PRESERVATION ALERT! Neighborhood Character is Under Threat!

PRESERVATION ALERT!

NYC CITYWIDE REZONING PROPOSAL

WOULD WEAKEN HARD-WON

CONTEXTUAL ZONING PROTECTIONS,
RAISE HEIGHT LIMITS

Thirty years ago, in response to incongruous Tower-in-the-Park development promoted by New York's 1961 Zoning Resolution, Upper West Siders worked with elected officials and city planners to establish Contextual Zoning Districts.  In 2007, together we succeeded in extending contextual protection to the blocks between West 97th and 110th Streets.  Our goal was and is to ensure that any future development would be in keeping with the character of our avenues and midblocks.

The 1984 zoning amendment identified building types that contribute to "distinctive environments" on the Upper West Side.  For example:

The typical midblock building is the 3 to 6-story, 55 to 60 foot high 'brownstone'...The consistency with which these building types north of 68th Street repeat themselves is the key to the strength and clarity of the image of the West Side [emphasis added]. 

West 70th Street, a typical brownstone-scale midblock, protected by R8B contextual zoning and historic district status.

Mayor de Blasio's new zoning proposal would

raise height limits in contextual districts
like these by as much as 20-30%!

The result will be higher, bulkier, out-of-character new buildings that do not adhere to the streetwall, undermining the neighborhood's human scale and unique sense of place.

Extell's Ariel Towers, under construction in 2007, triggered community action to ensure sound, contextual development. Jacob Silberberg for The New York Times (June 17, 2007)

The City claims that zoning amendments are needed in the name of architectural quality, affordable housing, senior living, and other laudable goals.  The problem is, this proposal ensures none of these aims.  It is a massive give-away to developers who have been trying to overturn our city's hard-won zoning and historic district protections for decades.

The contextual zoning and landmark designations that guide this neighborhood's growth and change (and the neighborhood has grown and changed) were thoughtfully designed and democratically adopted policies intended to fairly balance the maintenance of this neighborhood's charms with the real needs for added development. 

~ Elliott Sclar (now director of Center for Sustainable Urban Development, The Earth Institute, Columbia University), letter dated January 10, 2003

  

Big-money real-estate interests are eager to see the rules change.  We need to work together to make sure that doesn't happen.  The new citywide rezoning proposal is entering the public review process. In the next few weeks and months, local Community Boards, Borough Presidents, the City Planning Commission, and the City Council will hold public hearings and vote on the plan. As each new hearing date is announced, will will tell you where it is and when to be there.

Here's what you can do right now:

Write to your City Council Member, Community Board, and Borough President Gale Brewer. Copy the following text into an email:

I do not want the current and future contextual neighborhood zoning protections to be weakened by allowing height limits within these protected areas to be raised by 20-30%.  The proposed citywide rezoning plan would overturn communities’ hard-won zoning and historic district protections in one fell swoop.  The result would be higher, bulkier, out-of-character new buildings that undermine individual neighborhoods’ human scale and unique sense of place.  This is not the way to ensure affordability, architectural quality, and quality of life in our city.  Please do not allow this zoning proposal to pass.

Hon. Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President 

Email: info@manhattanbp.nyc.gov

Phone: (212) 669-8300

Hon. Helen Rosenthal, City Council District 6

Email: Helen@HelenRosenthal.com

District Office Phone: (212) 873-0282

Hon. Mark Levine, City Council District 7

Email: District7@council.nyc.gov

District Office Phone: (212) 928-6814

Manhattan Community Board 7

Email: mail@cb7.org

Phone: (212) 362-4008

For more information about City Council districts, please click here; or about Community Boards, click here.

We are not alone!  Click here to read the excellent letter circulated by our colleagues at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.  This is an issue that affects us all!

If you have any further questions, contact us at:

LANDMARK WEST!

45 WEST 67 STREET

NEW YORK, NY 10023

(212) 496-8110

landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org

WRITE TO LPC! Tell them PRESERVE, DON'T DESTROY First Church!

