November 16, 2010
LPC Docket Number: 113230
Manhattan, Block: 994, Lot: 54
1462-1470 Broadway – Knickerbocker Hotel, Individual Landmark
A Beaux-Arts style hotel, designated by Marvin and Davis, with Bruce Price, built in 1906, and altered by Charles A. Platt in 1920-1921, with a Romanesque Revival style annex, designed by Phillip C. Brown and built in 1894. Application is to modify the building base, the courtyard facades, and the penthouse; replace rooftop HVAC equipment; install canopies, flagpoles and light fixtures; and establish a master plan for ground floor infill and signage.
HDC Testimony
So often alterations are made to a landmarked building with little documentation or knowledge of what was there historically. In the case of the Knickerbocker Hotel though, we are very fortunate to have the historic drawings in addition to numerous photos of the landmark over the years. This wealth of information, it would seem, could easily guide a much-deserved and much-needed restoration of the base.
The proportions and details of the historic base are well suited for storefronts and should be followed. The proposed, while an improvement over the existing, is a flat, watered down version of the original. Cast iron or steel, not aluminum, should be the material of choice and more detailing is needed. While the original portico that once graced this grand hotel cannot be recreated due to the widening of the street in the past, a design which takes cues from the 1920s configuration with its large center entrance bay flanked by smaller, but impressively detailed bays could certainly be developed. Overall, the proposed alterations would create a feeling too light and open for such a massive, Beaux-Arts style building.
HDC is also concerned with the ammount of additions proposed for an already crowded rooftop. The copper mansard roof with its ornamental cresting is one of the Knickerbocker Hotel’s defining features, and its view against the sky should be restored and preserved as much as possible.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 113302
Manhattan, Block: 1389, Lot: 1
930 Fifth Avenue – Upper East Side Historic District
A classicizing Modern style apartment building designed by Emery Roth & Sons and built in 1940. Application is to amend Certificate of Appropriateness 85-0080 for a master plan governing the future replacement of windows.
HDC Testimony
The plans for the base of 930 Fifth Avenue are commendable, and HDC asks that windows on the upper floors continues this move towards, not away from, the building’s historic appearance. A master plan should not encourage the removal of historic fabric and replacing it with blank sheets of glass.
When 930 Fifth Avenue was constructed in 1940, it replaced three impressive mansions owned by the Schiff, Rentschler and Chapin families, all prominent New York’s banking and brokerage history. Emery Roth & Sons faced a challenge in designing a building that not only would convince a wealthy clientele that, in the post-depression era, apartment living was the way to go, but also that such a building had a place on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan’s Millionaires’ Row. He did so with a large building featuring simple, classically inspired detailing, reflecting the avenue’s more conservative tastes while hinting at the Modern style. The design of the windows provided an extra bit of ornament on the ten stories of the building’s otherwise rather plain, mid-section.
The contrast between the finely detailed windows at the base and the stark emptiness of openings on the upper floors in this proposal is great, and we ask that the commission guide this building towards a more cohesive appearance, closer to its original design.
LPC Determination: Incomplete