How you can help save the historic 135 Bowery

From the EV Grieve inbox ...

Dear Friends of the Historic Bowery,

The historic buildings on the Bowery are under extreme threat. In May, New York lost the 1835 townhouse at 35 Cooper Square to a proposed tower development. The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and others have urged the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to act swiftly to save the remaining historic buildings on the Bowery and the LPC listened.

In June, the LPC voted to designate the circa 1818 Federal-style house at 135 Bowery as an individual landmark — but the future is still uncertain! Its landmark designation still awaits ratification in City Council where the bank that owns it will be applying tremendous pressure opposing the designation.

Please add your name to the petition to demonstrate broad public support for saving this rare surviving and intact townhouse from the Federal era. Sign the petition to tell Councilmember Margaret Chin and City Council that we do not want to lose this Bowery landmark.

Find the petition here.

Thank you for your support.

Jean Standish, Vice Chair
Mitchell Grubler, Chair, Landmarks Committee
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

City Council to hold public hearing Monday on hotel next to the Merchant’s House

[Illustration by SJ Costello]

The 186-year-old Merchant's House Museum continues the fight against the developers of the proposed hotel next door to the city, state and federal landmark on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette.

Next up: The City Council Zoning Subcommittee meeting on Monday morning.

The eight-story hotel, which has been in the works for several years, would rise 100 feet on a lot to the west — currently housing Al-Amin Food Inc., which stores food carts.

The developers, Kalodop II Park, are seeking a spot rezoning to build the structure that high. The seven-month public review process, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), began in the spring.

This development is of grave concern to preservationists, not to mention the leadership of Merchant's House, the circa-1832 building that is one of only six residences in NYC that is both an exterior and an interior landmark. (The Merchant’s House has a call to arms, which you can read here.)

However, landmark status does not guarantee protection from adjacent construction, and Merchant's House officials are worried that the ensuing excavation and subsequent work will damage their building.


[Via SRA Architecture and Engineering]

On Aug. 25, the City Planning Commission voted to approve the application, rejecting the denial recommendations of both Community Board 2 and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

The application is now with City Council. A public hearing is set for Monday morning at 9:30 at 250 Broadway, 16th Floor.

As Curbed reported on June 1:

The Council member representing this part of the East Village, Carolina Rivera, seems to be on the side of the museum and preservationists, saying in a statement in May that she would not support the project until the museum was assured of the safety of its building.

The City Council is the final stop for this project, and other City Council members usually tend to side with the Council member representing that particular neighborhood...

Rivera disappointed preservationists and some other residents last month with her yes vote for the 14th Street tech hub without any substantial zoning limitations on neighboring blocks.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Concern again for Merchant's House Museum as developer moves forward with hotel next door

Report: Landmarks Preservation Commission OKs plans for hotel next door to the Merchant's House

Plans filed for new 8-story hotel next to the historic Merchant's House Museum on East 4th Street

City approves dorm conversion plans for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

It appears that the 15-plus years of stalled development at the former PS 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center might be nearing an end.

On Friday, the city (partially) approved developer Gregg Singer's controversial dorm-conversion plan for the landmarked building at 605 E. Ninth St. between Avenue B and Avenue C, per DOB records.



Per previous reports, both The Joffrey Ballet School and Cooper Union have signed on to house its students at what will be called University House.

Here's a breakdown on the leasing, according to the University House website:

Ground Floor — 50 Beds leased to Joffrey Ballet School
First Floor — 82 Beds leased to Joffrey Ballet School
Second Floor — 98 Beds leased to Cooper Union
Third Floor — 98 Beds leased to Cooper Union
Fourth Floor — 98 Beds available for lease
Fifth Floor with Mezzanine — 109 Beds available for lease

Here's more on the dorm from the website:

University House is an exciting new state of the art college living experience with a grand opening for the 2016/17 school year in the heart of the East Village. The redevelopment and historic restoration of this century old landmark, former New York City elementary school, will be transformed into a modern, amenity-rich home designed, built and managed for 535 students for New York's participating colleges and universities. Ideal for all students with safety and amenities as the top priorities.

According to DOB documents, the cost of the renovation/conversion of the landmarked building is $16 million.



The site has long been a community focal point, in which residents fought against Singer's various development plans, which included a megadorm that would have dwarfed its Christodora House neighbor.

