LW! Lecture: The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs

Lost New York: Landmarks Preservation Commission Missing Inaction

From the New York Times editorial page, Saturday, October 20, 2008, “The Missing Landmarks Preservation Commission”: “The Landmarks Preservation Commission should be a vital part of the planning process in New York City. Instead, it has become a bureaucratic black hole, the place where requests for evaluation — the formal nominations of buildings or districts to be landmarked — go to get filed and forgotten.” For a full version of the editorial, see below.

Change is a fact of life in New York City. But, for the last 45 years, since the shocking demolition of the old Pennsylvania Station in the 1960s finally prompted a response from City Hall, we’ve had an authority to referee change as it affects the treasures of our past—the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). Except that today the LPC appears to have let developers—and our development-friendly Mayor—overrun the field.

Writes the Times: “Moving as slowly as it does — and nearly always without public hearings — the landmarking process is routinely outflanked by developers. What is clearly missing is the political will needed for the landmarks commission to do its job. For that, it must have the full backing of the mayor, who appoints the commissioners.”

Where is the LPC? And, more to the point, where is Mayor Bloomberg when it comes to protecting our city’s historic Landmarks? Or responding to the hundreds of public requests for buildings to become new Landmarks and Historic Districts? If the problems identified by the Times—the “bureaucratic black hole,” the maddening silence preceding the bulldozer—resonate all too well with you, then speak up! Send a letter to the editors (letters@nytimes.com), telling them about the buildings in your community that have been overlooked, threatened and lost as a result of LPC inaction (visit http://www.landmarkwest.org/advocacy/cecpp/landmarksatrisk.htm for examples citywide). Then, send a copy of your letter to Mayor Bloomberg! Print out your email and fax it to 212-788-2460. Also post your letter in the "Comments" section of this blog. Make the most of this opportunity—maybe your only opportunity—to be heard.

October 18, 2008

New York Times Editorial

The Missing Landmarks Commission

Late last month, the Museum of Arts and Design reopened in its new home at 2 Columbus Circle. That home is the controversial reworking of Edward Durell Stone’s eccentric building — much loved and much hated by New Yorkers ever since it was finished in 1964.

The Times’s architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable, dubbed Stone’s original building “a die-cut Venetian palazzo on lollipops.” To us, it looked almost Moroccan, as if the casbah had gone high-rise.

Brad Cloepfil’s bland redesign — which somehow suggests the technological polish of a desktop computer — will stir no such emotions, except as a potent symbol of the failure of the preservation process in this city.

Despite a public debate over the fate of Stone’s building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission never held a public hearing. The commission’s chair — with the encouragement of the Bloomberg administration — had the matter shelved. In June 2005, the city issued a permit to destroy the old facade and rework the building.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission should be a vital part of the planning process in New York City. Instead, it has become a bureaucratic black hole, the place where requests for evaluation — the formal nominations of buildings or districts to be landmarked — go to get filed and forgotten.

There are hundreds of requests from all across the city waiting to be acted upon. Some have been held up for years. Moving as slowly as it does — and nearly always without public hearings — the landmarking process is routinely outflanked by developers. What is clearly missing is the political will needed for the landmarks commission to do its job. For that, it must have the full backing of the mayor, who appoints the commissioners.

No one wants to see the city frozen by overly rigid landmarking. But New York is such an extraordinary place because of both its past and its future. The commission — in full consultation with the public — should play a critical role in balancing the two.

Sign the Petition to Preserve West End Avenue!

Sign the Petition to Preserve West End Avenue!

Please join your fellow New Yorkers, the West End Preservation Society and LANDMARK WEST! in calling on the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to create an official historic district encompassing the full length of West End Avenue between 70^th to 107^th Streets.

This area vividly tells the story of the development of the Upper West Side from the 1880s to the 1930s. Distinguished by its strikingly consistent streetwall of uniform cornice heights, harmonious materials and creative interpretations of historical styles, including Arts & Crafts, Beaux Arts and Art Deco, West End Avenue showcases the work of many late-19th and early-20^th-century architects who defined New York City as we know it today. For more information on this district and other ways to show your support, please visit http://www.landmarkwest.org/advocacy/Wish%20List%20Items/WEAHD.htm.

