Credit: ma.com
Developer had already obtained Landmarks’ approval for building at 83 Walker Street in June 2011. On May 9, 2012, the City Planning Commission is reviewing Abra Construction’s proposal to build a nine-story residential building on a vacant lot at 83 Walker Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The narrow, nine-unit building would be 100 feet and 11 inches tall with no setback. The lot’s C6-2A zoning regulations limit the maximum base height for new buildings at 85 feet. The zoning resolution would also require that the height of a new building on the vacant lot be no greater than 81 feet, which is the height of the lowest abutting building. In order to construct its noncomplying building, Abra requested a special permit to modify the zoning resolution’s bulk regulations for buildings within historic districts.
Abra in June 2011 obtained Landmarks approval for the Morris Adjmi-designed proposal, which would feature a contemporary interpretation of cast-iron architecture. (read CityLand’s coverage here). Landmarks issued a certificate of appropriateness for the proposal on July 28, 2012. Manhattan Community Board 1 recommended approval of the special permit by a vote of 41-0-0. Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer (read more…)
52 and 54 Lispenard today. Credit: Mary Gillen
52 and 54 Lispenard Proposed Design
Two-story building on Lispenard Street will get three stories and a set-back, two-story penthouse; adjacent five-story building gets a penthouse addition. After rejecting two prior plans, Landmarks approved Murat Bugdaycay’s development proposal for two store-and-loft buildings on Lispenard Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The plan calls for adding three stories and a set-back, two-story penthouse to a two-story building at 52 Lispenard Street, and a smaller, two-story penthouse to the neighboring five-story building at 54 Lispenard Street. 52 Lispenard once matched its neighbor’s height, but lost three stories after a fire in 1937. Both buildings feature cast-iron elements.
Landmarks in February 2012 denied Bugdaycay’s initial proposal for the buildings. The Studio JS2-designed plan proposed demolishing 52 Lispenard Street’s facade and replacing it with a five-story, terra-cotta facade and a two-story penthouse spanning both 52 and 54 Lispenard Street. (read CityLand’s past coverage here).
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- 52 and 54 Lispenard Street. Image: Mary Gillen.
Commission rejected plan to replace low-rise building’s facade and build five-story addition that would cross over to neighboring building. On February 7, 2012, Landmarks rejected a proposal to alter neighboring two- and five-story buildings at 52 and 54 Lispenard Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. The proposal called for replacing the facade and adding five stories to the two-story building at 52 Lispenard and adding two floors to the fivestory building at 54 Lispenard. Both buildings date from the 1860s and were recently combined into a single tax lot. The building at 52 Lispenard was originally built as a fivestory, store-and-loft building, but its top three floors were removed after a fire in 1937. The shortened structure retained much of its historic material, including a sandstone veneer and cast-iron columns. (read more…)
Design for new building on Walker Street features reverse relief of castiron facade. On June 14, 2011, Landmarks approved Abra Construction’s proposal to develop a nine-story residential building on a narrow, vacant lot at 83 Walker Street in the Tribeca East Historic District. Landmarks in 2003 approved a plan to build an eight-story glass and metal building on the lot, but the project was never developed.
Architect Morris Adjmi presented Abra’s proposal at Landmarks’ hearing on May 17. Adjmi described the building’s facade as a “negative of a cast-iron building,” in which the features of a typical cast iron facade would be reversed. Instead of curving out, columns would be indented into the glass-reinforced concrete facade. The cornice would step back instead of forward, and windows would protrude from the facade instead of being recessed. The building would feature three window bays, and as initially proposed, the slightly taller ground floor would feature the same arched windows as the rest of the building. In addition to Landmarks’ approval, Abra would also need to obtain City Planning Commission variances to modify the zoning resolution’s height and setback requirements. (read more…)