And just last week this banner arrived on the East 10th Street side of the building…



Preservation groups and some local residents wanted to see the building returned for community use.

Singer bought the building from the city in 1998.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Rebranded P.S. 64 up for grabs: Please welcome University House at Tompkins Square Park to the neighborhood

Deed for 'community facility use only' at the former P.S. 64 now on the market

Efforts continue to fight the dorm planned for the former PS 64 on East 9th Street

Testimony Of Councilmember Rosie Mendez regarding the former PS 64

[Updated] At the 'Save Our Community Center MARCH AND RALLY'

Landmarks Preservation Commission asks to see modified plans for former PS 64

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approves application for modifications at PS 64

Last chance tomorrow for historic 135 Bowery

From the EV Grieve inbox via the East Village Community Coalition...

Dear neighbor,

135 Bowery, between Grand and Broome, needs your help. In June, this 1817 Federal-era rowhouse was designated an individual landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) but the future of the building is still uncertain. The next step in the process is tomorrow's City Council vote.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Call Councilmember Margaret Chin's office and tell her to support landmark designation. The community wants it and the City has deemed the building a landmark!

Councilmember Margaret Chin
212-587-3159

Please attend the hearing tomorrow, September 15, at 11 AM, 250 Broadway, Committee Room, 16th Floor. Be sure to bring valid ID.

If you're attending the meeting, please let me know. If you're unavailable, please pick up the phone and call Councilmember Chin's office right away.

Sincerely,

Kurt Cavanaugh
Managing Director
director.evccnyc@gmail.com

Read more background here ... and here...

A look at the coming-soon signage at the Moxy East Village

The coming-soon signage has arrived at the Moxy East Village on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.



The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) was quick to note the branding on the sidewalk bridge...

Irony alert: The #Moxyhotel 4 #millennials on E.11th St. for which 5 landmark-eligible 19th c tenements w/ 100 residential units were demolished is marketing with image of kinds of buildings they knocked down! & #JaneJacobs ?? Read more about our fight:https://t.co/DLFacOcyf6 pic.twitter.com/HJhQRLmewa

— GVSHP (@GVSHP) October 3, 2018

It's not known if the glasses actually represent urbanist-activist Jane Jacobs ... or, perhaps, science buff Velma Dinkley from "Scooby-Doo."

In June 2016, local preservationists made their case to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue a historic district in a bid to save the five residential (circa 1887-1892) buildings from demolition.


[Photo from May 2016]

However, the LPC ignored the request, Andrew Berman, executive director of the GVSHP, said at the time. Representatives for GVSHP, the Historic Districts Council, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative and the East Village Community Coalition all signed a letter appealing to now-former LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan.

In any event, the use of tenements photo-printed on the sidewalk bridge — a simulation of the local New York streetscape the hotel destroyed — is reminiscent of Target's faux storefront/TRGT grand opening last summer on 14th Street.

The 13-story Moxy East Village is expected to open in late 2019.

Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

At the Moxy hotel protest on 11th Street last evening

[Photo by Derek Berg]

A group of residents, preservationists, local elected officials and union reps came out early last evening to protest the incoming hotel by Marriott's Moxy brand slated to replace a row of buildings at 112-120 E. 11th St. between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.

The speakers blasted Mayor de Blasio's administration, who despite the purported dedication to affordable housing, is allowing the 300-room hotel aimed at millennials to move forward.

The Lightstone Group paid Pan Am Equities $127 million for the portfolio.

In July 2015, Mayor de Blasio appointed Lightstone Chairman and CEO David Lichtenstein to the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors.

According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), who helped organize the rally, the five buildings were ruled "landmark-eligible" by the city in 2008. However, when the buildings faced the threat of demolition this past summer, the city said that they no longer qualified for landmark status, per GVSHP.


[DB]


[DB]


[Photo by Peter Brownscombe]


[Photo by PB]

Here are a collection of comments distributed to the media following last evening's rally..