Two minutes is all you need to show your support for protecting one of our city’s loveliest residential boulevards. CLICK here and sign the petition now (see text below). Then, pass this on to your friends and neighbors—keep the support coming!

To: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

We, the Undersigned, write to strongly urge you to designate Manhattan's West End Avenue, between 70th Street and 107th Street a Historic District. West End Avenue is one of the most distinctive residential avenues in New York City and it deserves and meets the criteria for Historic District status. Already designated are blocks between 75th Street and 78th Street and those between 87th and 95th Streets. We urge the Commission to extend and expand the Historic Districts to include the blocks down to West 70th Street and up to West 107th Street.

West End Avenue is lined primarily with Pre-War apartment buildings of unified height; most are approximately twelve to fifteen stories. These buildings were erected in the 1910's and 1920's by a small group of acclaimed architects specializing in apartment-house construction in that era. Spread intermittently between some of these unified apartment buildings are historic townhouses that predate the construction of 1910-1920.

As described in a recent New York Times article discussing the movement to preserve the avenue, "[s]ince the 1920's, West End has presented the same sleepy procession of ornamented brick and limestone 15-story apartment buildings, with an occasional townhouse from the 1890's." NY Times, May 18, 2008 ("A Bid to Shield a Row of Sturdy Soldiers" by Alex Mindlin).

Even when West End Avenue was first being developed, the Avenue seemed unique. In 1888, an organization called the West End Association declared that "West End Avenue, alone of all city avenues, has a chance of remaining a site of private residences exclusively and permanently." (Robert Stern, Thomas Mellins and David Fishman: "New York 1880-Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age"; Monacelli Press, New York 1999; p. 759).

Indeed, the beautiful and unique buildings on West End Avenue come together in a cohesive way to create a distinct sense of place. These buildings are important reminders of the history of early construction on the Upper West Side. According to historians, West End Avenue was developed "in a short period of time by developers with a shared vision. . ." (Id.) This shared vision resulted in a "unification" that was due to both "building type" as well as the builders' ". . . shared sense of that area's image of urban domesticity, comparable to that of London's West End." (Id.) As such, West End Avenue ". . . exuded an aura of overall aesthetic intentionality that was unrivaled in Gilded Age New York." (Id.) While walking along West End Avenue, one sees that this aura of Gilded Age cohesiveness continues to exist to this day-over 120 years later!

For these reasons, we, the Undersigned support the application to designate West End Avenue a historic district. We urge the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to find West End Avenue worthy of a landmarks preservation designation of a Historic District.

2 Columbus Circle: For the Record

2 Columbus Circle: For the Record

In two powerful articles timed in sync with last week's opening of the "new" Museum of Arts and Design at 2 Columbus Circle, New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff condemned the destruction of the original 1964 Edward Durrell Stone building, reiterating points that he raised years ago, before it was too late. This time, let's hope, his words won't fall on deaf ears.

In the first article of his one-two punch, Ouroussoff writes that, whereas Stone’s building “occupied a crucial niche in the city’s architectural memory,” MAD’s project “is a victory only for people who favor the safe and inoffensive and have always been squeamish about the frictions that give this city its vitality…We’re left with an image of New York that has been scrubbed of any real meaning.” Click here for the full article, dated 9/26/08.

Then, the very next day, Ouroussoff followed up with a stinging piece called, “New York City, Tear Down These Walls,” in which he put the newly scrubbed version of 2 Columbus Circle in the same category as Madison Square Garden, Trump Place and the Javitz Center—buildings that Ouroussoff thinks ought to be knocked down because they “not only fail to bring us joy, but actually bring us down.” The paragraphs on 2 Columbus Circle are copied below. For the full article, click here.

