Rally to Save the New York Public Library

As reported by intern Melissa Doherty 

Protestors on the steps of the NYPL

Yesterday, a rally was held at the 42^nd street New York Public Library in protest of the Central Library Plan (CLP), during a meeting of the library’s trustees. This plan, proposed by architect Norman Foster, claims to be restoring one of Manhattan’s most beloved landmarks, when, in actuality, it is endangering the architectural integrity of Carrère and Hastings’ original and irreplaceable Beaux-Arts design.

Costing at least $350,000,000, of which $150,000,000 will come from New York City taxpayers, this plan intends to demolish the historic book stacks and install a new circulating library. In addition, it threatens to relocate 1.5 million books to remote storage in New Jersey.

There was a strong turnout of exuberant and enthusiastic individuals who truly believed in the cause. They received countless petition signatures from passersby, showing the evident public concern for the well-being of the library. Even in the rain, on the steps of the NYPL, protestors held their signs high, some of them reading “$350,000,000 to gut this historic library while branch libraries are closing,” “No, No, Norman,” and “Your library destroyed with no public input.” Whistles were blown and chanting ensued as the trustees left the meeting, in which the CLP was conferred. Protestors stood side-by-side with the library’s marble lions, “Patience” and “Fortitude,” fighting to save this monumental piece of New York City’s history.

Meet the Newest Addition to LW!

My name is Melissa Doherty and I just completed my sophomore year at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. I am currently an Art Major and I have a great passion for architectural preservation and architectural history.

I grew up visiting Manhattan on a regular basis and its historic sites have always intrigued me. I was fascinated, early on, by structures in my own hometown of Roslyn, NY, that date back to the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

I have completed courses in Islamic Art & Architecture, Architecture of Lancaster and Architectural Design. The course I completed on the architecture of Lancaster, PA truly sparked my interest of architectural history and helped me develop an enthusiasm for landmarks. Through this, I began to understand the critical nature of preservation as a means to maintain the character of a neighborhood.

I came upon LANDMARK WEST! in my research of the field of architectural preservation and it seemed like the perfect way to further explore this captivating subject. I am very excited to learn more about the historic structures of the Upper West Side and the vital advocacy process.

P.S. 199: CALL TO ACTION

Click here to send an email "postcard" to Hon. Robert Tierney, Chair of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Committee (LPC) and urge the LPC to hold an emergency public hearing to designate P.S. 199 an official NYC Landmark.
.
It is especially urgent that Commission act now to save P.S. 199. Designed by internationally-acclaimed architect Edward Durell Stone in 1963, P.S. 199 is currently threatened with demolition by the Department of Education Construction Fund. Read coverage of this issue in the New York Times, West Side Rag, The Daily News and DNAInfo.

 

SEND AN E-POSTCARD TODAY

Meet and Greet: Your Graduate Intern

Rachel Levy joined the LW! team as a Graduate Intern in January and will continue working at LW! this summer. She is a first year (almost second year!) student in Columbia University's graduate program in historic preservation.

Though originally from the small coastal town of Falmouth, Maine, Rachel loves New York City's buildings and neighborhoods and has lived here for four years. She is passionate about preservation advocacy and loves the local, community-based approach LW! takes toward preservation issues.

From learning the ins and outs of LW's Certificate of Appropriateness Committee, to the lessons of advocacy 101, Rachel is excited to dig deeper into Upper West Side preservation and advocacy this summer! Expect more posts from her as these crisp spring days transition into the steamy days of summer. 

Designate the West End's Historic District Extensions NOW

 

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

 Question: How could this out-of-context building get built?

 

Answer: These 4 rowhouses were not designated NYC Landmarks when the then-owner of 2 Riverside Drive built on this site. The moral of the story? Please do not take your neighborhood for granted. 2 Riverside Drive is proof of what can happen. It is urgent that you tell the LPC to "Vote yes now on Manhattan's West End Historic District Extensions." The Riverside/West End Historic District Extension II and the West End Collegiate Extension--vital to Manhattan's Upper West Side Historic Districts--have been HEARD by the LPC but NOT designated.

 

Sign this petition to LPC Chair Tierney and ask for the designation NOW of these Historic District (HD) extensions. Please sign soon--sign now--then send on to a friend to sign. The LPC deserves to hear from you.

 

Approximately 194 new landmarks were added to the 2700 existing landmarked buildings when the Riverside/West End HD Extension I was designated on June 26, 2012. Take a moment to join us in relishing the pure pleasure of a job well done. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wrote her own letter to the LPC, dated April 30, 1987 in support of designating the Riverside/West End HD. Mrs. Onassis wrote, "Your designation of [the Riverside-West End HD] will provide future generations of New Yorkers the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of this remarkably intact piece of our past, just as we enjoy it today."  Please sign the petition and if you wish, write your own letter and email a copy to LANDMARK WEST!