"Community groups, preservationists, affordable housing advocates, and labor all agree that this development stinks. Something is wrong when a Mayor who claims to care about neighborhoods, average New Yorkers, affordable housing, and organized labor allows his campaign contributor and political ally to avoid landmark protections so he can demolish historic buildings with affordable housing to put up a high-end hotel with non-union labor. Preserving these buildings and the housing they provided represents everything New Yorkers and residents of this neighborhood want; the hotel plan represents everything they do not want." — Andrew Berman, GVSHP Executive Director

“It is disappointing, but sadly not surprising, that a project like Lightstone Development’s Moxy Hotel on 11th Street has been approved by the City of New York. Disappointing because it will eliminate desperately needed neighborhood affordable housing, provide no decent career pathways for New Yorkers, and is being driven by a developer known to use contractors with a history of safety violations and worker exploitation ... Not surprising because Mayor de Blasio’s appointment of Lightstone’s CEO David Lichtenstein to the EDC raises serious concerns about who is watching out for the public good of the city’s economic driver plans." — John Skinner, President/Political Director Metallic Lathers Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46


[Photo of Rosie Mendez by PB]

"I stand by my original statement and my continued disappointment that we are losing five buildings in my district that contained several dozen affordable rent regulated units, as well as the fact that these were architecturally and historically significant buildings built in the late 1800s. Instead we will have a hotel that will be architecturally out of character and out of scale with our neighborhood. I am extremely disappointed that this mayoral administration has not come forward with any legislative/zoning solutions to prevent these types of 'as of right developments' from reoccurring. — Council Member Rosie Mendez


[Photo of Brad Hoylman by PB]

"It’s wrong that units of affordable housing on an historic East Village block are slated to be demolished and replaced forever by expensive hotel rooms by a developer who has a poor safety record in protecting workers. This case is a glaring example of the work we need to do to protect the historic fabric and character of our neighborhoods and ensure we use union labor for new construction." — State Senator Brad Hoylman

Previously on EV Grieve:
6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Report: 300-room hotel planned for East 11th Street

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel (58 comments)

NY1 looks at a 'landmark dispute' on East Fourth Street

NY1 ran a piece last night titled "Plan To Redevelop East Village Row Houses Draws Fire."

A landmark dispute on Manhattan's Lower East Side is pitting some longtime residents against one another as a developer sets his sights on the neighborhood. NY1's Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.

They may not look like much, but to some, a cluster of 1830s row houses located at 326 and 328 East 4th Street mean a lot. The buildings currently house an arts collective, but they're moving out and a new developer is coming in — and that has some people worried.

"We're just concerned about inappropriate alterations to the building, or actual demolition itself because these are the only buildings that have ever been on these sites and it's so rare that a 170-year-old building is still around in the East Village," said Kurt Cavanaugh of the East Village Community Coalition.

A developer, who would not talk with NY1, has already signed an agreement to buy the buildings. He has also filed an application to build two new stories on top of the existing structures.

"To destroy them with a high rise or something crazy would be nuts," said one East Village resident

.

You can watch the video here.



It's a good piece, — I'm glad that word of this potential development is getting out there .... Here's a little more background on the two townhouses between Avenue C and Avenue D that hit the market back in March for $4.6 million. As the Times reported last month, this was home to "an artists’ collective and burial society called the Uranian Phalanstery and First New York Gnostic Lyceum Temple, was started in the East Village in the late 1950s by the artists Richard Oviet Tyler and Dorothea Tyler." Per Colin Moynihan's article, the group is faced with tax liens, and sold the building they have owned since 1974.

Meanwhile, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and the East Village Community Coalition are working to to get landmark status here.

In any event, the historic townhouses are now in contract. The Corcoran listing shows they went for $3.95 million. The Times story last month noted that the developer is Terrence Lowenberg, who's also behind the work at Ninth Street and First Avenue. Curbed pointed out that the two-story rooftop additions are designed by architect Ramy Issac, "the neighborhood's most controversial tenement topper."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Historic East Fourth Street artists' collective soon to be condos

Two side-by-side townhouses on East Fourth Street await your renovation

Subway Inn continues to live to serve another day

[EVG file photo]

Heading out of the neighborhood for a sec ... Via the EVG inbox...

On behalf of the entire Salinas family, I would like to applaud Civil Court Judge Jennifer Schecter for her heroic decision earlier today, which for the second time in less than 10 days, stayed all eviction proceedings against our family business. I would also like to take this opportunity, to once again thank the thousands of New Yorkers who have signed our petition and have sent us notes of encouragement to help my family stay strong through this very trying ordeal.

What my family has learned through this struggle to save our business (which has been in our family for more than 4 decades) is that this fight had struck a nerve in the heart of many New Yorkers. This is no longer a fight JUST about my family and our livelihood, it is about saving the character and charm of Olde New York by preserving our building, which has served both famous as well as everyday day New Yorkers proudly for more than 77 years.