LANDMARK WEST! led this 10-year preservation battle at its climax with an advocacy campaign that pulled out all the stops. Working with colleagues throughout the city, state, nation and the world, we used every conceivable tool in the preservation arsenal (press, petitions, protests, lawsuits) and even invented some new ones (online panel discussion, “ShameCam” web coverage of the demolition). We did everything in our power to convince the Bloomberg administration to do the right thing, let the Landmarks Preservation Commission give 2 Columbus Circle the public hearing it deserved, and preserve the integrity of New York City’s process for protecting the places that matter most to its citizens. For more on the history of the campaign, and some thoughts on lessons to be learned, go to http://www.landmarkwest.org/savelpc.html.

Now the price of letting politics subvert the mission of the Landmarks Preservation Commission is clear. We need leadership that says, “Never again,” and empowers the Landmarks Commission to act when our city’s heritage is at stake. Otherwise, 2 Columbus Circle and all of the other treasured places that have been sent to the landfills in recent years will have been lost in vain.

Excerpted from “New York City, Tear Down These Walls” by Nicolai Ouroussoff, September 28, 2008

2 COLUMBUS CIRCLE Edward Durell Stone’s building, which opened as the Gallery of Modern Art in 1964, incited one of the most bitter preservation battles in recent memory. Its defenders, who ranged from the writer Tom Wolfe to youthful preservation groups like Landmarks West, hailed its faux Venetian exterior as a slap against the prevailing standards of mainstream Modernism. Detractors, who would have been happy to see it leveled, mostly held up their noses, denouncing its swanky décor and cramped galleries as an urban eyesore.

The result? Everybody lost. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission was too cowardly to render a verdict and never reviewed the case. The building was turned over to the Museum of Arts and Design, which gutted it to make room for new galleries and stripped away its white marble exterior.

If the city had chosen to preserve it, a key historical landmark would still be intact. If the building had been torn down, a talented architect might have had the opportunity to create a new masterpiece on one of the choicest sites in the city. Instead we get the kind of wishy-washy design solution that is apt to please no one: a mild, overly polite renovation that obliterates the old while offering us nothing breathtakingly new.

Celebrate Fall in New York with Landmark West! and openhousenewyork Weekend*

LANDMARK WEST! is hosting the following FREE events on Sunday, October 5:

Horse Trails to Subway Rails, 11:00am

Walking tour for kids and families – RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Recommended for ages 7-12

Learn about the Upper West Side’s transformation from farmland to cityscape, and how the subway’s construction played a part. Space is limited.

Farmhouses to Townhouses, 12:30pm

Walking tour for kids and families – RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

Recommended for ages 7-12

Discover how the Upper West Side formed one hundred years ago, from horse trails and mansions to the construction of the subway and more! Space is limited.

Broadway Corridor Walking Tour, 1:00pm

All ages – RESERVATIONS REQUIRED - Space is limited.

Led by Peter Salwen, a longtime Upper West Sider who has been leading tours around New York's neighborhoods and personalities since the 1970s. He is the author of the popular "Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide" (Abbeville Press, 1989, 1994) which is now available online at www.upperwestsidestory.net.

Discover the rich history and architectural significance of the Upper West Side through four fascinating early 20th century buildings representing a small sample of significant but as yet unprotected historic treasures in the area deserving city landmark designation.

First Church of Christ, Scientist. 1:00pm – 5:00pm

OPEN HOUSE

2:00pm Talk with George Chin, Architect of the restoration

10 West 68th Street at Central Park West

Rediscover this 1901 Beaux-Arts church designed by Frederick R. Comstock, just emerging from a spectacular multi-year restoration, championed by a dedicated congregation.

For ALL walking tours, please reserve a space in advance by calling LW! at 212-496-8110 or emailing landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org.

*openhousenewyork Weekend, America's largest architecture and design event, opens doors throughout New York City each October. Discover new neighborhoods, explore with friends and family, and experience NYC's architecture and design in all five boroughs through special talks, tours, performances and family-friendly workshops – all free of charge! This 6th annual weekend falls on October 4 and 5 in 2008.

