Love Your Landmark #5 - (former) Horn & Hardart Automat

(former) Horn & Hardart Automat

2710-2714 Broadway

The former Horn & Hardart Automat at 104th and Broadway is such a neat little building, with a really quirky history. It's so charming, and a piece of history that makes New York City so unique!

Love,

Lisa Carlson

Graduate Student, Columbia University Master's Program in Architecture

P.S. Never heard of an automat? Read about the story behind these buildings and LW!'s advocacy work with them here!

Love Your Landmark #4 - Broadway Fashion Building

Broadway Fashion Building

Broadway and 84th Street

With New York Fashion Week kicking off this tonight at Lincoln Center, how can I not show my love for the Broadway Fashion building?!  A stainless-steel building with its own light show?  So hip; so with it!  I love it!  It’s not an official landmark just yet, but we’re working to see that it gets the landmark protection it deserves!  Interested? Let me know!

Love,

Cristiana Peña

Landmark West! Director of Community Outreach

P.S. Read more about the Broadway Fashion Building and other LW! Wish List highlights here!

Love Your Landmark, Walking Tour App, and Advocacy All Make Headlines!

LANDMARK WEST! saw its name (and those of its staffers!) in the press on a variety of fronts today.  Read on to learn more!

LW! Walking Tour App
Since launching the Upper West Side's FIRST EVER walking tour iPhone app back in December 2010, we haven't stopped talking about how much we love this app!  Today, we got a little boost from our friends at CurbedNY, and a new acquaintance, Village Agent.  Each of these blogs gave a shout out.  And thanks, CurbedNY, for twice noting the most important thing ... IT'S FREE!  Check it out now.  And for an even tastier reason to download the app, take a look at our app restaurant map!

Love Your Landmark

Friendly reporter Leslie Albrecht with hyper-local news site DNAInfo.com helped us to share the love of our Love Your Landmark project!  "Who knows, someone could take a picture of an interesting building or site that’s been an unknown treasure," said LW's Cristiana Pena.  It could be you!  Get your sign, and give cupid a run for his money!  It's so easy; learn more here!  For Leslie's full article, click here.

Landmarks Commission Rules Amendments

Could proposed amendments to the Landmarks Preservation Commission's Rules take "an important layer of transparency and public input out of the process" of landmark stewardship?  LW's Kate Wood spoke with DNAInfo's Jill Colvin about the transferring discretion from the hands of the eleven professional experts who sit on the Commission to those of the Commission's overworked (and underfunded) staff.  What could that mean for the city's thousands of landmark protected sites?  For the full reportage, click here.  To read a copy of LW's recently-submitted statement on these proposed amendments, click here!

Love Your Landmark #3 - Ansonia Hotel

Ansonia Hotel

2101-2109 Broadway

Not only have the superb architectural details of the Ansonia Hotel decked the Upper West Side since 1904, the building has shaped the culture of New York City in other ways.  The Ansonia’s dense interior walls have made it a haven for generations of musicians who’ve helped guide New York City to its status as the music capital of the world.

Love,

Andrew Kaplan

Lifelong New Yorker and one-half of Landmark West! Intern team


P.S. Click here to read more about the Ansonia in the Landmark West! Building Database!

Love Your Landmark #2 - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center

70 Lincoln Center Plaza

Lincoln Center is one of my favorite areas in New York. The amazing architecture perfectly compliments the incredible cultural offerings! It's one of a kind.

Love,

Haruka Kuga

Shop Assistant/Patron of the Arts

UPDATE from the FIELD: AC condensers on stilts toppled by LPC

UPDATE from the FIELD

As reported by Max Y.

At public hearing yesterday afternoon, an application to legalize conspicuous white-box AC units on the historic facade of 333 West End Avenue, a Venetian Gothic Revival apartment building designed by Emery Roth in 1925, was denied by a near unanimous vote from the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

As LANDMARK WEST! stated during the public hearing, this item's review was coming just weeks prior to the Commission's first of three public hearings to consider historic district extensions on West End Avenue.  "These imminent public hearings mean that it is more important than ever for the Commission to protect the integrity of its Rules and set a positive example for property owners in both existing historic districts and proposed historic district extensions."  To read our full statement, click here.

By denying this application for legalization (that's right, the condensers were installed without the required LPC permits), the Commission prevented what could have been a terrible detraction from the aesthetic appearance of West End's facades.  One commissioner pointed out that at least with conventional "through the window" AC units, they are inconspicuous and ubiquitous enough to fade into the background.  The same commissioner continued, saying the agency's job is to judge whether such a unit harms a district's historic aesthetic, and concluded that the proposed stark white units look markedly different and inappropriate.

Another commissioner remarked, "what a precedent this would be!"  Two others agreed, further speculating how the facade would appear if half the windows featured these units ... or all of them.  Where would it end?  Recalling a recent trip to China, one commissioner pointed out that freestanding units, similar to the ones proposed for legalization, were everywhere to be seen, totally disrupting the urban fabric.

The Commission also weighed in on the structural dangers involved, such as requiring exposed refrigerant pipes and electric wires to go through the window, and the precarious position of the platforms secured only with metal ties.  What if the condenser units became bulkier and heavier?  Residents of the West End Avenue Collegiate Historic District cannot afford to find out.

Knowing the regulations for what is acceptable for an historic district will be invaluable to the residents of the West End Avenue Study Area, especially as the series of three public hearings on proposed historic district expansions along West End Avenue approach. 

Stay tuned for further updates!