We also would to commend the work and support of the New York City’s Landmark Preservation Commission, Councilman Dan Garodnick, and State Senator Liz Krueger for standing behind our fight and their willingness to meet and help us as we continue to try to save this treasure.

Thank You,
Steven Salinas

Here 's more background on the situation here on East 60th Street.

Updated 4:23 p.m.
According to Eater, Subway's lease is up in February.

Updated 8/28
Here's an important update on the legal wrangling via DNAinfo ...

The World-Wide Group’s lawyer offered Oct. 21 as a new move-out date, but Subway Inn lawyers refused and asked for Nov. 30, saying it would take time for the Salinas family to find a new place to relocate their business.

Claude Castro, who represents Subway Inn, also asked that the Salinas family be able to take the decades-old neon sign, as well as the bar’s furniture when vacating the space. The World-Wide Group’s lawyer refused.

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Should we start worrying about the Subway Inn?

Report: The Subway Inn will close next month

Landmarks Preservation Commission spares historic stable from the condo afterlife

From the EV Grieve inbox...

After a six-year campaign led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP), the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) today voted unanimously to landmark 128 East 13th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues. The building is believed to be the city's last surviving horse auction mart building, served as the studio of artist Frank Stella, and during World War II was an assembly-line training center for women. The structure was designed in 1903 and by the firm of Jardine, Kent, and Jardine.

In July 2006, the GVSHP discovered there were plans to tear the place down to make way for a seven-story condo.

Previously.

East Village landmarking hearing set for this afternoon

This afternoon is the long-awaited public hearing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission on the proposed East Village/Lower East Side Historic District.

You can find the background information here via the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, who along with other organizations, have been working to document the neighborhood's historical significance.

Per the GVSHP website, "The proposed district is far and away the largest expansion of landmark protections ever considered in the East Village." The GVSHP also has photos here of some of the significant buildings in the proposed historic district.

Meanwhile, for an opposing view, Rob at Save the Lower East Side! doesn't support the landmarking. He lays out his four reasons in a post from earlier this month ... You can read his arguments here.

He also talks about how the housing market is forcing out "anyone who is devoted to the life of the mind or the creation of cultural products." And an excerpt:

Who remains? Increasingly the wealthy devoted to the life of consumption. The city is gradually becoming a monoculture of nightlife augmented by tourism, a huge nightclub for the rich and their gawkers and their servants. There is nothing in that economy that guarantees a place for the arts or intellectualism beyond the elite artists and elite intellectuals. We've seen it already in the East Village.

Info: The Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing room, One Centre Street (at Chambers Street), 9th floor

A letter to Robert B. Tierney, Chair, Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Mr. Tierney:

Since you are its chairman, I am writing to you to express my utter disgust at the refusal of the Landmarks "Preservation" Committee to step in and save 35 Cooper Square, a 186 year old gem of a historic survivor on the East Village's Bowery. To refresh your memory, I can do no better than excerpt an elegiac post from the blog EV Grieve, lamenting its imminent destruction:

Historians believe 35 Cooper Square was born in 1825. The oldest building on Cooper Square, and one of the oldest buildings of the original Bowery, this charming Federal style building with the traditional gambrel roof, twin-pedimented dormers, and large end chimneys also boasts historical and cultural associations ranging from a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant (it was owned in the early 1800s by Nicholas William Stuyvesant, Peter's great-grandson) to Diane DiPrima, the most influential woman of the Beat Generation.

35 Cooper Square stood for 40 U.S. Presidents, from James Madison to Barack Obama, as well as the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Under the stipulations of the Landmarks Law, it qualifies on architectural, historical and cultural criteria for designation as a NYC individual landmark," said David Mulkins, chair/co-founder of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

"The building itself is a rare specimen that has remained standing since the transition of the Bowery from a residential area to one that was home to a variety of commercial venues in the early 19th century," added New York Assemblymember Deborah Glick. "While there have been some changes made to the façade of 35 Cooper Square, the building still retains its original twin peaked dormers, chimney, and gambrel roof, and is unmistakably representative of a bygone era in New York City history."

Despite the astonishing history, rarity and historical relevance of thie small treasure, you "preservationists" declined to take action. And why? Because for some reason the stucco coating applied to the building's facade some time in its almost two centuries of existence was enough to negate every reason that might have been put forth to save it.