For more information, visit http://www.ohny.org

A Celebration of West End Avenue:

Tickets Still Available

for the Penthouse Reception!

Walking Tours Sold Out!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 7:30pm

West End Avenue events have proved to be immensely popular, a testament to their significance and timeliness! After Professor Andrew Dolkart’s walking tour sold out in record time, we expanded the evening to include another walking tour led by Professor Mosette Broderick and a post-tour wine reception. Tickets for the second tour flew off the virtual shelves in less than 24 hours, but don’t despair – a limited number of tickets are still available for the post-tour reception!

Whether or not you are joining us for the walking tours, you are invited to a post-tour wine reception from approximately 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM in a penthouse apartment featuring panoramic views of the Upper West Side and the Hudson River, located in a 1937 Boak and Paris building. Andrew Dolkart and Mosette Broderick will celebrate with us, and Andrew will speak briefly about West End Avenue. Tickets for the reception only are $50 and must be purchased in advance. Space is extremely limited and is selling out at a record pace! Call 212-496-8110 or email landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org to reserve your place today. Please know that all reservations are considered tentative until payment is received. All proceeds from the reception will be used by LW! to support the West End Preservation Society (WEPS) and efforts to create a new West End Avenue Historic District.

For Sale: Nonprofit Sites = Air Rights

Today, the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) gave a green light to Congregation Shearith Israel (CSI)—and to all nonprofit and religious institutions seeking to turn the air above their sites into luxury condo revenue streams, even where laws designed to protect neighborhood character and property values explicitly restrict it. CSI’s planned development project is located in the R8B-zoned, low-scale, brownstone midblock of West 70^th Street, adjacent to the Individual Landmark Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District.

With its unanimous approval of 7 zoning height and setback variances, the BSA bowed to CSI’s argument that denial of its application to construct 5 floors of luxury condominiums on top of a new 4-story community house would interfere with its charitable mission and impose an economic hardship on this congregation (one of the wealthiest in the city, counting among its members Jack Rudin, the developer for the St. Vincent’s Hospital project in Greenwich Village). In other words, CSI says, “Back off, City, we’re a nonprofit and nonprofits can do whatever they want.” The (mayor-appointed) BSA rolled over, despite CSI’s repeated failure over many months of public hearings to demonstrate hardship or any link between its mission and the condos (to be sold on the open market for millions).

Contextual zoning is a ceiling developers have been pushing against for decades. And now, 5 floors or 50 floors, the sky’s the limit for nonprofits with properties in traditional, low-rise communities in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan.

We know all this commotion over a 9-story, 114-foot-tall building sounds alarmist (even though it is double the size of the 4- and 5-story brownstones that define 95% of the historic West 70^th Street midblock). But, even as we speak, the BSA is also poised to approve Mount Sinai Medical Center’s proposed development including a 542-foot-tall (the equivalent of 54 stories) residential tower on the eastern edge of Central Park. Meanwhile, planners have identified 10 potential development “soft sites” along Central Park West, many occupied by low-rise institutions such as the New-York Historical Society (which, until recently, had planned a 280-foot-tall tower that would have required special zoning exemptions).

It doesn't take a microscope to spot this trend, which could have even greater ramifications in the other boroughs. With today's approval, the BSA has opened the door to luxury condos towering over nonprofits in every previously protected neighborhood in the city. And their decision is final. Except for court. Stay tuned...

Circulated August 7, 2008

A Day for Family and Community Pride

On Saturday, August 9th, LANDMARK WEST! will join with residents of Amsterdam Houses for "Family Day," a celebration of community, family, food, fun, music, and much more. As part of this all-day festival, we'll be organizing art activities for children and leading a walking tour for residents of Amsterdam Houses (West 61st to 65th Streets, between Amsterdam and West End Avenues), focusing on its special place in the history of socially conscious public housing, with an emphasis on open space and good urban design. (Designed by a team including Grosvenor Atterbury, Harvey Wiley Corbett, Arthur Holden, Gilmore D. Clarke and Michael Rapuano, Amsterdam Houses is included on LW!'s Wish List of priorities for future landmark designation.)

