Designations span nearly a century of Manhattan history. On March 22, 2011, Landmarks designated the Japan Society Headquarters in Turtle Bay, the Engineers’ Club Building in Midtown, and the Lower East Side’s Neighborhood Playhouse as individual City landmarks. The buildings feature disparate architectural styles and represent distinct periods of the City’s history.

The Japan Society Headquarters at 333 East 47th Street was designed by Junzo Yoshimura and completed in 1971 on land donated by John D. Rockefeller III. The building fuses modernism and traditional Japanese architecture, and features a concrete, charcoal-colored facade, slatted window screens, and vertical brass latticework. At a public hearing, the Japan Society submitted a letter endorsing designation. 7 CityLand 94 (July 15, 2010). Before the designation vote, Chair Robert B. Tierney stated that Japan was “very much in our minds today,” noting the recent earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the country. (read more…)