Rendering of proposed building on 7 West 21st Street, New York, NY. Image Credit: MA.com.
Commissioners generally praised the concept and design, but asked for further refinements to be presented at a future meeting. On September 24, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the proposed project for a vacant lot at 7 West 21st Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The through-block site was cleared in the 1920s, and the applicants intend to build a 185-foot tall development with ground-floor retail and residential use of the upper stories.
At the public hearing, Kramer Levin attorney Valerie Campbell said that a special permit would be sought for the project to waive the 150 ft. setback requirement. Campbell noted that the plan did not possess any more floor area than was permitted as-of-right. Higgins & Quasebarth’s Ward Dennis stated that 20 percent of the housing in the project would be affordable, with the rest offered at market rates.
The plan was presented by Morris Adjmi, Principal of Morris Adjmi Architects. Adjmi said that the building’s two facades would be identifiable as the same building, but “tuned” to the different streets that each façade faces. Both facades would host an identifiable base, shaft and capital, with bay widths similar to those of the district’s historic store-and-loft buildings and windows in same proportions. The base of the building would be clad in stone, while the upper stories would be clad in terra cotta. The 22nd Street facade of the building would be topped with a zinc cornice, visible portions of the sidewalls would be clad in glazed gray brick, and bulkheads would be set away from the street facades. The grids of the facades would have different dimensions on the two facades. The building’s ground floor lobby would run through the entire lot, while above the ground floor, a central courtyard would separate two masses. While the building would be taller than its neighbors on 21st Street, Adjmi said the building would add to the “saw-tooth character” of the district. The facade would have a foot and half depth on the base, and one foot on the upper stories, replicating “the depth and shadow you see on a lot of the historic buildings.”
The applicants decided not to use setbacks because they would have been visible from street vantages, and detract from district’s character as defined by the loft buildings. Currently, the loft buildings’ facades grow straight up from the sidewalk.
The Historic District Council’s Nadezhda Williams testified that the “proposed building is too stripped down for the Ladies’ Mile Historic District,” and “closer to staid Midtown office buildings” than the “exuberant” architecture of the district. Leo Blackman of the Drive to Protect the Ladies’ Mile District also criticized the design, particularly on 21st Street, which he called “too large and inadequately defined,” and “simply too high.” (read more…)
