You dance with the one that brought you: Queens local press on Sunnyside landmark designation
From the Queens Chronicle
Sunnyside’s ‘Garden City’ Earns Designation
by Jennifer Manley , Assistant Editor
After years of preservationists pushing for it, months of impassioned arguments against it, and even a few last-minute protests, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has ended the debate in Sunnyside Gardens — voting unanimously Tuesday to designate it a historic district.
The neighborhood was designed and built between 1924 and 1928 on a garden city model. It quickly became a shady home for dozens of working-class people and a model of urban planning. Now it has become the 88th historic district in the city and the largest in Queens.
Assuming the City Council gives the district their blessing — a likelihood now that Councilman Eric Gioia has come out publicly for it — residents will have to get changes to their property approved by the city.
While homeowners are not required to return their homes to their original condition, future changes, particular to the fronts and the significant features, will be closely watched.
Brick facades, slate roofs and six-over six windows will have to remain in the spirit (if not the actual material) of the original. Curb cuts, large additions and tear downs are all a thing of the past now.
From the Queens Courier
Sunnyside Gardens to be a historic district
BY CHRISTINA SANTUCCI
Sunnyside Gardens will almost surely go down in the history books. On Tuesday, June 26, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously to give the neighborhood historic district status, which would make it the largest district in the borough, ending a contentious battle between residents.
And From the Times-Ledger
06/28/2007
Sunnyside Gardens made historic district
By Adam Pincus
The city Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously this week to designate Sunnyside Gardens a historic district following a drive that split the community between supporters and opponents of the proposal.
The proposal, approved by a vote of 9-0 Tuesday, seeks to protect the approximately 610 buildings in the neighborhood from out-of-character development as pressure increases to build housing in the borough for a growing population.
“Sunnyside Gardens is an extraordinary and iconic example of urban perimeter block housing planning, which has been studied, revered and emulated by generations of architects and planners,” said Landmarks Preservation Commissioner Margery Perlmutter, who represents Manhattan. “Unlike many housing typologies that preceded and succeeded it, Sunnyside’s successes and design principles have never been marginalized. For these reasons, I was in fact surprised to learn that it had not already been designated as a NYC historic district.”