Designation is just the first step. Help us be the vigilant stewards our neighborhood still needs and deserves. Big or small, your contribution matters. Give online or call LW! at 212-496-8110 to make a financial pledge.
 

Photo above from LW!'s, My Preservation Journal, part of Keeping the Past for the Future Youth Education Program taught by Director of Education Debi Germann, M.S. Ed from the Bank Street College of Education and certified classroom teacher.

In the Spirit of Jackie-O: Designate the West End Extensions!

If Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis could do it, so can you. Please SIGN LW's PETITION to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Chair Tierney and ask for the designation of the extensions to Manhattan's West End Historic Districts (HDs). Here's why.

In 1985, when LANDMARK WEST! was founded to advocate for long overdue protection of our neighborhood's architectural heritage, the Upper West Side only had 337 designated landmarks. By 2010, the Upper West Side claimed 72 Individual Landmarks, 3 Scenic Landmarks, 7 Interior Landmarks and 9 Historic Districts, for a total of nearly 2,700 landmarks designated by the LPC. That's something like a 1,000% increase since 1985!

 

Well, hold onto your hat...approximately 194 new landmarks have been added to the West Side's noble roster when the Riverside/West End HD Extension I was designated on June 26, 2012. Take a moment to join us in relishing the pure pleasure of a job well done. Our smiles get even wider when we look back at the above prescient letter from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to the LPC, dated April 30, 1987. She wrote, "Your designation of [the Riverside-West End HD] will provide future generations of New Yorkers the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of this remarkably intact piece of our past, just as we enjoy it today."    

 Please, do enjoy it, but then do more. Sustain it. Don't take your neighborhood for granted-historic district Extension II & West End Collegiate Extension have been heard but NOT designated by the LPC.There is strength in numbers. Tell the LPC to "Vote Yes on Manhattan's West End HDs." 

Designation is just the first step. Help us be the vigilant stewards our neighborhood still needs and deserves. Big or small, your contribution matters. Give online or call LW! at 212-496-8110 to make a financial pledge.

 

 

 

Andy Warhol (American 1928-1987), Nine Jackies, 1964. Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, 65 x 53 x 2 in. overall. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Halston, 1983.

From the LW! Archives...1987 Letter from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Supporting the Original Riverside/West End Historic District

In 1985, when LANDMARK WEST! was founded to advocate for more widespread protection of our neighborhood's architectural heritage, the Upper West Side only had 337 designated landmarks.

With the recent Riverside-West End HD Extension I designation, approximately 194 new landmarks have been added to the West Side's noble roster.Take a moment to join us in relishing the pure pleasure of a job well done. Our smiles get even wider when we look back at this prescient letter from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to the LPC, dated April 30, 1987.

She wrote: “Your designation of [the Riverside-West End HD] will provide future generations of New Yorkers the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of this remarkably intact piece of our past, just as we enjoy it today.”

The district was officially designated two years later, on December 19th, 1989. Don’t take your neighborhood for granted--extensions II & III have been heard but NOT designated. Email LPC Chair Tierney at comments@lpc.nyc.gov and tell him, “I support the designation of the Riverside-West End Extensions II & III.” Sign your name--email it soon--today, if possible. Send a copy to landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org.

It's a Twofer! World Trade Center and Grand Central Lecture and Book Signing

1978 image of the World Trade Center by Balthazar Korab. Korab was one of the leading architectural photographers in the period after World War II. He died at the age of 86 and his life was remembered in the New York Times obituaries on January 27th, 2013. 

The World Trade Center 

Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing

with West-Sider Anthony W. Robins

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 at 6:00PM

Macaulay Honors College at CUNY

35 West 67th Street

From David W. Dunlap's 12/3/2012 New York Times review of The World Trade Center: "Mr. Robins's collection evokes this same [upbeat] spirit and adds a rich dimension to trade center history."

Originally published in 1987 while the Twin Towers still stood--brash and controversial, a new symbol of the city and the country--Robins's book offered the first serious consideration of the planning and design of the World Trade Center.  A decade after the disaster, a new World Trade Center is rising on the site. It is only natural, then, that we will find ourselves thinking about what life was like in the original Center. This new edition of the book--expanded to include copies of some of the documents upon which the text was based--is offered as a memory of the World Trade Center as it once was. 

Space is Limited. Reservations Required! 

$20 for "Steward" members, $25 for non-members 

2-for-1 Admission for "Partners" and above members

It's a twofer*! Robins will return in March 2013 for an illustrated slide lecture celebrating the arrival of his new book, the hot-off-the-press Grand Central Terminal: 100 Years of a New York Landmark. Attend two slide lectures for the price of one! For more information about the World Trade Center and Grand Central Terminal books and about Anthony W. Robins, visit 

his website.

