January 19, 2010
LPC Docket Number: 103725
Manhattan, Block: 530, Lot: 19
25 Great Jones – NoHo Historic District
A partially constructed building. Application is to approve revisions to the design of the facades.
HDC Testimony
HDC finds 25 Great Jones Street to not only be inappropriate for the NoHo Historic District, but also an example of what not to do in any historic district or neighborhood for that matter. The selfish design pays no notice or consideration to its neighbors. The building breaks the street wall on both sides with huge setbacks, and then adds insult to injury with a jagged, brutalist fence and bamboo, neither of which have any relation to the district. The set back exposes the party walls of the neighboring buildings, and in turn the new structure’s height exposes large, rather plain side elevations. The result is a structure that sticks out like a sore thumb, or another finger, on the block.
Beyond its basic form, the design of 25 Great Jones Street falls far short of the inspirations shown in the proposal. Some very basic elements– a base, a finished top, and expression of the floors between – must be addressed. Wallpaper on top of a tall concrete bunker can not begin to compare favorably to Ernest Flag’s Singer Building or Louis Sullivan’s Condict Building.
We understand that the building has pretty much already been constructed and that we are reviewing only its skin. Although no where near the ideal solution, HDC suggests that the skin be brought out to the street wall to the height of the adjacent buildings in order to basically hide what has been built behind. Then 25 Great Jones can just serve as a reminder of what not to do in an historic district and of the importance of landmarking before alterations and development get out of hand.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 097885
Manhattan, Block: 1124, Lot: 27
115 Central Park West – Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District
An Art Deco style towered apartment building designed by Irwin S. Chanin and built in 1930-31. Application is to amend Certificate of Appropriateness 91-0008 for a window master plan.
HDC Testimony
HDC is opposed to this application as it takes a rather ill-advised master plan of nearly two decades ago and makes it worse. It is bad enough that so few historic multipane casement windows are left and that the master plan hardly references them. Allowing windows of fatter proportions is not only clunky and inappropriate when compared to the original design, but would lead to variety of windows, the exact opposite of the goal of a master plan. Any alteration to the master plan should improve the landmarked building, not detract from it. With this in mind, we suggest, if the plan must be altered, that rolled steel windows which are now far more available than in the past be considered. A building of the importance and stature of the Majestic Apartments deserves a window masterplan worthy of the landmark’s name.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 105093
Manhattan, Block: 1207, Lot: 77
20-30 West 94th Street – Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District
A row of six Queen Anne style houses, with Romanesque Revival and neo-Grec elements, designed by Increase M. Grenell and built in 1888. Application is to demolish existing rear yard additions and to construct rooftop and rear yard additions.
HDC Testimony
HDC is curious as to why all the stairs and halls are on the exterior of the building. Besides not seeming to be the most practical layout for New York City’s climate, the result brings to mind tenement fire escapes. The rather temporary looking design takes the rear elevations from bad to worse. In addition to addressing this issue, we would ask that, as is often required of extensions to a row of houses, that the rooftop and rear yard additions make more distinct the separate identities of each building.
A number of historic districts have recently been facing the issue of institutional expansions in residential blocks, particularly garden cores. We sincerely hope that this project is the result of much long-term planning so that the school does not have to return in a few years for further expansions. Incremental additions and alterations can add up to big changes that the Commission would not have approved of as a whole.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 104000
Manhattan, Block: 818, Lot: 66
26 West 17th Street – Ladies’ Mile Historic District
A Beaux Arts style store and loft building designed by William C. Frohne and built in 1907-08. Application is to replace infill and install light fixtures.
HDC Testimony
In general HDC approves of this plan for storefront infill at 26 West 17th Street. We find that the design for the 1-tenant plan is more successful though than that of the 2-tenant plan. In particular, we find the solid recessed center panel between the two entrances to be too chunky. Finally, we question the use of aluminum in the bulkhead as the profile details would not turn out as refined as they should be. Instead, we recommend the use of sheet metal.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 102735
Queens, Block: 1475, Lot: 55
37-45 87th Street – Jackson Heights Historic District
A neo-Georgian style townhouse, designed by C. F. McAvoy and built in 1924. Application is to legalize the construction of an addition, alterations to a retaining wall, and the installation of fencing without LPC permits.
HDC Testimony
The core justification for this proposal for a legalization is one we have heard too often – everyone else has one. As my mother would say, if everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you? Although it is landmarked, such an action is not advisable, and neither is approving an illegal fence or addition simply because there are others. One of the points of landmarking is to prevent unsympathetic alterations, and those carried out before designation or illegally afterward should not be used as models. This is particularly the case in areas like Jackson Heights where the cohesive design of a planned community is an overriding element of the landmarked district.
37-45 87th Street is part of a stretch of twenty houses arranged carefully into four clusters in an ABBA overall pattern that each then divides into a mirror-image a-b-a-b-a formation. As the designation report notes, “The overall consistency of the pattern gives the blockfront a cohesive design.” HDC urges you to reject this legalization of alterations that ignores the open spaces and very considered design of this once elegant terrace.
LPC Determination: Incomplete
LPC Docket Number: 104142
Manhattan, Block: 1315, Lot: 59
269 Sterling Street – Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Historic District
A neo-renaissance style rowhouse designed by Benjamin Driesler and built in 1909. Application is to legalize the installation of ironwork without LPC permits.
HDC Testimony
This application to legalize ironwork has the same “everyone else is doing it” justification we saw in the last item. Like the Jackson Heights example, 269 Sterling Street is part of a lovely terrace of rowhouses where a cohesive design and open yards are key to the special sense of place. If ironwork is appropriate to the district, historic examples should be referenced, rather than a hodge podge of generic metal work that changes the feel of the block, not for the better.
LPC Determination: Incomplete