Mr. Tierney, unlike you, I do not claim to be an expert in architecture. But even I know that a stucco coating is not permanent and can be removed with a hammer and prybar, so for the LPC to make this coating of a mud-like substance and its underlying mesh the sole reason to condemn 35 Cooper Square to death is the most pathetic, jaw-dropping and specious reason I could imagine.

But were it not torn down, of course, then the destroyer of this gem (who definitely doesn't live in the vicinity of the Bowery) would not be able to line his pockets at the expense of our already-ravaged neighborhood, where a seemingly endless flood of large, out of scale and horrifically ugly buildings are being thrown up willy-nilly all over the Bowery and Lower East Side, with irretrievable history being permanently lost in the process. And all the while you and your committee stand idly by and watch, like sleazy voyeurs.

I know there is no way this lovely piece of New York's past will be saved, so won't bother asking you to reconsider the ill-thought-out decision condemning it. So allow me to close by saying that I consider you a disgrace, a total sell-out to corporate real estate interests, who has no real desire to preserve history if there's money to be made by outside interests. And as to those lickspittle, cringing toadys who make up the rest of the "Preservation Committee" (it is to laugh), not one of whom had the spine to stand up and protest, they are just as despicable as you. Had you weasels been around in 1962, you would probably have applauded the destruction of the original Penn Station.

For shame - upon all of you. Your unwillingness to take a stand in this, and in so many other cases, has condemned New York to become a megalopolis bristling with ugliness, rather than a place in which history stands a chance of surviving.

Lisa Ramaci

[Photo taken yesterday by Bobby Williams]

A visit to St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery

Photos and interview by Stacie Joy

I’d been to St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery on 10th Street and Second Avenue before — for poetry readings, the St. Francis Day blessing of the animals, and a community event or two. However, I'd never seen the full scope of the historic space.



The Rev. Anne Sawyer, who started as the church's 14th Rector in June 2017, met me in her attic office. She provided a tour of the grounds and rectory to share more details about her work and the work the church is doing for the community ... as well as discuss its history and what she sees as its place in the East Village now and in the future.





Can you speak a bit about the background of the historic St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery?

St. Mark’s is an Episcopal Church and one of the oldest sites of continuous worship in New York, dating back to 1660. Over the past century, our church has also been used for dance, music, poetry and theatre by many notable artists.

Today, it remains the home for Danspace, The Poetry Project and The New York Theatre Ballet, in addition to a vibrant and passionate congregation that worships on Sunday mornings and gathers at various times during the week. St. Mark’s is an important architectural landmark in New York City.















You came to this church with your wife (the Rev. Susan Anderson-Smith) about two years ago from Arizona, where you focused a lot of your energy on working with children and families, especially those in economically challenged areas. Do you have local plans for similar programming?

In the Episcopal Church, clergy and congregations engage in a process of discernment with respect to ordained leadership and congregational ministry. I was drawn to St. Mark’s for many reasons, including its commitment to social justice and expressed desire to live into those beliefs through action in our community.

While I have spent years working with children and families, ministries within a church should always reflect the people of faith who gather and where the Spirit leads us to serve. To date, the areas of ministry include: Sunday school for children, racial justice, reparations, and support and recovery from incarceration; gun safety and anti-gun violence; efforts to support Puerto Rico in recovery from natural disaster; farmworkers rights and safety; and support for community members in recovery from addictions.



Why did you accept the call to helm this particular church and can you speak more about what St. Mark’s Church offers to the community?

I was giving prayerful thought to a possible change in ministry when I learned about St. Mark’s, and thought, this could be fun!

A call to ministry is always more than a job. Rather, it’s a response to where we believe God is leading us, and where we meant to be. It is my prayer that everyone at St. Mark’s feels the same. Together, we seek to understand the world in which we live, and discern how best to live and respond.

The people of St. Mark’s offer God’s love and acceptance, a caring community, fabulous music, questions to ponder, and an opportunity to grow in relationship with each other and with God.

Is there a typical parishioner at the church? How do you see the church’s place in the East Village?

The people who gather for worship at St. Mark’s on Sunday morning share much in common, yet they are a diverse community. We vary in age, skin color, gender, sexual identity, and financial means. We tend to be well educated, savvy about politics, passionate about justice, a bit subversive, faithful, soulful in music, with and without partners, and/or children, and generous. Some parishioners have lived in the East Village for decades and can tell stories; other members wake early to travel.