Copy and paste the following text in an email and send it to LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan at comments@lpc.nyc.gov, and please "cc" landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org

March 6, 2015

Meenakshi Srinivasan, Chair
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor, North
New York, NY 10007

Dear Commissioner Srinivasan,

As citizens concerned about preserving our architectural legacy, including the First Church of Christ Scientist located at 361 Central Park West, we respectfully request for your office to follow its mandate to preserve the integrity of this architectural Landmark in its entirety, including its four facades, stained glass windows and roof profile as designed by the very prominent firm of Carrere and Hastings. Since its construction at the turn of the century, we have admired all the beautiful features of this dignified building and trust that under your direction, it will be preserved for many future generations to treasure and admire. The alterations presently proposed to this building counter the long term vision for NYC that your office has been entrusted with. As stated by Carrere and Hastings scholar Charles Warren, in his letter to you dated November 17, 2014: “The NYC LPC has a mandate to preserve the designated landmarks of our great city, this mandate does not require the commission to permit changes merely to maximize the profit of those who speculate in the real estate market. Allowing such destructive and unnecessary changes diminishes our architectural and cultural heritage and sets a precedent that undermines the protections the law extends to all of New York’s Landmarks.”

Sincerely,

_____________________________________
Signature Name (print)

_____________________________________

E-mail address (optional)

UPDATE: First Church of Christ, Scientist (361 CPW)

On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a Public Meeting on 361 Central Park West where architects presented their plans for multiple alterations to the exterior of this Individual Landmark, designed by Carrere & Hastings.

Please find a copies of LANDMARK WEST! President Kate Wood 's letter to Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan as well as other support letters from architects Charles Warren , Page Cowley and Robert A. M. Stern.

Also, please read LANDMARK WEST! Founder and former President Arlene Simon's Valedictory Speech to the LPC on December 9, 2014.

First, the bad news about the First Church of Christ, Scientist.  If you thought the proposal to redesign the Classical stone façade, stained-glass windows and roof of this Individual Landmark designed by Carrere & Hastings couldn’t get any worse…think again. 

At this morning’s Landmarks Preservation Commission “Public Meeting," it was evident that the application to convert this Landmark to condo use has strayed far from the principles of appropriateness established by the public testimony and the Commissioners’ own comments at the December 9, 2014, Public Hearing. 

This was no time for “business as usual.”  When Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan made a statement opening the “Hearing” to allow the applicant to speak (remember today’s session was billed as a “Public Meeting,” where no testimony would be taken), Landmark West! President Kate Wood seized the opportunity – the right, as a member of the public – to be heard.  Over Chair Srinivasan’s objections, she urged the Commissioners to stand up for this Individual Landmark and not allow a shoehorned residential use (also requiring a slew of code variances) to compromise it irreversibly.  Opponents of the project then stood up and left the room.

Essentially, the development team wants to plow ahead with plans to cut dozens of new windows, including six in the massive stone piers that define the Central Park West façade, and alter the original stained-glass windows.  Some other aspects of the design have been modified as well.

Now for the more positive news.  The Commissioners (a bare quorum of six) did not take a vote. Most of those present indicated a general willingness to approve the application, but specifically objected to the six new windows cut into the Central Park West façade, unconvinced that they were absolutely required to accommodate a new use.  So, it’s back to the drawing board…and back to the waiting game.

BIG THANKS to everyone who came down, wrote emails/letters, and made the effort to participate. Speaking up can make a difference! 

Please continue to tell Chair Srinivasan (comments@lpc.nyc.gov, cc:landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org):

·        Preserve, don’t destroy this Carrere & Hastings Landmark

·        Bring any future amendments to this application to a Public Hearing, not a so-called “Public Meeting” – if the applicant can speak, so must the public

·        Vote “no” to changes that serve only short-term development goals, not the long-term integrity of this Landmark

Tom Wolfe's 2005 Piece on 2 Columbus Circle

Check out Tom Wolfe's article in New York Magazine (July 4-11, 2005) about the battle for to save 2 Columbus Circle:

Tom Wolfe quotes former landmarks commissioner Richard Olcott, who in an email to then LPC chair Bob Tierney, said: “The design community needs to speak up and stop this madness put out by the Taliban.” A Talibanista in [Olcott's] book: Landmark West."

