Oct. 17 Hearings at LPC

October 17, 2006: Big Day for Upper West Side Landmarks

This is your chance! If you feel as though it's been a long time since you've testified at a public hearing on a potential Upper West Side landmark designation, then mark your calendar for Tuesday, October 17, 2006 (time tba). The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has scheduled no less than three designation hearings for that day, all on West Side items (see below). Your voice is needed at each one. Numbers and volume matter - a big turnout speaks for itself, so please attend, even if you don't plan to speak. Letters, faxes and emails count, too. Please show your support by contacting LPC Chair Robert B. Tierney, comments@lpc.nyc.gov, 212-669-7955 (fax). The hearings will take place at the Commission's headquarters, 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor (near City Hall, and you'll need photo ID). Wasn't it Woody Allen who said 85% of life is showing up?

Up for potential designation...

Former Dakota Stable, West 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (Bradford Lee Gilbert, 1894) and Former New York Cab Company Stable, West 75th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (C. Abbott French, 1888-89) - These rare examples of “high-rise” commercial stables played a crucial role in New York’s history. New York's wealthiest residents often erected small, private stables for their horses and carriages. Middle-class people, however, could not afford their own stables. Instead, they boarded their horses in commercial stables. Together, these two striking, Romanesque Revival-style buildings recall a time when the Upper West Side was just starting its transformation from farmland to urban neighborhood. They are anchors of 19th-century beauty that provide visual texture and historical continuity in our community. To see pictures and a sample letter, please go to http://www.landmarkwest.org/advocacy/stables.html.

Former Horn & Hardart Automat, West 104th Street and Broadway (F.P. Platt & Brother, 1930) - This is hearing #2 for one of the last surviving automat structures in New York City. Automats hold a special place in the cultural memory of New Yorkers. This joyous Art-Deco building features a monumental, arched show window and ravishing polychrome terra-cotta ornamentation. To see pictures and a sample letter, please go to http://www.landmarkwest.org/advocacy/automat.html.

It isn't every day that the LPC considers designating landmarks on the Upper West Side. In fact, it's been six years since PS 166, the CBJ Snyder-designed school on West 89th Street, became our neighborhood's 2606th landmark in 2000 (up from a mere 337 in 1985, can you believe it?!). Show your West pride! YOU can help ensure a good showing at the Oct. 17 hearings by circulating the attached flyers to friends and neighbors. Email them around (or send us a list of people you think would want to hear about this issue)! Print these flyers out to post in your building and local businesses! Help get the word out! See you on the 17th!