We are an inclusive community that reflects the East Village in the heart and soul through worship, music, dance, poetry, and historical preservation.

Can you speak a bit about the new clock faces — you mentioned a lightning strike, and a fallen face. Also, the church recently lost an angel off the steeple. What are the plans for replacing it, if any?

I do not know the exact history of the clocks, other than after a lightning strike in the '90s they stopped working, and over time, the temporary clocks installed after the great fire in July 1978 began to weather and slip. We now have beautiful clocks that tell accurate time thanks to our neighbors, and the Saint Mark’s Historic Landmark Fund.

As for the inside of St. Mark’s (and the angel), we could use your help to restore beauty to this grand, historic landmark in the heart of our neighborhood. A half million [dollars] is needed to stop water from creating damage inside. Then, plaster, paint and carpet would create a clean, simple and fresh sanctuary for another century of arts and to glorify God. Talk about making an impact!


[Part of the old clock]




[The missing angel on the steeple]

What’s next for St. Mark’s?
The next chapter of the vibrant history of St. Mark’s is being written now by people like you. Come join us on Sundays at 11 a.m. You are most welcome. We will be celebrating our annual Pride Disco Mass on Sunday, June 30! And after that? The next chapter...

Report: LPC rejects glassy addition for landmarked 827-831 Broadway

[DXA Studio]

On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) nixed the reflective, four-story addition proposed for 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Curbed has coverage here. A few excerpts:

The Commission’s verdict followed hours of public testimony, where most people spoke in opposition to the project describing it as “overwhelming,” “grotesque,” and “atrocious,” among other descriptors.

But not everyone hated the proposal.

There were many who came out in support of the four-story rooftop addition too, most notably a number of art gallery owners, who praised the design and the aesthetic.

“This is a great homage to the existing building,” said Arnie Zimmerman, an art gallery owner.

“This impresses me in that the scale is exciting,” said Sally Wasserman, who lives in a building that neighbors the project.

Commissioner Michael Devonshire reportedly praised architect Jordan Rogove, though thought that this particular addition "may have been more appropriate as a de Kooning museum out in a field in East Hampton."

The LPC ultimately told the design team to return with a revised proposal, as Curbed reported.

This past November, the LPC voted to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked.

That decision spared the address from demolition. As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel in 2015 for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights, which would be put to use for a 14-floor office building.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) had campaigned for more than 18 months to help preserve these buildings.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

[Updated] Proposed addition for 827-831 Broadway is back in front of the LPC today

A revised proposal to add a (slightly smaller) four-story glass addition to the landmarked buildings at 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street returns to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) this morning.

Back in January, LPC commissioners told the design team to return with a revised proposal, as Curbed reported. (Find a PDF of the new proposal here.)

Last November, the LPC voted to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked. That decision spared the address from demolition. As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel in 2015 for $60 million.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) campaigned for more than 18 months to help preserve these buildings. Read more about their efforts here.

Updated 2 p.m.

The LPC rejected the plans, per the GVSHP...

Great news! @nyclandmarks again rejects plan for out of context glass topper for 827-831 Broadway, 1866 former de Kooning studios we fought to get landmarked and save from wrecking ball!@CarlinaRivera @DeborahJGlick @bradhoylman @LizKrueger pic.twitter.com/JnYEV78kUc

— GVSHP (@GVSHP) April 24, 2018

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

Report: LPC rejects glassy addition for landmarked 827-831 Broadway

Candlelight vigil set for Tuesday evening: Save 35 Cooper Square!

From David Mulkins, Chair, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors...

Candlelight Vigil: Save 35 Cooper Square!

Tuesday from 5:30 to 6:30 pm

35 Cooper Square

LETTERS to Landmarks Preservation Commission urging designation of 35 Cooper Square (oldest building
on Cooper Square) as a NYC landmark:

Hon. Robert Tierney, Chair

NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

One Centre Street , 9th floor

New York , NY 10007

e-mail: comments@lpc.nyc.gov

fax: (212)669-7960 or (212)669-7955

Find a sample letter at the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors website.

Sign PETITION to Landmark 35 Cooper Square here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Something 28,998 square feet or so coming to Cooper Square (and goodbye Cooper 35 Asian Pub?)

