West-Park Presbyterian Church: Landmark Status Update

Near Unanimous Vote to Consider West-Park Presbyterian Church for Landmark Status

Last night, by a near unanimous vote, Community Board 7’s Parks & Preservation Committee passed a resolution calling on the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a public hearing to consider West-Park Presbyterian Church (86th St. & Amsterdam Ave.) for designation as an official NYC Individual Landmark!

A final vote on the resolution is due on Wednesday, November 7, at CB7’s Full Board Meeting. The time is 7:00 PM and the location is the Jewish Home & Hospital, 120 West 106th Street (for schedule updates, visit www.cb7.org). Stay strong! Please make every effort to attend!

The Committee vote was a bold and timely move by CB7 to secure the future of a building that, although called “one of the architecturally most distinguished and historically most important of Manhattan’s surviving Nineteenth century churches,”* has stood in the shadow of possible demolition ever since it was cut out of the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District in 1990. Back then, church leaders blocked this magnificent structure from being landmarked. But last night, CB7 decided that West-Park’s time had come.

Thank you, CB7 and everyone who attended last night’s meeting to testify in support of preserving this remarkable anchor of our neighborhood’s past, present and, we hope, future. Your continued vigilance is critical! If you haven’t already, go to http://www.petitiononline.com/westpark/petition.html to sign the online petition urging the Landmarks Commission to hold a public hearing right away!

The time is now to write letters directly to the Landmarks Commission. Hard-copy, personalized letters always work best. For inspiration please visit LW’s website (see link below). Send your letters to:

Hon. Robert B. Tierney, Chair
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007
F: 212-669-7955
Email: comments@lpc.nyc.gov (not a direct email, so please make the effort to mail/fax a hard copy of your letter as well)

And copy the elected officials listed below and Landmark West:

Honorable Jerrold Nadler
U.S. Congressman
201 Varick Street, Suite 669 NYC 10014
Email: jerrold.nadler@mail.house.gov
Fax: 212-367-7356
Phone: 212-367-7350

Honorable Gale A. Brewer
New York City Council Member
563 Columbus Avenue, NYC 10024
Email: gale.brewer@council.nyc.ny.us
Fax: 212-873-0279
Phone: 212-873-0282

Honorable Christine Quinn
City Council Speaker
224 West 30th Street, Suite 1206, NYC 10001
Email: quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
Fax: 212-564-7347
Phone: 212-564-7757

Honorable Scott Stringer
Manhattan Borough President
1 Centre Street, 19th Floor, NYC 10007
Email: bp@manhattanbp.org
Fax: 212-669-4900
Phone: 212-669-8300

Honorable Eric T. Schneiderman
New York State Senator
80 Bennett Avenue, Ground Floor NYC 10033
Email: schneide@senate.state.ny.us
Fax: 212-928-0396
Phone: 212-928-5578

Honorable Linda B. Rosenthal
New York State Assembly Member
230 West 72nd Street, Suite 2F, NYC 10023
Email: rosentl@assembly.state.ny.us
Fax: 212-873-6520
Phone: 212-873-6368

Honorable Jessica S. Lappin
336 East 73rd Street (Suite C), NYC 10021
Email: lappin@council.nyc.ny.us
Fax: 212-442-5503
Phone: 212-788-6865

LANDMARK WEST!
45 West 67th Street, NYC 10023
Email: landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org
Fax: 212-875-0209
Phone: 212-496-8110

*Praise for West-Park by Barry Bergdoll, Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA and Columbia art history professor. To read a copy of his letter and others by noted experts, please visit www.landmarkwest.org/westpark.