NEWS: Whitney Expansion Approved
From the NY Times:
Whitney Expansion Is Approved
The city’s Board of Standards and Appeals granted seven waivers to zoning rules yesterday for an expansion of the Whitney Museum of American Art, eliminating the last major barrier to construction. The addition, by the architect Renzo Piano, includes a 178-foot, nine-story tower that would rise behind brownstones in a historic district on Madison Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets, connecting to the museum’s original 1966 Marcel Breuer building with a series of glass bridges. The public approval process involved heated debates before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the neighborhood Community Board and the Board of Standards and Appeals. “I’m very pleased; it’s been a long road,” said Adam D. Weinberg, the Whitney’s director. He said that a construction date had not been set. Some Upper East Side residents had objected to the tower on grounds that it was too large and did not fit into the neighborhood fabric. Earlier, they succeeded in requiring Mr. Piano to halve the width of a proposed new entrance for the Whitney so that the facade of a brownstone could be preserved. ROBIN POGREBIN