LANDMARK WEST! says:

The Taliban we are not.  Determined advocates, we are.

The 2 Columbus Circle Game

Tom Wolfe
July 4-11, 2005

Was the Landmarks commissioner a little too close to the side that wants it destroyed? A would-be savior of Edward Durell Stone’s building looks at the latest, most dramatic twist in the city’s preservation drama.

At 9:49 A.M., Bob e-mails Laurie: “How do we get ourselves out of this craziness?”

At 9:50, Laurie e-mails Bob: “I don’t have an answer. I am speechless when it comes to Herbert . . . and to think that he is the Chief Critic for the Times!”

Loose-lipped we and ourselves lines like these from the “Bob and Laurie Letters,” just outed via the Freedom of Information Act, have suddenly converted the fate of 2 Columbus Circle, designed in 1964 by Edward Durell Stone as Huntington Hartford’s late Gallery of Modern Art, from a foregone conclusion—it’s a dead duck—into the hottest landmark battle since Jackie Onassis rode a train dubbed “The Landmark Express” to Washington and saved Grand Central in 1978. Last week things came to a boil. The building’s likely new owners (they’re in contract) had already applied for a permit to remove the marble façade. Then the World Monuments Fund put the building on its watch list of the world’s most endangered buildings, making it one of only nine Modernist structures so designated—while the Bob and Laurie letters appeared to catch the chief judge in the case, Bob, in flagrante cahoots with the new owners’ point woman, Laurie.

“Bob” is Robert Tierney, a veteran political appointee who was once counsel to Koch and is now chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. A Landmarks hearing on Stone’s building has never been held; without one, it can’t be saved.

“Laurie” is Laurie Beckelman, a pretty blonde networker nonpareil hired by the American Craft Museum in 2002 to run its campaign to buy 2 Columbus Circle from the city and completely alter its appearance as a brand-new “Museum of Arts and Design.” When it comes to landmarking or, as in this case, avoiding landmarking, Laurie knows the City Hall fraternity grip. She was once chairman of the Landmarks Commission herself.

The “craziness” Bob was bemoaning was the ever-mounting opposition. The specific case in point that had driven Bob crazy and left Laurie speechless at 9:50 A.M. back on January 5, 2004, was this passage from New York Times critic Herbert Muschamp’s year-end architectural roundup: “The refusal of the New York City Landmarks Commission to hold hearings on the future of 2 Columbus Circle is a shocking dereliction of public duty. Unacceptable in itself, this abdication also raises the scary question of what other buildings the commission might choose to overlook in the future.”

Bob e-mails Laurie with a sardonic “ ‘shocking dereliction’ . . . ‘unacceptable’ . . . ‘abdication.’ Other than that, I thought his comments were fine.”

Over the past twenty months, the ranks of the building’s would-be saviors have swollen from a seeming handful of “cranks”—such as Tom Wolfe, viewed as a serial troublemaker with unfortunately easy access to people who buy ink by the barrel—to the biggest landmarks coalition since Grand Central days. The most authoritative of 2 Columbus Circle’s early defenders was architect Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture. Bob and Laurie and their allies rolled their eyes, as if to say, “Well, you know Bob Stern and his . . . notions.” But soon the numbers and the reputations (more deans of architecture and urbanism, Robert Venturi, Chuck Close, Frank Stella, and virtually every major preservationist organization) became too big for knowing eye-rolls. The pressure became yet more intense last month when another Times critic, Nicolai Ouroussoff, called the building “essential to the city’s historical fabric” and flogged the Landmarks Commission some more.

