Interborough Rapid Transit Company Powerhouse at 855 11th Avenue in Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.

To facilitate the continued use of the former Interborough Rapid Transit Company Powerhouse as Con Edison Steam plant, plan adopted to allow for rooftop mechanical equipment and the creation of entrances for installing equipment. On January 9, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (“Landmarks”) voted to approve a master plan presented by Consolidated Edison (“Con Edison”) for the recently designated Interborough Rapid Transit Company Powerhouse at 855 11th Avenue on Manhattan’s West Side. The block-sized Beaux-Arts building, with its exterior designed by Stanford White, was built under the influence of the City Beautiful movement, bringing classical grandeur to the civic experience. Built to provide electricity to the Interborough Rapid Transit’s subway system, the plant is now owned by Con Edison, which operates the building as a steam-generating plant.     (read more…)

363 Lafayette Street Rendering. Image Credit: LPC.

Commissioners asked for further refinement to asymmetrical development composed of stacked rectangular forms. On July 12, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to develop a vacant lot at 363 Lafayette Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension. The lot extends the width of the block, also fronting Bond and Great Jones Streets. The northern portion of the lot is much wider than the southern section. The proposed new building would be used for commercial purposes with a showroom on the ground floor. The building would adjoin a co-op at 20 Bond Street at the southern portion, and a taller building now under construction at 25 Great Jones Street. (read more…)

134 Wooster Street in Manhattan. Image Credit: Morris Adjmi Architects.

Morris Adjmi-designed plan would be faced with steel frame inspired by cast-iron architecture in front of a setback glass curtain wall. On March 15, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered and approved a proposal to demolish an existing 1940 garage and construct a new retail and office building at 134 Wooster Street in the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. Premier Equities are the site’s developers. The development shares the same block as another planned development previously approved by Landmarks and the City Council, at 150 Wooster Street. (read more…)

The Thomas-Lamb designed Loew’s 175th Street Theater in Washington Heights was prioritized for designation. Image credit: LPC

Some items will be removed from calendar due to political reality that designations will not be ratified by Council; others are found to be adequately protected so as to not require prioritization; others to lack significance that would merit immediate designation. On February 23, 2016, Landmarks made determinations on the disposition of 95 items added to Landmarks’ calendar before 2010, but never subjected to a vote on designation. In 2015 the commission had announced an initiative to clear the calendar of the backlogged items. Landmarks held a series of public hearings to give the public an opportunity to testify on the items, some of which had languished on Landmarks’ calendar for decades. At the meeting on February 23, 2016 commissioners voted to keep 30 items on the calendar for a vote on designation during 2016. The remaining 65 items will be decalendared. Landmarks’ determinations on all 95 items are listed in the associated chart.

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Rendering of 145 Gates Avenue in Brooklyn. Image Credit: LPC.

Vacant since the 1960s, new owners would construct Italianate-style rowhouse on historic district site. On August 18, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission considered an application to construct a new four-story rowhouse on a vacant lot at 145 Gates Avenue in the Clinton Hill Historic District. The lot, at the corner of Grand Avenue, at one point hosted an 1800s masonry rowhouse similar to others still standing on the block, but it was demolished in the 1960s, prior to the district’s designation. (read more…)

Michael Goldblum and Michael Devonshire replaced Stephen Byrns and Roberta Brandes Gratz. Architect Michael Goldblum and architectural conservator Michael Devonshire have replaced Commissioners Stephen Byrns and Roberta Brandes Gratz on the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Byrns joined Landmarks in 2004 and is a founding partner of BKSK Architects LLP. Gratz joined Landmarks in 2003 and will continue to serve the City as a member of the Sustainable Advisory Board for PlaNYC.

The City Council approved Goldblum’s appointment in October 2010 and Devonshire’s appointment in December 2010. The eleven-person Commission must include three architects, an architectural historian, a city planner or landscape architect, and a realtor. There must also be at least one resident of each borough. (read more…)