To inquire about your membership status and/or to purchase tickets email landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org, or call 212-496-8110

*A coupon offering two items, especially tickets for a play, for the price of one.

Grand Central Terminal Tour Recap

 

Last Saturday, January 26th, LANDMARK WEST! and friends joined noted guide Justin Ferate for an engaging tour of one of New York's most majestic and welcoming buildings, Grand Central Terminal.

Beginning the tour across Park Avenue and gradually making our way inside, Justin highlighted small yet significant aspects of the building that create a sense of grandeur for visitors. Sets of doors in the entryway, which no longer exist, used to hide the view of the main hall so visitors would be held in suspense about the interior until experiencing it for themselves.

One of the especially delightful aspects of Grand Central is its monumental scale, with classically-inspired ornamentation, that exists alongside many features designed at a human scale. Justin explained this in his engaging and enthusiastic style by demonstrating that the length of each floor tile is the same as a human leg, with the width equal to one step.

       

The tour featured additional treasures of Grand Central, including a remnant of the old yellow bricks that used to pave Park Avenue leading up to Grand Central, which still exists in the parking garage of the old Biltmore Hotel, and of course the whispering gallery beneath an impressive Guastavino tiled ceiling.

LW! thanks Justin Ferate for leading a fascinating tour in anticipation of Grand Central's centennial celebrations later this week.

LW! on the Cutting Edge...of WUNDERKAMMERS

Guests attend LANDMARK WEST!'s "A Wunderkammer Evening" at a private residence in the West 67th Street Artist's Colony Historic District on December 4, 2012.

During the European Renaissance, objects reflecting the genius of man as well as the caprice of nature were assembled into collections; they could be remains of huge, monstrous beasts or the sculpted virtuosity of an artistic master. These marvels and oddities were secured in what were referred to as a Wunderkammer, or "cabinet of wonder" or curiosity.

On December 4, 2012, LANDMARK WEST! had the rare opportunity to venture into a private collection of art featuring a period Renaissance artist studio filled with bronze sculptures, antique musical instruments, zoological and anatomical curiosities, or in more or less words, Wunderkammers. LW! shared cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and merriment with our most devoted of friends.

Speaking of Wunderkammers...seems like LW! is on the cutting edge. Last week, the New York Times reported the opening of a Wunderkammer exhibit which will run until Saturday, February 2nd at the Grolier Club at 47 East 60th Street. If you didn't get your fill of these treasures, you have another chance to see these more of these marvels on public display. It was a lovely evening. 

The Times reports more on the Grolier Club exhibit...

Top left: A crocodile image from an early Wunderkammer. Collection of the George Peabody Library of the Sheridan Library Special Collections, Johns Hopkins University.

Bottom left: Domenico Remps, A Cabinet of Curiosity (1690s), Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure. 

Right: Guests attend LANDMARK WEST!'s "A Wunderkammer Evening." 

"Many exhibitions convey the propulsive force of human curiosity, but few manage to do so as engrossingly and with as much immediacy as “Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum, 1599-1899,” a lavish repast of illustrated rare books and ephemera at the Grolier Club. The appetite for knowledge about foreign lands, unfamiliar animals and all the workings of the world — both natural and man-made — permeates this show, which delves into the origins of the modern museum.

Its story starts in 16th-century Europe, where intensely curious apothecaries, scholars and the odd nobleman or king began to amass hodgepodge collections of strange and beautiful objects that piqued their interest, inspired awe and demanded further study. These included shells and corals; animal horns and skeletons; natural specimens dried, stuffed or bottled; prints and paintings; antique sculptures and medals; ancient tools; new scientific instruments; and exotic plants and weaponry (and other accouterments) brought back from foreign climes by explorers and tradesmen. All these finds came to be displayed, along with much else, in crowded, claustrophobic rooms lined with shelves and drawers that were known as Wunderkammers, or cabinets of curiosities, and that eventually exerted an immense influence on Western culture and thought.

The show opens with the first illustration of a Wunderkammer, the woodcut frontispiece in a book about natural history that Ferrante Imperato (1550-1625), an Italian apothecary, published in Naples in 1599, illustrating it with birds, sea creatures, fossils and minerals from his own collection. The Imperato Wunderkammer included a stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling — an item that became a fashionable feature of the cabinets, as did the black-and-white checkered floors visible in subsequent frontispiece images." (Imperato’s own Wunderkammer seems to have lacked such a floor, but one was added to a nearly identical image for the book’s second edition in 1672.)

“Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum, 1599-1899” runs through Feb. 2 at the Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, Manhattan; (212) 838-6690, grolierclub.org.