Bob himself has not said a word about 2 Columbus Circle as chairman other than to reiterate the Commission’s official position: It hasn’t held a hearing because the building doesn’t rate one. His only other comments now on the record are the Bob and Laurie letters, obtained in a Freedom of Information request by preservation group Landmark West. Aside from his lamentation about the gathering insanity, he has mainly offered Laurie tactical help. In May 2003, under the heading “2 Columbus Circle—The Ox is in the Ditch,” Bob e-mails Laurie a Landmark West appeal to the troops to lobby a community board before it votes on the fate of the building: “Just so you know what they’re up to.” Later Laurie e-mails Bob letting him know her side won, “but I see trouble ahead.”

Bob replies, “Let me know how I can help on the trouble ahead.”

Landmark West has filed a lawsuit charging that Bob has colluded with Laurie and asking that he recuse himself from all future consideration of 2 Columbus Circle.

Ah, the craziness . . .

As recently as six months ago, a member of the Landmarks Commission, Richard Olcott, an architect, had e-mailed Bob about a Museum of Arts and Design symposium to be attended by prominent architects. “I think you should call up Laurie Beckelman and get her to strongarm every invitee on this list to write a letter about it. The design community needs to speak up and stop this madness put out by the Taliban.” A Talibanista in his book: Landmark West.

The craziness . . . and now madness on top of craziness . . .

Asked for a response to the lawsuit and the World Monuments Fund’s concern about 2 Columbus Circle, Bob replied via an e-mail from a spokesman, “Three landmark chairs, under two administrations, have carefully considered this issue and determined not to proceed with the designation process. The World Monuments Fund listing contains no information that would change this decision.”

He declined to elaborate upon the Letters, since “this matter is under active litigation.” Laurie was not available for comment.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

From "Empress of West 67th Street," New York Magazine (November 5, 1984).

From "West Side Warrior Hands Over Reins," Wall Street Journal (January 16, 2015).

Simon's full valedictory speech before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, delivered December 9, 2014:

My name is Arlene Simon. I appear today on behalf of LANDMARK WEST! in opposition to the application for a Certificate of Appropriateness to radically alter 1 West 96th St., an individually designated landmark (Carrère & Hastings, 1899-1903).

The substantive basis for the opposition of LANDMARK WEST!, and its Certificate of Appropriateness Committee will be addressed by Max Yeston.

LANDMARK WEST!’s C of A Committee is a group of volunteer architects, preservationists, City planners, lawyers and West Siders that reviews each and every Upper West Side application that comes before the Commissioners. Applicants and their architects make presentations to the Committee, there are site visits, detailed plan and drawing reviews, and the neighborhood is canvassed for their views – a thoroughly open process.

On a separate tack, I would like to take this opportunity to formally advise the Commissioners that as of January 1, 2015, Kate Wood will assume the role of President and CEO of LANDMARK WEST! I will continue as a non-executive Chairman of the Board, but Kate will run the  show. You will soon see and hear her, again, at this podium – often, and persuasively.  At out 25th Anniversary, Robert A.M. Stern had this to say: “LANDMARK WEST! is just at the beginning. The first 25 years are the teething years. Now we need early childhood, then go on to teenage and later stages. We need LANDMARK WEST! I can’t say it more clearly. Preservation is a continuing saga.” If Stern was right, and I believe firmly that he is, Kate will have her hands full.

Compare Bob Stern’s comment with that of a Commissioner, then sitting but no longer, who complained of LANDMARK WEST! as “the Taliban,” in an email unearthed in a FOIL request in connection with one of the Commission’s most glaring failures – Edward Durrell Stone’s 2 Columbus Circle. The Taliban we are not. Determined advocates, we are.

Now, a personal note. After 30 years of appearing before this Commission, through the Chairmanships of Kent Barwick, Gene Norman, David Todd, Laurie Beckelman, Jennifer Raab, Sherida Paulsen and Robert Tierney, I think I am qualified to offer substantive observations on the direction the Commission is taking regarding public participation and meaningful input to the Commissioners’ deliberations.

The attempted de-calendaring of 100 buildings and historic districts, which had seen thousands of hours of research; were calendared, and heard by the Commissioners over the years, is but one example.

