July 13, 2010
LPC Docket Number: 107784
Manhattan, Block: 822, Lot: 31
156 Fifth Avenue – Ladies’ Mile Historic District
A neo-Romanesque style office building designed by Rowe and Baker and built in 1894-1895. Application is to install new storefront infill and create new masonry openings within the entrance portico.
HDC Testimony
The storefront proposed on the Fifth Avenue façade of the former Presbyterian Building is based on a storefront approved by the LPC in 1999, a design whose lack of detailing resulted in a chunky intrusion on the base of this elegant building. Rather than repeat and reinforce this unfortunate alteration, the new storefront should take the finer details and thinner proportions of the original storefronts on the 20th Street façade. Some of the basic original proportions on the Fifth Avenue side can also be gleaned from the 1911 photo. We hope then that the 1999 storefront will eventually be appropriately altered too.
The reopening the doorways in the arched vestibule is appropriate, but rather than matching the stainless steel of the proposed storefronts, the new framing should match the finish of the existing doors here. In the historic photo, the doors appear to match in finish and are of a lighter shade than what is proposed. Matching the finishes would create a more cohesive entrance within this prominent arched portal.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 109777
Manhattan, Block: 823, Lot: 20
31-33 West 21st Street – Ladies’ Mile Historic District
A Beaux-Arts style store and loft building designed by William G. Pigueron and built in 1907. Application is to alter the façade and install canopies and light fixtures.
HDC Testimony
While the removal of the existing awnings is to be applauded, the proposed canopies are unlike anything found in the Ladies Mile on a store and loft building of this era. The metal framing would intrude on views of the lovely details in these door surrounds, while the extra ornament and golden finish are rather showy and draw from no historic precedents here. The recesses of 31-33 West 21st Street are already very deep making the proposed canopies unnecessary, unsympathetic intrusions.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 104023
Manhattan, Block: 849, Lot: 7502
7 East 20th Street – Ladies’ Mile Historic District
A neo-Renaissance/modern French style loft building designed by William C. Frohne and built in 1907. Application is to replace windows.
HDC Testimony
The large arched windows of 7 East 20th Street is a signature component of the building’s façade, and the proposed mullions need to match the thiness of the present ones. The plan detail, although no measurements are included, shows it to be much bulkier than the existing. HDC asks that they be reduced in size.
LPC Determination: Approved