ALERT: Meanwhile, on the west side of the park
From the New York Times: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/nyregion/01society.html
November 1, 2006
New Historical Society Project Would Stir Up Skyline, and Residents
By GLENN COLLINS
The New-York Historical Society wants to begin a $20 million renovation of its landmark building at 170 Central Park West that would also allow a developer to build a 23-story glass apartment tower behind the society’s museum and library, altering the skyline.
The society has approached the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which must approve changes to the exterior of the society’s austere neoclassical palazzo between 76th and 77th Streets, across from the American Museum of Natural History.
The society is seeking a developer who would provide financing and construct not only the apartment tower and an extra floor atop its four-story building, but also a five-story annex that would rise above an adjacent empty lot it owns at 7-13 West 76th Street.
Louise Mirrer, the society’s president, said the proposal would symbolize the institution’s new public face, provide needed space and buttress its long-term solvency. The society has received $10 million toward the renovation from the Empire State Development Corporation, the New York City Council and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and plans to raise the rest, she said.
But neighborhood opposition has foiled the society’s planned expansions in the past, including a 1984 proposal for a much broader 23-story apartment tower of limestone and granite, designed by the architect Hugh Hardy. The landmarks commission voted it down.
For the full story: http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/nyregion/01society.html