Doom and doomer: More of Cooper Square primed for development

Cooper 35 Asian Pub part of development deal on Cooper Square

[Image via BAN]

The East Village has a new landmark

According to an e-mail alert from The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation yesterday afternoon:

Today the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to landmark the 1838 Isaac T. Hopper House at 110 Second Avenue in the East Village, a designation strongly supported by GVSHP. This impressive Greek Revival house located between 6th and 7th Streets is a rare intact vestige of the earliest stages of the East Village’s urban development. Since 1874 it has also served as the home of the Women’s Prison Association (WPA), a reform organization seeking to better the lives of women who have been through the criminal justice system. The house is named for Isaac T. Hopper, the Quaker Abolitionist and reformer who founded the WPA. Hopper’s daughter, Abigail Hopper Gibbons, was the first president of the WPA.

Read the entire history here. (PDF)

Of course, there's plenty left in the neighbor to preserve.

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

[EVG photo from August]

Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved a proposal to landmark the circa-1866 cast-iron buildings at 827-831 Broadway between 12th Street and 13th Street.

This decision spared the buildings from demolition. As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel between 12th Street and 13th Street last summer for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights, which would be put to use for a 14-floor office building.

Back to the developer's plans in a minute.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) campaigned the past 18 months to help preserve these buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked.

Per Curbed:

The [LPC] vote represents an unusual kind of designation for the commission that takes into special account the cultural history of the site. (Similar designations include the Stonewall Inn and Tammany Hall.) "The building itself, regardless of the destination, is worthy of designation," said Commissioner Frederick Bland. "What happened in it, regardless of the building, is worthy of designation."

According to the GVSHP, the developers said that if the buildings were landmarked, they would return with a claim of "hardship" to get out of landmarking or a proposal for an addition.

On Monday night, Community Board 2's Landmarks Committee will hear the developer's new proposal (find it here) "to construct a multiple story setback addition on the roof."

And the rendering:



The addition, at first glance, looks as if it blew in from the set of "Geostorm." However, the reflective façade is meant to represent Willem de Kooning's rural and pastoral landscape phase as well as his urban landscapes.

In an email, the GVSHP stated: "[T]his proposed 4-story addition is overwhelming in comparison to the building, and would nearly double its height."

The CB2 meeting is Monday at 6:30 p.m., NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Place, Room 207. The meeting is open to the public, who can ask questions and provide feedback on the proposal. CB2 will issue an advisory opinion and then the proposal will be scheduled for a hearing and vote with the LPC at a later date. Find more info here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

LPC OKs 3-story addition to 827-831 Broadway

[Courtesy of DXA studio]

In their third appearance before the Landmarks Preservation Committee (LPC), the owners of 827-831 Broadway received the OK yesterday for a glass addition atop the twin cast-iron buildings here between 12th Street and 13th Street.

Last November, the LPC voted to landmark the circa-1866 buildings where artists Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Paul Jenkins, among others, lived and worked. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation campaigned for more than 18 months to help spare these buildings from demolition.

The LPC then rejected plans for a rooftop addition designed by DXA studio in January (too overwhelming) and April.

Here's some of Curbed's coverage from yesterday:

The third try finally seemed to pay off for the architecture firm with the Commission unanimously praising the efforts of the architects. The glass addition has now been reduced to three stories and has a 36-foot setback from the street level, making it a lot less visible from the street level than in previous iterations.

“It’s a marvel to take all that information and create something that is sensitive and elegant,” said Meenakshi Srinivasan, the chair of the Landmarks Commission, shortly before the Commission voted to approve the structure.

The LPC didn't have much to say about a seven-floor addition on an adjacent property at 47 E. 12th St. that's also part of the overall development. That addition will proceed for use as office space.

Reps for DXA studio issued a news release with more details on the project...

The 3 story addition will be composed of slumped, reflective glazing that’s curved form references the organic and spontaneous qualities of the art work of de Kooning and his contemporaries. “We felt the reflective nature of the glass could serve to capture the kinetic quality of the surroundings, broadcasting back color, textures, and movement, helping us see the world around us in a different way,” said Partner Jordan Rogove. “The reflection also turns the lens back on New York City, a place forever changed by the immense contributions of the New York School painters making it the capital of the art world for the first time.”

