890 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Image Credit: Murdock Solon Architects

Additions to surviving Queen Anne-style Park Avenue rowhouse scaled down after commissioners rejected previous proposal. On April 12, 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to issue a certificate of appropriateness to revised proposal to alter and build additions to an 1885 rowhouse at 890 Park Avenue in the Upper East Side Historic District. The rowhouse is one of only three surviving low-rise buildings on Park Avenue. The current owners intend to revert the building back to its original use as one-family dwelling. (read more…)

Architect rendering of the new 807 Park Avenue. Image credit: PBDW ARchitects

Commission asked applicants to integrate fragment of building that was otherwise demolished for 1980s enlargement. On June 9, 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to approve an application to construct a new building at 807 Park Avenue in the Upper East Side Historic District. It was the commission’s fourth meeting on the matter. The property was originally developed in 1899 as five story Romanesque Revival tenement. The site is owned by Aion Partners, who purchased the property in 2004.

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20-22 East 71st Street. Image credit: Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts

Permit would allow vacant commercial building to convert into a single-family residence.  On May 6, 2015 the City Planning Commission approved a special permit for Tower Management Holdings LLC to convert a vacant commercial building at 20-22 East 71st Street in the Upper East Side Historic District of Manhattan into a single-family residence.  The building was constructed as a single-family five-story townhouse in 1923, but was used as commercial offices from 1986 until 2007.  The permit exempts the building from requirements on inner courts and minimum distance between windows.

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Eric Palatnik testifies before the Board of Standards and Appeals. Image credit: BSA

BSA found the proposed expansion would not alter the neighborhood character or interfere with any pending public improvements.  On December 9, 2014 the Board of Standards and Appeals voted to grant the applicant, Galt Group Holdings, a special permit to extend the rear portion of an existing building as part of the building’s conversion into a single-family home.  The building is located at 127 East 71st Street in Manhattan’s Upper East Side Historic District, between Park Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east. (read more…)

East 74th Street elevations. Credit: Beyer Blinder Belle

Proposal, which includes two new buildings and a rooftop addition spanning six rowhouses, deemed appropriate after multiple revisions. On July 10, 2012 Landmarks approved Daniel E. Straus’s plan to alter and redevelop eight buildings along Madison Avenue and East 74th Street in the Upper East Side Historic District. Landmarks considered the Beyer Blinder Belle-designed proposal over the course of four meetings. The buildings are adjacent to the Marcel Breuer-designed Whitney Museum at 945 Madison Avenue, and include six rowhouses along Madison Avenue and two townhouses on East 74th Street. The Whitney once owned the buildings, but sold them to Straus after abandoning its plan to build a 178-foot tower on the site. Straus intends to convert the buildings to residential use.

At a public hearing in October 2011, architect Richard Metsky presented Straus’s initial proposal. The plan included replacing a heavily altered rowhouse abutting the Whitney on Madison Avenue with a new infill structure, and building a set-back two-story addition across the Madison Avenue rowhouses. Straus intended to build a set-back nine-story building that would also serve as a rear extension of the four-story townhouse at 31 East 74th Street, and add a one-story addition to the (read more…)

Developer, in second trip to Landmarks, altered materials and reduced massing of proposed development adjacent to the Whitney Museum. On February 14, 2012, Landmarks considered Daniel E. Straus’s revised proposal to redevelop eight buildings adjacent to the Whitney Museum in the Upper East Side Historic District. The plan would impact six row-houses at 933 to 943 Madison Avenue and two townhouses at 31 and 33 East 74th Street. Straus acquired the properties from the Whitney in 2010 after the museum abandoned its own plans for the site.

In October 2011, Landmarks considered Straus’s original proposal. The Beyer Blinder Belle-designed plan included replacing a no-style row-house abutting the museum along Madison Avenue with a new building and adding a two-story rooftop addition spanning the other five row-houses on the block. Straus planned to replace a small infill building behind 933 Madison Avenue with a nine-story building that would also serve as a rear-extension to an existing four-story townhouse at 31 East 74th Street. Finally, Straus planned to build a one-story rooftop addition to 33 East 74th Street. The project would have been clad in terra-cotta to match the Madison Avenue row-houses.   (read more…)