Coalition rallies to save the Williams Memorial Residence. Image Credit: CityLand.

Elected officials join senior residents to protest sale and relocation of Upper West senior home to Harlem.  On June 18, 2014, elected officials and senior residents held a rally outside the Williams Memorial Residence, a 15-story independent senior living facility, located at 720 West End Avenue, in Manhattan. The rally, attended by nearly 200 people, was held in protest of the Salvation Army’s plan to sell the property, which it has owned and operated as a senior housing facility for over 45 years. The proceeds from the sale would fund a new facility on 125th Street and Third Avenue, where displaced seniors would be offered housing, including the same services provided for them at the Williams. However, senior residents backed by coalition officials are not prepared to incur the physical or emotional costs entailed in being uprooted from their homes. (read more…)

Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, located at 120-130 West 14th St., Manhattan. Image credit: Beyond My Ken.

Art Deco building from 1929, notable for its three-story arched entryway and asymmetrical massing. On February 11, 2014, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the possible designation of the Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, located at 120-130 West 14th Street in Manhattan. The three-building complex, designed by Ralph Walker of Voorhees, Gmelin and Walker, was completed in 1935.  Walker was the architect of the Western Union Building and the Barclay-Vesey Building, both individual City landmarks. The asymmetric Art Deco complex is clad in buff brick with cast-stone trim, and contains an auditorium, office space, and dormitory. The building is notable for its three-story arched entryway, and its vertical office tower. (read more…)