixed-use development in partnership with Extell, claimed finding was necessary to maintain historic church fabric and its religious mission. On October 21, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on a proposal for the demolition of an existing church annex and the construction of a new 15-story building on property belonging to and adjacent to the Park Avenue Christian Church at 1010 Park Avenue in Manhattan. The property lies in the Park Avenue Historic District, designated in 2014. To the south of the annex stands a 13-story apartment building completed in 1916 to designs by architect Emery Roth, an architect renowned for his hotels and apartment buildings. The development would be done in conjunction with Extell. (read more…)