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!

An APPetite for Architecture :: Launch of iPhone walking tour app for Manhattan's Upper West Side

It's here!  LW! proudly introduces the first ever iPhone walking tour app of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, using technology to offer a uniquely local perspective on NYC history, architecture and future.  Click here to download the app for free, and begin your neighborhood discovery!
 









 

• Designed by local experts for people of all ages and interests—neighbors, visitors to the city, families, armchair travelers...everyone!
  
• 35 landmark locations including the legendary Dakota Apartments, Beacon Theatre, Ansonia Hotel and American Museum of Natural History.  
  
• Intriguing facts and striking photographs telling the story of the Upper West Side’s development since the 19th century.
  
• Automatic updates on current preservation issues facing our neighborhood's landmarks.

 LW's app lets YOU take immediate action to help protect landmark sites!  Here are some examples of how you can learn about the issues and get involved:

Image courtesy of Office for Metropolitan History.

Tour Stop #15:  Former Dakota Stables

This significant but unprotected building was torn down after a robust public campaign, led by LW!, to save it.  LW! is now deeply involved in ongoing efforts to fix flaws in the city's landmarks preservation process that directly resulted in the Stables' demise.  

Join the cause and find like-minded friends on the "Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation" Facebook page.  Read other LW! blog posts on the NYC landmarks crisis.

Image from the New York Times, 11/1/2006

Tour Stop #19:  New-York Historical Society

The New-York Historical Society's landmark building is one of 10 sites on Central Park West where new condo towers may rise, according to a professional study commissioned by LW!, forever changing this iconic skyline as we know it today.   

While strong community opposition has so far pushed back the Historical Society's plans for a 280-foot-tall highrise looming over its landmark, the City recently approved a slew of special permits allowing Congregation Shearith Israel, another low-rise Classical landmark, to build 5 floors of luxury condos on top of its West 70th Street community house.  Learn more about LW's skyline study and join the list of "Save Our Skyline" supporters (launched in 2006, re-launching now!).  Read other LW! blog posts on defending the skyline.

Tour Stop #28:  Central Park

LW! led efforts, supported by more than dozen ally organizations and over 1,400 individuals, to defend Central Park against a misguided City proposal to install four 35-foot-tall vinyl bubbles over existing outdoor tennis courts near 95th Street.  

The City hasn't completely abandoned its proposal, which would privatize public space and pose an environmental threat to a Scenic Landmark and historic urban oasis.  Join the list of concerned citizens who want to Keep Central Park Open to All!  Read other LW! blog posts on Central Park. 

 

PHOTOS :: 25th Anniversary celebration a magical success!

It was an indescribable sensation to stand among our friends Tuesday evening, in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in the Rose Building at Lincoln Center.  In a room suspended among snowflakes, we gathered to celebrate a quarter century of an organization truly central to the preservation of our amazing Upper West Side neighborhood: LANDMARK WEST!   

Master of Ceremonies Tom Brokaw graciously presided over our evening's program-- a command performance, he mused: "Arlene commands; I perform!"  The revelries kicked-off with a special performance by Isaiah Sheffer, Founding Artistic Director of Symphony Space, and members of the Thalia Follies cabaret troupe entitled "The Preservation Follies".

But the night wasn't just about us!  LW! is going strong because of families like the Blechmans, the Caros, and the Wolfes.  Remarkable people whose passion fuels our own, who put their exceptional talents to work for the greater good, who help to organize the community around issues and values that matter most -- beauty, history, culture, and sustainability.  These families remind us why it is so important for LW! to persist for another 25 years ... and more!

For our friends who were able to join us for this magical night of revelry, may the photos below (and here, in our Flickr album!) serve as a reminder of our whimsical evening.  For those unable to attend, we hope to see you at another event in 2011.  Thank you, all, and here's to the next 25 years!

Roberta Brandes Gratz Removed from the Landmarks Preservation Commission

The New York Times City Room blog reported last night that Roberta Brandes Gratz was removed from the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission as of October 26, 2010.  Gratz - journalist, preservationist, and most recently author of The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs - was appointed to the Commission by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2003. 

The Mayor giveth, and the Mayor taketh away.

Gratz was often "a thorn in the side of the commission, freely speaking her mind, even if her views clashed with other commissioners, City Hall or the chairman, Robert B. Tierney," reports the Times.  Bloomberg deliberately failed to reappoint Gratz when her term expired, even as other commissioners had their terms renewed, leaving her to vulnerable to removal at any moment.

Read more...

LW! in the Press :: West Side Spirit covers 25th anniversary

Check out this online article in the West Side Spirit, sharing a bit of info about LANDMARK WEST!'s quarter century of preservation advocacy on the Upper West Side.  

**Spoiler alert!** Some of our favorite lines, below ...

"We don't want the Upper West Side to become a Disneyland, where everything is just a facade.  We want there to be something tangible ...  It's probably not sexy, what we do, but it's essential."
~~ Arlene Simon, president, founder and citizen activist extraordinaire.


On the protection that landmarking provides and the responsibility it instill in property owners: "Yes, people may have to go through more bureaucracy ... but their neighbors do too."
~~ Kate Wood, executive director and glass-half-full expert.

For more on LANDMARK WEST's 25th anniversary celebration, to be held on Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, click here!

UPDATE from the FIELD :: "Nautical" Boathouse bar sunk by Design Commission

UPDATE from the FIELD
As reported by Cristiana P.

Central Park's iconic Loeb Boathouse was recently in the market for an outdoor bar redesign.  Suburban mall kiosks and beach-front rest stations need not apply!

The Design Commission on Monday morning reviewed a proposal for a newly designed bar adjacent the Boathouse, and LW! was there.  Following a presentation of the project by representatives of both the Parks Department and the project architect, we presented our testimony.  Cosmetic quick-fixes are not the answer, we argued, when the fundamental design is inappropriate.  The Commissioners picked up on this same point and offered critique on the tear drop-shaped design.  For a rundown (and more LW! notes) visit A Walk in the Park blog.

As we commented to A Walk in the Park: "LANDMARK WEST! is incredibly pleased that the Design Commission took a strong stand on this application, especially after it passed through a number of other stages of public review with far less criticism. This was a prime example of money and the desire to generate revenue--not design integrity--being the driving force behind park projects. What we get, of course, is an outrageous, flamboyant design that belongs anywhere but in a Scenic Landmark like Central Park. The Design Commission picked up on this precisely, and we think it’s terrific."

Our design review committee first reviewed this proposal in September, when it appeared before the Landmarks Preservation Commission (click here for a copy of our statement).  And we'll continue to monitor agency agendas for its resurfacing.  As always, stay tuned!

NEW! Reserve online for LW! events and programs

Reserving your ticket for LANDMARK WEST! events just got a whole lot easier!  It's simple:

(1) Hear about an intriguing upcoming LW! event by email.*  Like Mosette Broderick's "Architecture (and Scandal!)" next Monday, or our 25th Anniversary gala celebration at Lincoln Center on December 14th.

(2) Click on the links provided, like this one here for Mosette Broderick, or this one here for our anniversary fete.

(3) Select your tickets, enter your billing information, and voila!  You're on the list!

Of course, you can still call LW! staff at (212) 496-8110 with any questions.  We can't wait to see you at one of our upcoming public programs!

*Don't already receive our emails?  Easily subscribe by emailing us at landmarkwest@landmarkest.org.