Landmarks Approves New 14-story Tower in Historic District

Project will entail the demolition of 1961 office and warehouse building occupied by the Catholic Medical Mission Board. On December 16, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application for a new building at 8 West 17th Street in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District. The site is currently occupied by a 3-story 1961 commercial building designed by the firm Belfatto and Pavarino, known mostly for their ecclesiastical architecture.


Designation Supported by Community, Preservationists, and REBNY [UPDATED]

Faux-Tudor 1915 development consisting of 18 buildings takes step toward designation. On November 25, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on potential designation of Chester Court as a historic district. The proposed district comprises of 18 two-and-a-half story faux-Tudor dwellings built in 1914 and 1915 in two facing rows near Prospect Park’s eastern edge by developer Brighton Building Company. The buildings were designed by former Brooklyn Commissioner of Buildings Peter J. Collins, who … <Read More>


Tear Down the Chrysler Building?

Save our skyline. If not, tear down the Chrysler building and demolish the Empire State Building. If action isn’t taken these stars of the New York City skyline will be permanently eclipsed. If the public can’t see them, why preserve them? Even the preservation resistant Real Estate Board of New York would likely gasp at the notion of demolishing these two iconic New York landmarks. “The view of the New York skyline is nationally and … <Read More>


REBNY Issues New Report on Landmarking and Housing Production

REBNY report shows that housing production, particularly affordable housing, is drastically lower in landmarked areas in the five boroughs. In 2013, the Real Estate Board of New York conducted a study which showed that nearly 28 percent of Manhattan is landmarked and that fewer than 2 percent of new housing units built in Manhattan over a ten-year time period (2003-2012) were constructed on landmarked properties. On July 1, 2014, REBNY released a new report which … <Read More>


REBNY: Improve the City’s Landmarks Designation Process

The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s (LPC) process for designating New York City historic districts is being used more and more to take the place of zoning.  The designation of historic districts has been pursued to promote many different agendas: to address issues of height and scale, to stop new development and to limit development on vacant or near-vacant sites by purposefully including these sites within the boundaries of historic districts.  These objectives are contrary to the … <Read More>