321 and 323 Canal Street, Manhattan. Image Credit: Google.
Applicants will retain brick from neglected Federal style row houses’ unstable facades on the verge of collapse. On May 21, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application for the demolition of two adjacent structures at 321 and 323 Canal Street in Manhattan’s SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The action was presented as necessary to prevent the imminent collapse of the vacant buildings. Landmarks’ Deputy Counsel John Weiss explained that the application was before Landmarks without a restoration plan because of the dangerous conditions at the site. The front and rear facades of both buildings would be dismantled, and the materials would be stored on site for later reconstruction.
Department of Buildings’ Executive Director of Forensic Engineering Timothy Lynch stated that both the front and rear facades were unstable, and that he recommended their immediate dismantling. Lynch testified that the lime-based mortar on the facades had disintegrated, and the bricks were now essentially resting on “pure sand.” He also said the facades had separated from the walls shared with adjoining buildings, and would be very difficult to stabilize without dismantling. He added that the walls were “unlikely to stay put in the foreseeable future.”
