[The proposed hotel]
Below are details sent from the Merchant's House Museum regarding an extremely important hearing that could indeed impact the structural safety of the city's only fully intact Federal-style rowhouse, the landmark Merchant's House Museum at 25 E. 4th St.
At issue is a proposal to build a 9-story hotel tower on the adjacent 27 E. 4th St., an enterprise that experts agree would have a devastating impact on the Merchant's House.
The Merchant's House is one of the city's most precious historic resources. In recent years, we have seen the destruction of Federal era houses at 35 Cooper Square, 135 Bowery, and in many other locations. Please come out on Tuesday to protect the Merchant's House and stop the inappropriate, out-of-context development that threatens it. — David Mulkins, Chair, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
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After five postponements, the LPC hearing on the proposed 9-story hotel next door will be held on Tuesday, September 11, at 3:30 p.m. Location: Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street, 9th Floor.
We've said it before, but we'll say it again: The proposed building is out of character with the East 4th Street block and is inappropriate to the historic context of the NoHo Historic District.
Until the 1880s, East 4th Street comprised a row of 13 red-brick and white-marble single-family homes stretching from Lafayette Street to Bowery. Each of these homes featured well-articulated facades and gardens in the rear.
Today, only the landmarked 1832 Merchant's House and 1845 Skidmore House, at 37 East 4th Street, survive to suggest the aesthetics and scale of the block during the mid-19th century.
The proposed 9-story, black glass building butting up against and towering over the delicate late-Federal/Greek revival Merchant's House would brutally shatter this vision.
Adding salt to our wound, the proposed development also poses a grave threat to the structural integrity of the Merchant's House. It's not a question of "if," but rather a question of "how much" damage to the exterior brick and the interior architectural elements will be incurred as a result of demolition and construction next door. According to experts, we can't afford to have the building shift, even one-eighth of an inch.
It's still not too late to help. Please send an email to the LPC urging them to reject the developer's plans. Click here for a template letter.
Find a petition here.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation provides more details here.
BoweryBoogie wrote about the planned hotel here.