GUEST BLOG :: Interns explore West End Avenue

As guest blog by intern Jason Crowley

Intern Jason Crowley at the 2012 "Unsung Heroes" awards,
with LW! Dir. of Education Debi Germann

Last month -- on Tuesday June 26 -- the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously in favor of the Riverside-West End Historic District Extension I. This is the first of three proposed historic district extensions along West End Avenue and Riverside Drive.

LANDMARK WEST! is celebrating this milestone. Join us as we rediscover the architectural treasures of the West End neighborhood with a new guest blog series co-produced by summer interns Zack Bunin and myself, Jason Crowley. 

Zack is a returning summer intern and West Sider; and I'm Jason, the office's newest graduate intern, studying Historic Preservation at Columbia University.

Intern Zack Bunin at the 2012 "Unsung Heroes" awards,
with fellow intern Kate Gilmore.

"Then and Now", a new series
by Jason and Zack : Follow Zack and me as we wander the Avenue and its sidestreets, writing about the buildings we encounter. We'll both do a bit of historical digging and share some of our personal perspectives.  Our goal is to shine a light on the individual buildings that make the neighborhood so special -- every building will surely have an interesting story and make great conversation and lively lunch hour debate! 

Together with Zack, I'll be pealing back the layers of history along West End Avenue, which rapidly transformed from relatively high-class single-family homes to grand apartment houses in the early 20th century. This significant transformation is unique to New York's development history and it will surely be exciting to see what some of the West End's great apartment buildings replaced in this, our "Then and Now" series!