The increasing use of non-public so-called “public meetings,” to decide important applications – rather than the legally required “public hearing” process, is another. 

The increasing use of staff reviews – and approvals – rather than full hearings before the Commission is yet another. The technique of holding a public hearing, then referring the application to staff for revisions, then reconsidering the application without public participation at a Public meeting, is a shameless scam. 

The overall direction is clear – push down as much as you can, as far as you can, from public view and comment, and even Commissioner view and comment and decision-making.

In an age otherwise characterized by transparency, public access, a significant role for the public, the Commission is taking a 180° turn in the opposite direction.

Over the past 30 years, I have been aware of the inevitable political aspect of the Commission’s work. It is not easy to stand up to REBNY, or Con Edison, or the Archdiocese – not every Mayor (perhaps no Mayor) can – but you can – and you must. Every Mayor has had his stamp on every Chairman’s tenure. You must use your public-directed stamp as well.

The aggressive anti-public stamp of Mayor de Blasio and the current chair, is unmistakable – and regrettable. This Commission – and its Chairman-directed staff – should not act, and should not be seen – as an adjunct to the real estate community. Your function is not to provide one-stop service to accommodate owners and developers who want to avoid landmark designation or enforcement. You are, at heart, a regulatory agency, an exercise of police power. The public, not the applicant or owner, is your client.

A final word to the pro-bono Commissioners. Thank you for your service. Yes, the Chair is powerful and has its leadership prerogatives. But no, you are not potted plants. The warm glow and professional status and satisfaction you derive from your position does not mean you have to check your professional judgment and independent voice at the door. How often, over the years, have you – and your predecessors – lamented privately at directives and decisions by the Chair? Suffering in silence is not part of your job. A number of you knew that the de-calendaring gambit was wrong. We know that. You know we know that.

But, again, that’s just one example. You must stand up and speak up for what you believe is right. You will feel better for it. The public will benefit from it. The law requires it.

Once you are gone from the Commission, and from this earth, your actions, and failures to act, here, will endure forever. Make your service count, in the long run.

Over 100 Buildings Heard, But Not Designated by LPC, Originally Scheduled to be De-Calendared on Tuesday, December 9, 2014. LPC has since withdrawn the de-calendaring proposal. New date to be determined.

All Five Boroughs

 

Building Name, Address, Year Calendared by LPC

Upper West Side, Manhattan

IRT Powerhouse, 11th Ave at West 58th-59th Sts, 1979

St. Michael's Episcopal Church Complex, 227 West 99th St, 1980
Manhattan

Loew's 175th Street Theater, Broadway at 175th St, 1970

Yuengling Brewery Complex (6 items), Amsterdam Ave at West 127th & 128th Sts, 1991

St. Joseph's Church, 401 West 125th St, 1966

YMCA, Harlem Branch, 181 West 135th St, 1991

St. Paul's Church & School, 121 East 117th St, 1966

St. Paul's Rectory, 113 East 117th St, 1966

412 East 85th Street House, 1966

Bergdorf Goodman Building, 754 Fifth Ave, 1970

Sire Building, 211 West 58th St, 2009

Mission of the Immaculate Virgin, 448 West 56th St, 2009

Osborne Apartments Interior, 205 West 57th St, 1980

Broadway Theaters (5 exteriors, 5 interiors), 1982

Kaufman Conference Rooms Interior, 809 UN Plaza, 2001

Hotel Renaissance/Columbia Club, 4 West 43rd St, 2000

150 East 38th Street House, 1966

President Chester A. Arthur House, 123 Lexington Ave, 1966

Union Square Park, 1977

138 Second Avenue House, 2009

James McCreery & Co., 801-807 Broadway, 1966

57 Sullivan Street House, 1970

315 Broadway, 1990

143 Chambers Street, 1989

Excelsior Power Company Building, 33-43 Gold St, 1977

2 Oliver Street House, 1966

Bronx

Samuel D. Babcock House, 5525 Independence Ave, 1970

6 Ploughman's Bush Building, 2004

First Presbyterian Church of Williamsbridge and Rectory, 730-736 East 225th St, 1980