The original 4 story Italianate warehouse building that the addition sits atop will be fully restored. A new historical wood storefront will be installed at 831, and 827’s existing wood storefront will be restored. The addition’s slumped glazing is arranged in the same rhythm as the original building, balancing two sympathetic facades built of the material and technologies of their respective times.

As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel in 2015 for $60 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

There's a proposed addition for the recently landmarked 827-831 Broadway

Report: LPC rejects glassy addition for landmarked 827-831 Broadway

An appeal to landmark these buildings on Broadway

Three buildings at 827-831 Broadway (pictured above) and 47 E. 12th St. may be demolished to make way for a 14-floor office building.

As previously reported, Quality Capital and Caerus Group bought the parcel between 12th Street and 13th Street last summer for $60 million. The deal reportedly included 30,000 square feet of air rights.

In the late 1950s, Willem de Kooning had a studio in No. 827, one piece of the history of these buildings uncovered by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP).

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman co-authored an op-ed at the Times this past week, providing more history of the addresses and making the case for why they should be landmarked:

Despite protests by preservationists, elected officials and neighbors, two developers, Quality Capital and the Caerus Group, intend to demolish it and build a 14-story tower. (Caerus is the Greek god of opportunity and luck who seizes favorable moments.)

In August 2016, the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected an application to protect 831 Broadway and its next-door twin, 827. According to its director of research at the time, the commission decided that New York already had enough buildings with “earlier cast-iron facades” and that “there are buildings on Broadway of a similar date, type and style” to represent this era of development in New York.

Fortunately, the commission has recently agreed to reconsider that decision, and the developers have agreed to withdraw their application for a demolition permit pending the reconsideration. Now the commissioners must decide whether to take the first formal step toward considering the buildings for landmark status and vote to “calendar” them — put them on the docket for active consideration for designation — which would be followed by a public hearing and a vote.

You can read more about these buildings at the GVSHP website here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: 14-story building planned for 827 Broadway

Mysterious 84 2nd Ave. sells again, this time for $7.8 million

[Photo yesterday by Derek Berg]

Ownership of 84 Second Ave. has changed hands now for the second time in two years.

In its real-estate transaction listings this week, the Times noted that the property was sold for $7.8 million. (The paperwork hit public records on May 16.)

Per the Times:

A local private investor has bought this vacant four-and-a-half-story mixed-use walk-up in the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District. The 4,812-square-foot building, to be gutted and renovated, was once the site of Sopolsky’s Dress Suits, which rented dinner jackets and tuxedos, and in the mid-19th century served as a temporary home for women. Any development of air rights, totaling 4,788 square feet, is subject to approval by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Buyer: 84 2nd Avenue Owner L.L.C.

Seller: West 26th Street L.L.C.

The buyer shares the address of Highpoint Property Group, a real-estate development company.

According to public records, the building sold in May 2016 for $5.1 million. Betty Sopolsky via an LLC was the seller, with the buyer listed as West 26th Street L.L.C.

The previous set of owners were looking to make some major renovations to this walk-up between Fourth Street and Fifth Street. Landlords of buildings located within a designated New York City historic district must receive a permit from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for major work.

Among other things, there were plans to create four residential units (condos?). Those work permits had yet to receive city approval. (The city disapproved them last October, per the Department of Buildings.)

There was also a petition in circulation in opposition to the planned alterations to the rear of the building.

In January, CB3's Landmark's Committee issued a partial Certificate of Appropriateness for the address. (They issued a similar partial approval in October 2017.)

According to the official minutes from the January meeting, CB3 OK'd the front façade plan and opposed the rear yard addition. Among other points, CB3 officials said that "great care should be taken to monitor this fragile building and its neighboring buildings."

As we understand it, the previous owner didn't follow through with the plans with the LPC, instead selling the building.

As we've noted several times through the years, the address has a dark past, which includes the still-unsolved murder of Helen Sopolsky, proprietor of the family's tailor shop who was found bludgeoned to death in 1974, per an article at the time.

The storefront has remained empty since her death in 1974.


[Undated image via]

The new owners haven't filed any new work permits with the city to date.

The front door was open yesterday, revealing a gutted interior ... and door to a garden out back, as these photos by Derek Berg show...





Previously on EV Grieve:
Plywood and a petition at 84 2nd Ave.

Workers clearing out the mysterious 84 2nd Ave. storefront

Renovations proposed for mysterious 84 2nd Ave.