Celebrating former Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Gene A. Norman

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gene A. Norman testifying in 1984 to protect the NYC Landmarks Law.

Credit: Albany Press, 1984.

In 1988, Gene presided over a 16-hour marathon public hearing at the Fourth 

Universalist Society, which led to the 1990 designation of over 2,000 buildings 

in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District.

Please join

LANDMARK WEST!

for a very special evening

to celebrate former

Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair

Gene A. Norman

 

the *25th Anniversary of the

Upper West Side/Central Park West

Historic District

and the 30th Anniversary of

LANDMARK WEST!

Monday, December 14, 2015

6:00 to 8:00 pm

 

Landmark on the Park

Fourth Universalist Society

76th Street and Central Park West

For ticket prices and online reservations, 

please visit Eventbrite

LANDMARK WEST! 45 WEST 67 STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10023

LANDMARKWEST@LANDMARKWEST.ORG     (212) 496-8110

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.