65 Schofield Street House, 2009

Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church Complex, East 150th St at Melrose Ave, 1980

Brooklyn

Greenwood Cemetery, 5th Ave and 25th St, 1981

Coney Island Pumping Station, 2301-2327 Neptune Ave, 1980

Holy Trinity Cathedral/ Ukranian Church in Exile, 177-181 South 5th St, 1966

St. Augustine's R.C. Church and Rectory, 116-130 6th Ave, 1966

183-195 Broadway Building, 1986

St. Barbara's Roman Catholic Church, 299-307 Central Ave, 1980

Lady Moody-Van Sicklen House, 27 Gravesend Neck Rd, 1966

Queens

Pepsi-Cola Sign, 1988

Spanish Towers (10 Items), 34-30 to 34-52 75th St, 1990

Old Calvary Cemetery Gatehouse, Gale & Greenpoint Aves, 1973

Douglaston Historic District Extension, 2008

Fairway Apartments, 76-09 34th Ave, 1990

First Reformed Church and Sunday School of College Point, 118-09 14th Ave, 1980

Bowne Street Community Church, 38-01 Bowne St, 2003

Ahles House, 39-24 to 39-26 213rd St, 2009

Staten Island

Sailors' Snug Harbor Historic District, 1984

Curtis House, 234 Bard Ave, 1966

St. Mary's Church, Rectory and Parish Hall, 347 Davis Ave, 1966

Woodbrook/Goodhuse House, 304 Prospect Ave, 1966

Muller House, 200 Clinton Ave, 1966

Garner Mansion, 355 Bard Ave, 1966

Sunny Brae House, 27 Colonial Ct, 1966

92 Harrison Street House, 1980

Cunard Hall, Wagner College, 631 Howard Ave, 1966

Fountain Family Graveyard, Richmond & Clove Rds, 1966

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church and Rectory, 1107 Bay St, 1966

School District No. 3 Building, 4108 Victory Blvd, 1966

St. John's P.E. Rectory, 1331 Bay St, 1966

Richmond County Country Club, 135 Flagg Place, 1966

Vanderbilt Mausoleum, Moravian Cemetery, 1980

Lakeman House, 2286 Richmond Rd, 1966

Crocheron House, Historic Richmond Town, 1966

Nicholas Killmeyer Store and Residence, 4321 Arthur Kill Rd, 1991

122 Androvette Street House, 1991

3833 Amboy Road House, 2007

Brougham Cottage, 4746 Amboy Rd, 2000

Dorothy Day Historic Site, 457 Poillon Ave, 2001

St. Paul's M.E. Church, 7558 Amboy Rd, 1991

6136 Amboy Road House, 2007

Princess Bay Lighthouse and Keeper's House, 1966

5466 Arthur Kill Road House, 2007

* The information above is taken from maps prepared by LPC, dated November 19, 2014

NYS Senator Tony Avella Finds LPC's Plan Outrageous! Read on!

New York State Senator Tony Avella writes to Mayor de Blasio and Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan of the Landmarks Preservation Commission "in regards to the LPC decision to remove a large number [96] of potential landmark locations from the calendar as of December 9th.  I FIND THIS ACTION OUTRAGEOUS!"

"Many of the applications have been calendared for years and to now just remove them is disgraceful.  I am calling on you to put an immediate stop to this action and to give the public a chance to provide their input on these long standing landmark applications."

De-calendaring these items places them "in immediate danger with little or no time for the community to act...Do not become part of the problem.  I call upon [the Commission] to set a different tone."

LANDMARK WEST! calls upon our elected officials to echo Senator Avella's words in your own letters to Mayor de Blasio and LPC chair Srinivasan (comments@lpc.nyc.gov).  We urge you to write your letter, which we will post on our blog as well.

To read about buildings that are threatened in Senator Avella's district in Queens, read the latest blog post on QueensCrap.

Thank you Senator Avella!

To contact LANDMARK WEST! call (212) 496-8110 or email landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org