Support HDC with an End of Year Gift!

As HDC looks back on everything we’ve achieved over the past twelve months, we’d like to thank our Friends for making 2007 one of our most successful years yet. Just a few things we accomplished with your help in 2007: Advocated successfully for the landmark designation of Sunnyside Gardens, Crown Heights North, and DUMBO (designated […]

Battery-Maritime Building Gets a Hotel Tiara?

From the New York Times November 25, 2007DispatchesDiscontent on a Tip of the Island at the Center of the WorldBy JAKE MOONEYON a cold morning last week, bundled-up tourists strolled south along the East River from the South Street Seaport, past the pier where they could buy helicopter rides and the ornate Battery Maritime Building, […]

Guggenheim Museum Color Choice Attracts Attention to Restoration Question

It might seem like a trivial issue, but at its heart – the notion of how to appropriately regulate a landmark is very serious business. How many buildings in historic districts have had replacement windows or bad siding for decades only to be restored to an appropriate condition later? From the New York Sun Guggenheim […]

Admiral's Row Public Meeting: December 11th

More on the Row soon….This ‘Admiral’ is demotedBy Dana RubinsteinThe Brooklyn Paper This may be your last chance to save the Admirals Row. On Dec. 11, the National Guard, which still controls the 10 150-year-old mansions in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, will hold its first public hearing about the fate of the buildings, the embodiment […]

What will be the Future of the South Street Seaport?

From amNY.comChanges in store for South Street SeaportBy David Freedlander, amNewYork Staff [email protected] November 13, 2007 The South Street Seaport, an area for decades dismissed as “just for tourists,” has re-emerged in the forefront of New Yorkers’ minds as architects, preservations and local residents wrestle over the waterfront of the future. It’s been two years […]

Report from the LPC DUMBO hearing

The DUMBO hearing at LPC went astonishingly well, over 30 people spoke in favor – including Jed Walentas. The BID, who had been problematic about the designation , spoke in vague support – mostly to ask the LPC to make sure that the area’s Belgian block streets were protected (and restored) and asking that LPC […]

Overwhelming Support for designation for Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park

Status symbol’ for us – Overwhelming support for landmark designation By Helen Klein One person called it a veritable love-fest. At a hearing held by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) earlier this month, speaker after speaker rhapsodized about the possibility of conferring historic district status on Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park, two neighborhoods within […]

DUMBO HD to be heard on 10/30 as well!

On Tuesday, October 30 at 9:00am the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed DUMBO Historic District. One of HDC’s “Neighborhoods at Risk,” we have supported the landmark designation of DUMBO since 1999 when we co-sponsored the inclusion of the area onto the National Register of Historic Places. It’s long past […]

Rally For Community Facility Reform

Council Member Tony Avella will join civic and preservation leaders at a press conference Sunday outside the New York University (NYU) Law School to call upon the Mayor, the Department of City Planning, and the City Council to institute necessary community facilities reform. Due to existing bulk exemptions in the community facilities section of the […]

Trying to Preserve a Busy, Historic Library in Queens

From the New York Times (alas, the article spends more energy talking about Queens’ ethnic diversity than the importance of preserrving its past, but the attention is appreciated): Seeking Protection for a Library With a Fabled Past By SAKI KNAFOSeptember 30, 2007 THE Elmhurst Community Library, a Georgian Revival building on Broadway and 51st Avenue […]