Item 1
LP – 2528
BOROUGH OF QUEENS
FOREST PARK CAROUSEL, West of Woodhaven Boulevard, north of West Main Drive, Forest Park, Woodhaven
In 1966 Forest Park lost its beloved carousel, which was installed around 1910, in a fire. Luckily a few years later, it acquired one that more than made up for its loss. The early-20th century carousel by D.C. Muller & Brother features 36 jumping horses, 13 standing horses, three menagerie animals (a lion, a tiger and a deer – oh my!) and 2 chariots in Muller’s distinctive, lifelike “Philadelphia style.” It is one of only two surviving Muller carousels in operation, the other being in the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio.
If designated, the Forest Park Carousel would be, to our knowledge, the first carousel designated as an individual landmark. It would also join the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone roller coaster in a unique category of landmarked, operating amusement rides. While visitors to museums or private collectors can look at other figures by D.C. Muller & Brother, visitors to Forest Park get to ride these works of art and enjoy them just as they were intended a century ago.
Item 2
LP – 2260
BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
CHURCH OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE, 8-10 Columbus Avenue
The Church of St. Paul the Apostle was built as the Mother Church of the Paulist Fathers, the first religious community of priests created in North America. In the mid-1870’s, its founder, Manhattanite Father Isaac Hecter, asked architect Jeremiah O’Rourke to design a noble church based on those he saw on a visit to Europe. This grander plan was altered in 1882 when Father George Deshon, an engineer and West Point graduate, took over the project. Using salvaged stone from the Croton Aqueduct, Deshon created an imposing exterior with two towers that some nicknamed “Fort Deshon” after its completion years later.
Although not eligible for landmarking, the rich interior is worth a mention as it features the work of a who’s-who array of Gilded Age New York artists including Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Frederick MacMonnies, and John La Farge. The sanctuary also displays new works by contemporary artists. The façade’s stained glass windows and jamb statues as well as the 1959 marble and mosaic bas-relief by Lumen Martin Winter over the entrance help bring some of the spirit of the interior to the building’s exterior and reflect the Paulist tradition of reaching parishioners through art.
The church was first heard for designation in 1966 at a time when the Lincoln Square neighborhood was going through vast changes. The parish and its beautiful building withstood the changes though and continue to be a vibrant piece of the community. In fact, one could say that those changes have made this building even more significant, as one of the few survivors of an earlier version of this neighborhood. HDC supports the long-awaited designation of this New York City treasure.
Item 3
LP – 2537
BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
HOLLAND PLAZA BUILDING, 73 Varick Street
The 1930 Holland Plaza Building is deemed one of Ely Jacques Kahn’s great works. Considering the architect’s notable output, this is quite a compliment. The Holland Plaza Building sits across from the entrance to the Holland Tunnel which opened three years before the building’s construction. Due to zoning regulations of the streets onto which the buildings fronts, the façades are formed by various setbacks of different heights. This could have created a jumbled appearance, but the regular grids of large industrial windows and decorative brick work hold the building neatly together. HDC is happy to support the designation of this important chapter of 20th century New York City architecture.
Item 1
CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS
BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN
127519- Block 1459, lot 22-
419 East 64th Street aka 430 65th Street – City and Suburban Homes Company, First Avenue Estate, Individual Landmark
Two six-story apartment buildings designed by Phillip H. Ohm, built as part of the model tenement complex City and Suburban Homes First Avenue Estates in 1914-15, and altered in 2006. Application is to demolish the buildings, pursuant to RCNY-25-309 on the grounds that they generate an insufficient economic return.
The Historic Districts Council continues to stand with those who feel this application does not meet the criteria for a hardship to demolish these individual landmarks. As the report from HR&A and the testimony of advocates has shown, imprudent management and lack of credibility plague these buildings and this application. Approval of this application would not only mean the loss of these two landmarked buildings, it would mean lowering the bar of what counts as a hardship and opening the floodgates to other supposed hardships and further demolitions.