Love Your Landmark #1- Bethesda Terrace, Central Park

Bethesda Terrace

Central Park

Bethesda Terrace is one of my absolute favorite places in New York. It's a spot I always make time to visit--it's magical!

Love,

Mary Nastasi

Graduate Student, Columbia University
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation;

and one-half of the LW! Intern Team!

P.S. Click here to check out how LANDMARK WEST! is working to protect Central Park--the city's first Scenic Landmark--for the enjoyment of generations to come!

Tell the World, "I Love This Landmark!"

Cupid, you've got competition!

LANDMARK WEST! is celebrating the month of love with Love Your Landmarks, an opportunity to tell that special place how you really feel--and to share your love of our neighborhood's amazing architecture with the world! All you need to participate is a camera and a little bit of inspiration.

So what is a “landmark,” anyway?

Everyone has their own landmarks. For some, a landmark might mean a designated NYC Individual Landmark, such as the Dakota Apartments, or the West-Park Presbyterian Church. But they don’t need to be officially recognized to be special: landmarks can also include all the places and spaces that make the Upper West Side such a lovable place.

To show your love for the landmarks in your life, all you have to do is download the “I [heart] This Landmark!” sign and take a picture of yourself with it in front of your favorite place. More than one favorite? Not a problem! Email the photo(s) to us at landmarkwest@gmail.com with a little note about why you love it, and we’ll post it!

All February long, the LW! blog will be showcasing photos of people with the places they love. Check back to see the landmarks that make our hearts go pitter-patter… and send in some of your own!

NYC's Landmarks Law at 45 (you look beautiful, dahling!)

Less than one month from today, preservationists from across New York City (and beyond!) will gather for the Fitch Forum 2011.  Registration is now open at http://fitchforum.eventbrite.com.

On Saturday, February 5, 2011 the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, in co-sponsorship with the Law Department of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the James Marston Fitch Charitable Foundation, Preservation Alumni, and the Widener Law Review of the Widener University School of Law, present ... 

Fitch Forum 2011:  45 Years of Preservation Law: 

New York City and the Nation—The Past and the Future

Using the occasion of the 45th Anniversary Year of New York’s Landmarks Law, the Forum seeks to take stock of preservation law looking both nationally and at New York City.  In addition to assessing where we are today and how we got here, the Forum seeks to explore pressing challenges and opportunities facing preservation law today and tomorrow and to begin to explore strategies to respond to them.

For the whole of 2010, the New York Preservation Archive Project, helmed by Anthony C. Wood, provided a post-by-post review of the last 45 years of preservation in NYC on the Landmarks45 blog.  A great resource for a pre-Forum refresher--visit them now to learn (so much) more!

Saturday, February 5, starts with a Keynote Presentation by Jerold Kayden, the Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.  Also on the program are Adele Chatfield-Taylor of the American Academy of Rome and Paul Edmondson, General Counsel to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  

One session will examine what is going on at the municipal level in other cities.  On that panel is Linda Dishman, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Conservancy.  Among those who will be participating in a panel discussion on New York’s landmarks law "NYC’s Landmarks Law at 45: Perpetually Young or Showing its Age?" are Mark Silberman, General Counsel of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, Jack Kerr, over the years a frequent pro bono counsel to the New York Landmarks Conservancy, Margery Perlmutter, Landmarks Commissioner, lawyer and architect, and Al Butzel, preservation legal counsel to a variety of civic organizations.  

Also on the program are Carol Clark, Adjunct Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University, John Weiss, Deputy Counsel, Landmarks Preservation Commission, and Anne Van Ingen, formerly of NYSCA.   The day will conclude with the author Tony Hiss,  pulling the day’s proceedings together in his role as Rapporteur.  

The program is in formation so watch this space for announcements of additional speakers.

The event is being organized by Carol Clark and Anthony C. Wood.  Space is limited so register ASAP. This is a day you won’t want to miss (and what else is there to do in February in New York?).

Design review committee heads to Landmarks Commission

For LANDMARK WEST!, the new year brings with it a new crop of proposals for work to landmark buildings on the Upper West Side.  That means a whole new calendar of Public Hearings before the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).  

Today is the first hearing of the year!  We'll be heading down to testify on these three items, channeling our inner Lorax (we speak for the buildings, for the buildings have no tongues!):

11 West 74th Street, a Queen Anne-style row house with neo-Grec style elements, designed by architect Daniel Burgess and built in 1889-90.  On the boards: a proposal to install a handicap-access lift.  A challenging intervention addressed in an appropriate manner--read LW's statement here.  "Meet" this building on our Online Building Database!

333 West End Avenue, a neo-Venetian Gothic-style apartment building (they don't stylize 'em like that any more!) designed by Emery Roth and built in 1925.  The application is requesting to legalize air condensers which were installed without the permission of the LPC.  With expanded landmark protection on the horizon for more of West End Avenue, what happens with this item is very important.   Click here to read LW's statement and to see images of the illegal conditions (as photographed at LPC Public Review).

25 West 75th Street, a Renaissance Revival-style rowhouse, designed by George M. Walgrove and built in 1892-93.  A first step towards what we hope will be a more expansive restoration in the future.  Read our testimony and get to know this building on our Online Building Database.

Interested in the public review process?  Let our design review committee coordinator, Cristiana Pena, know via email: cristianapena@landmarkwest.org.  Or come down to the Landmarks Commission (hearings are open to the public!): http://www.nyc.gov/landmarks.

Stay tuned for a post-hearing report from the field!