To commemorate this special day, one-man band Mark Foley of Volunteer Music will premiere “Amsterdam Houses, Rise," a new song which draws on the history and spirit of Amsterdam Houses. He will also delight young residents with his Children's Concert.

The "Family Day" epicenter is Bennerson Park and 64th Street, which will be closed between Amsterdam and West End Avenues. If you're around the neighborhood on Saturday from 12 noon to 7 PM, stop by, say hello, and join in the party!

Circulated July 9, 2008

Circulated June 25, 2008
Congregation Shearith Israel: Ready the Floodgates

No Decision on Congregation Shearith Israel, But Ready the Floodgates

Yesterday, Tuesday, June 24, the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) voted to close the hearing on Congregation Shearith Israel’s application for 7 zoning variances to construct 5 floors of luxury condominiums on top of a new community house on the brownstone midblock of West 70th Street (adjacent to the Landmark Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District).

This means that the BSA is poised to make its decision, but only after giving Shearith Israel yet one more chance to clarify and substantiate the record in support of its application – another “do-over”. YOU HAVE ONE LAST CHANCE TO BE HEARD! Send BSA the message, loud and clear, that the public expects them to stand up and defend the laws that keep our communities whole. See below for contact information and specific points that you can make. And while you’re at it, please contact NYS Senator Tom Duane and NYS Assembly Member Richard Gottfried to thank them for their stalwart support on this issue.

Quite frankly, it doesn’t look promising for those of us (in every neighborhood, every borough, all throughout the city) who care about zoning, landmarks and other sound land-use laws. And things seem to be looking up for developers (all too often non-profits) eager to capitalize on loosened zoning regulations. If the BSA approves Shearith Israel’s application, it will be open season for non-profits seeking to finance themselves through out-of-scale development. All along Central Park West, there are as many as 10 potential development sites (New-York Historical Society included) watching this application closely, waiting to see if this “canary in the mine” lives or dies.

Here’s some advice: wander into Central Park for a concert or play one summer night soon. Look at the sweep of the Central Park West skyline silhouetted against the sunset. Then write your letter. Remember, this is why we fight – so that we don’t continue to lose the treasures that make life in New York City not just tolerable but uplifting. Imagine.

Mail/fax your letters to:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Fax: 212-788-2460

Hon. Meenakshi Srinivasan
Chair, NYC Board of Standards and Appeals
40 Rector Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Fax: 212-788-8769

Hon. Gale A. Brewer
NY City Council
250 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
Fax: 212-513-7717

Hon. Scott Stringer
Manhattan Borough President
1 Centre Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007
Fax: 212-669-4900


Please say “Thank you!” to:

Hon. Thomas K. Duane
New York State Senate
duane@senate.state.ny.us

Hon. Richard N. Gottfried
New York State Assembly
Gottfriedr@assembly.state.ny.us

And please send copies of your letters to LANDMARK WEST! at 212-875-0209 (fax) or landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org.
Some points to keep in mind:

• Congregation Shearith Israel (CSI) has made it clear in its papers and previous testimony that the purpose of the luxury condos is to pay for the new community house. This is the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent. Approving these 7 variances would open the floodgates for other non-profit institutions seeking zoning exemption to finance their programs and benefit their own members, essentially transferring wealth from the surrounding community to themselves.

• There is nothing unusual or physically unique about the Congregation Shearith Israel (CSI) site. Approving variances in this case sends the message that landmark designation, contextual zoning and a property owner’s non-profit (already tax-exempt) status constitute “hardships” that justify exemption from the land-use laws that apply to everyone else.

• CSI is crying “hardship” because it says it cannot satisfy its programmatic needs AND build 5 floors of luxury condominiums on the same midblock site (i.e., have its cake and eat it too) without getting zoning variances. If that isn’t self-created “hardship” we don’t know what is.