Previous and Current renderings. Image: LPC.

Residential development, with ground-floor commercial space, will occupy two lots, replacing service station structures. On February 6, 2018, Landmarks voted to approve a proposal to demolish two buildings and construct a new building spanning two lots at 540 and 544 Hudson Street, at the corner of Charles Street, in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The site is occupied by two buildings of one and two stories, which were until recently part of an automobile service station. An initial proposal, made to the commission in June of 2017, raised the ire of local elected officials, residents and preservationist organization. William Gottlieb Real Estate is the developer. (read more…)

Credit: ma.com

Taconic Investment Partners LLC stepping in to complete Morris Adjmi-designed seven-story building after financial troubles delayed project. On May 31, 2012, the City Council  approved a zoning text amendment that will allow Taconic Investment Partners LLC to move forward with a plan to replace a freight-loading garage with a seven-story residential development at 412-414 Greenwich Street in the Tribeca North Historic District. Taconic is under contract to purchase the property from 71 Laight Street LLC, which originally planned to build the project.

In 2008, 71 Laight Street LLC obtained Landmarks’ approval to demolish the garage and build a Morris Adjmi-designed seven-story, aluminum-clad structure (read more…)

Credit: ma.com

Developer had already obtained Landmarks’ approval for building at 83 Walker Street in June 2011. On May 9, 2012, the City Planning Commission is reviewing Abra Construction’s proposal to build a nine-story residential building on a vacant lot at 83 Walker Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The narrow, nine-unit building would be 100 feet and 11 inches tall with no setback. The lot’s C6-2A zoning regulations limit the maximum base height for new buildings at 85 feet. The zoning resolution would also require that the height of a new building on the vacant lot be no greater than 81 feet, which is the height of the lowest abutting building. In order to construct its noncomplying building, Abra requested a special permit to modify the zoning resolution’s bulk regulations for buildings within historic districts.

Abra in June 2011 obtained Landmarks approval for the Morris Adjmi-designed proposal, which would feature a contemporary interpretation of cast-iron architecture. (read CityLand’s coverage here). Landmarks issued a certificate of appropriateness for the  proposal on July 28, 2012. Manhattan Community Board 1 recommended approval of the special permit by a vote of 41-0-0. Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer (read more…)

Landmarks approved revised proposal to replace garage with residential building. On November 15, 2011, Landmarks approved a revised proposal to replace a one-story garage with a six-story apartment building at the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Streets in the NoHo Historic District. The original Morris Adjmi designed proposal, presented in August 2011, called for an aluminumclad building with fourteen window bays along the Lafayette Street facade and three bays along Great Jones Street. Landmarks found the massing appropriate, but asked Adjmi to enliven the facades and emphasize the cornice, which framed the set back sixth-floor penthouse. 8 CityLand 125 (Sept. 15, 2011).

In November, Adjmi said that he had reviewed the surrounding architecture and found that the store-and-loft buildings featured stone, brick, and cast iron. With that in mind, Adjmi revised the design to incorporate brick elements. The building’s second through fifth floors would feature concave columns of recycled brick that would be inlaid with vertical metal strips. The metal inlays would increase in width as the building reached the sixth floor. Articulated horizontal beams would now separate the floors. Adjmi increased the number of window bays along the Lafayette Street facade, and recessed the windows further from the facade to increase the shadow line. He also strengthened the cornice, which would still frame the penthouse terrace.  (read more…)

Design for new building on Walker Street features reverse relief of castiron facade. On June 14, 2011, Landmarks approved Abra Construction’s proposal to develop a nine-story residential building on a narrow, vacant lot at 83 Walker Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. Landmarks in 2003 approved a plan to build an eight-story glass and metal building on the lot, but the project was never developed.

Architect Morris Adjmi presented Abra’s proposal at Landmarks’ hearing on May 17. Adjmi described the building’s facade as a “negative of a cast-iron building,” in which the features of a typical cast iron facade would be reversed. Instead of curving out, columns would be indented into the glass-reinforced concrete facade. The cornice would step back instead of forward, and windows would protrude from the facade instead of being recessed. The building would feature three window bays, and as initially proposed, the slightly taller ground floor would feature the same arched windows as the rest of the building. In addition to Landmarks’ approval, Abra would also need to obtain City Planning Commission variances to modify the zoning resolution’s height and setback requirements. (read more…)

Five-story addition proposed for six-story building in Ladies’ Mile. On July 21, 2009, Landmarks considered a certificate of appropriateness for a five-story addition at 33 West 19th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. Designed by architect Morris Adjmi, the addition would be built on top of a 1903 six-story neo- Renaissance store and loft building.

Adjmi’s design features a translucent woven metal mesh in front of the addition’s rain wall. The mesh would be suspended from the addition’s cornice, aligning with the existing building’s edge, while the addition’s main facade would be set back four feet. On the addition’s side wall, the mesh would take a brick pattern, and on its main facades the mesh would be layered, creating a shadow effect reminiscent of the building’s original facade. Behind the mesh, balconies at every floor would provide further depth. Adjmi characterized the proposal as “an extension of an existing building in a new language.” (read more…)