Yesterday, Labor Day, we walked by and saw workers on the scene ... and not much else. This house that dates to 1852 is now a pile of rubble.
So much for the DOB permits that show that "side masonry walls to remain." As far as we can tell from the street, nothing remains.
We've heard from a few outraged neighbors about this. Meanwhile, a Very Special Tipster noted the following message outside the construction site.
For more on the property, read Off the Grid's post on it here.
amen to that!
ReplyDeleteI second that emotion
ReplyDeleteThis is so depressing. Why wouldn't you just renovate the space and bring it back to its former glory? Want to do some modernizing in the interior? Fine. But to demolish a beautiful, historic building like this...you have to be without a soul.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me so angry. They wouldn't go into the W. Village and blithely tear down townhouses fr the 1830s. Our neighborhood, tho, is fare game for those who put greed over the quality of our neighborhood, now and in the future.
ReplyDeleteSo when are we going to get some historic district designation??
I tell my fiancee about the neighborhood I was born and raised in all the time, and about how less and less of it remains every time I go back. This is a perfect example that brings a tear to my eye. The East Village my family lived in for over 55 years is rapidly becoming just a fleeting memory. So sad.
ReplyDeleteFUCK. How utterly infuriating and depressing. These developers and the generic scum who move in should be ashamed. Enough glass-and-steel yuppie zoos! Whoever wrote that message was spot on and deserves a medal.
ReplyDeletethey visit our neighborhood ... like the people in it, love the atmospher, and say to themselves ... it is so different in this area, not at all like where they live !!! we love it they say !!! ... so they move in ... but what happens ... they bring what they are trying to leave behind with them ... because if they do not ... they really do not belong here nor their kind !!! all they have in COMMON is their MONEY and LACK of IDENTITY !!!
ReplyDeletethe landmarks preservation committe should be completely and utterly ASHAMED of them selves. WTF are they doing over there? sitting on their G-D asses all day and taking bribes from developers?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteThis makes me so sad and angry, I get enraged every time I walk by. How could this happen? I'm interested to find out who the owners are and what they have to say about this.
ReplyDeleteLandmarks Preservation Commissioners are appointed by the mayor and the chairman and the vice-chairman are designated by the mayor.
ReplyDeleteThe contractor is "Eurostruct." How fucking appropriate...
ReplyDeleteBasically, it comes down to this. There is a market for these. If I owned a biz on LES, I'd ID everyone coming in. You live in one of these monstrosities, you're not welcome in my store.
Eventually the neighborhood starts to suck when you have to walk 15 blocks for coffee.
That's the only way to get these condos to stop. Make them uninhabitable for the tenants. Make them unprofitable for landlords.
LES/EV solidarity from businesses is what we need. They create the demand for these, they can un-create it!
Rumor has it that this building was bought by a former "Friends" cast member, not sure which one. Funny how that show portayed outrageously unrealistic NYC apartment living. The reality is so much more outrageous!
ReplyDeleteThere are anti-discrimination laws in the US. Businesses can provide discounts to classes of people, but not refuse them service. Next case.
ReplyDeleteThe destruction of this once beautiful building demonstrates the arrogance on the part of the monied assholes who bought it. WHAT fucking selling points do their broker have when the building is GONE????
ReplyDeleteAside from turning a fast buck on yuppie scum with deep pockets, another reason for the owner to not give a shit about this building is that this is not their culture. They have no connection with this neighborhood, NYC or its history. We're just a place for these scum to make money and for their suckers (customers) to hang their hats.
We need a Landmarks Preservation Commission with TEETH, not composed of political appointees who have an interest in allowing the wholesale slaughter of entire neighborhoods for the benefit of developers and Eurotrash real estate speculators.
Madness!!! How dare some uncaring for-profit developer take of a piece of our glorious history and turn it in to a pile of rubble? One can tour each and every of the 5 boroughs and see example where a fabulous, historic structure was torn down and replaced by an 'IKEA" like structure. And no offense to IKEA or it's concept which works fine for furniture but wreaks havoc on our lovely blocks.
ReplyDeleteLandmarks preservation missed the boat on this one and should be held accountable. By now these addresses should be in a database requiring speciall attention before proceeding with any changes, even if they are not yet landmarked. The city is now full of cheap, crappy structures put up to generate profits for some tacky developer who has no conception of a neighborhood or the preservation of the history of the city. Cheap materials, poor design and misery abound. Bet if someone went on to these poeple's blocks and altered them they woulod come out with a shotgun. Why do they destroy our beautiful historic treasures????
According to New York Magazine, the owner of this building (lot) is David Schwimmer from the TV show Friends.
ReplyDeleteThe sense of entitlement is astonishing. Shame on you.
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone so outraged and depressed??? Get over it!!! Things change, and besides that building was ugly as f*&K to begin with....
ReplyDeleteThe building that was there was nothing special.
ReplyDeleteJust because something is old doesn't mean its worth saving. Some old things are worth saving but that old building looked like shit.
This building was the epitome of not special. The new building is better. People but property, they have a right to do as they please with it. Why should any of you get to tell someone how they should live? It would be different if it had some legitimate significance or was beautiful, but it was pretty ordinary. Get a life
ReplyDeleteThis just got too annoying to read all of these supposed hardcore locals trying to one-up each other on whose more real. It's fake. F-ing hypocrisy... troll websites a look for a big "to-do" to bitch about. The old building was crap and will collapse some day because the structure is not worth the maintenance. And oh yeah, you'd hate whoever could afford the old building anyway.
ReplyDeleteEveryone's outrage over an "old" townhouse being taken is unstandable only if it was something worth landmarking & saving. This townhouse appears to be nothing special. But ironically, it actually costs more money to maintain an "old" townhouse than a new structure.
ReplyDelete^^ Thanks, David.
ReplyDelete