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.

(more…)

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. (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 (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.   (more…)

Developer only needed approval for new building’s facade before demolishing existing no-style building. On May 11, 2010, Landmarks approved Orlandi Realty’s revised facade design for a townhouse at 12 East 76th Street in the Upper East Side Historic District. The five-story building occupying the site was built in the early 1880s and extensively redesigned in 1946. Orlandi Realty plans to demolish the majority of the existing structure and construct a new five-story building in its place. Because Landmarks classified the townhouse as a no-style structure in the historic district’s 1981 designation report, Orlandi Realty only needed Landmarks approval for a new facade design before demolishing the building. This requirement only applies to the Upper East Side Historic District.

At the proposal’s initial hearing in April, Bill Higgins, of Higgins, Quasebarth & Partners, represented promulthe owner. Higgins said the new five-story, sandstone-clad townhouse would be a “respectful, classical building” designed by architect Umberto Squarcia. The front facade would include a cornice and balustrade, wood-casement windows, wrought-iron balconies, and a new at-grade entrance. The new building’s rear facade would feature brick with stone lintels and would not differ significantly from the existing rear facade.

The proposal was met with opposition from preservationists. A representative of Friends of the Upper East Side said the group could not support the construction of a “hybrid contemporary-classical townhouse.” The Historic District Council’s Nadezhda Williams said the building’s details had not been fully developed or explained and called the fenestration “awkward.” Manhattan Community Board 8 submitted a letter in opposition. (more…)