Rendering of proposed building at 27 East 4th Street. Image Courtesy: SRA Architecture and Engineering.

Applicants take measures to ensure construction does not harm adjacent Merchant’s House. At a public meeting on February 11, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewed a revised proposal for a new building at 27 East 4th Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension.  The applicants returned with a revised plan following Commissioners’ comments at a public hearing on March 12, 2013 (Read Cityland past coverage here).  (more…)

Architect/owner reduced height and bulk of proposed rooftop and rear yard additions. On November 15, 2011, Landmarks approved Jeffrey Kamen’s revised proposal to build rooftop and rear additions to his four-story building at 33 Bond Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension. Kamen’s original proposal featured a sloping, three-story rooftop addition that cantilevered over the rear of the building and was modeled after artists’ garrets common in the area, as well as a three-story rear-yard addition. A large, glass “skylight” spanning the two additions would have created an atrium for tenants. Neighbors and preservationists opposed to the proposal claimed it was too bulky and visible. Landmarks agreed and asked Kamen to reduce the design. 8 City- Land 157 (Nov. 15, 2011).

In November, Kamen returned with a revised proposal calling for a sloping, two-story rooftop addition that would be slightly visible from the street and no longer cantilever over the rear of the building. The addition would be faced with ironspot brick and feature copper panels and mullions matching the building’s existing storefront. Kamen eliminated the atrium and would instead add a green roof deck on the rear yard addition. Skylights built into the deck would provide natural light to office space below. Recycled brick would be used on the rear addition, and exterior egress stairs would be built on the main building’s rear facade.  (more…)

Neighbors and preservationists opposed three-story rooftop addition planned for four-story building. On October 18, 2011, Landmarks considered Jeffrey Kamen’s proposal to add a cantilevered three-story addition on top of his four-story building at 33 Bond Street in the NoHo Historic District Extension. The Italianate store-and-loft building was built in the 1830s, and extensively altered in the early 20th century. In 2003, Kamen added a thirty-foot tall, three-story structure in the rear yard used as rental office space. The rear addition’s first and second floors are adjoined to the main building, which is used as a suite of offices.

Kamen is also the project’s architect, and he presented the proposal. The addition would slope back from the streetwall to minimize visibility from the street and cantilever over the building’s rear facade. A glass skylight at the bottom of the addition’s cantilever reaching the rear yard structure would create an atrium for the office tenants. Kamen planned to preserve the building’s rear brick facade and replace existing deteriorated windows with historic bronze double-hung windows. The rooftop addition would be built using iron-spot brick and glass, with copper paneling. Kamen described the proposal, which would reach the height of the neighboring buildings, as “connective tissue between two dominant masses.”  (more…)

Landmarks declines to exempt Metro Sixteen Hotel from district. On May 13, 2008, Landmarks voted unanimously to designate the NoHo Historic District Extension, increasing the number of protected buildings from 167 to 223. The extension is bounded by Lafayette Street to the west, Bowery to the east, East 4th Street to the north, and Bond Street to the south.

The extension includes a historically commercial neighborhood characterized by mid-19th century loft buildings and tenements built to house workers. Following a decline in manufacturing after World War II, artists such as Chuck Close began to convert abandoned lofts into studios and living spaces in the 1960s. (more…)

Developers and property owners oppose extension. Landmarks heard testimony on a proposal to extend the NoHo Historic District to include 56 buildings, located between Broadway and Lafayette Streets from Bleecker to West 4th Street.

The proposed extension includes a historically commercial area characterized by mid-19th century loft buildings, Federal- and Greek Revival-style structures, and tenements built to house local workers. The area remained almost exclusively commercial until the decline of manufacturing in Manhattan following World War II. In the 1960s, artists began to convert abandoned lofts into studios and living spaces, transforming the area into a focal point of the art world by the 1970s, with Chuck Close, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Jean-Michel Basquiat all living there at one time. (more…)