227 Duffield Street; Map data © 2020 Google

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to calendar a property in Downtown Brooklyn that was home to abolitionists in a move that could potentially save the historic home from demolition. Harriet and Thomas Truesdell, known members of the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War, lived at the Greek-Revival row house at 227 Duffield Street from 1851 to 1863. Last year, preservationists and local officials called on the LPC to designate the building after a developer filed permits to raze the three-story structure and replace it with a much taller mixed-use building.

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Streetview of 842 Manida Avenue, Map data © 2020 Google

The Bronx has gained a new historic district, making it the 150th district to be landmarked in New York City. The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday voted to designate the Manida Street Historic, a block of semi-attached brick homes in Hunts Points. Residents first pushed for the South Bronx street to be recognized in 2010, as development began to accelerate in the neighborhood. “This gem of a district is a complete district that still exists and is not only a reminder of the 20th-century residential development of the South Bronx, but it’s also a reflection and testament to the commitment of its current community,” LPC Chair Sarah Carroll said on Tuesday.

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Rendering courtesy of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

Plans to build a public plaza under the Brooklyn Bridge that will connect the Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo sections of the waterfront park are moving forward. The Landmarks Preservation Commission last week approved designs from the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates to transform a currently fenced-off lot into a two-acre civic space. The project is the final section of the park; construction began in 2008 and has been opening in phases over the last decade.

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Proposed east-west view; Rendering by Gensler/ RFR Realty, courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

An observation deck will return to the Chrysler Building. During a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on Tuesday, Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty, which bought the Art Deco landmark last year for $151 million, presented its proposal to revamp the skyscraper’s 61st and 62nd floors to allow for public access. The Chrysler Building previously housed an observatory, which opened on the 71st floor in 1945 as the Celestial.

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Rendering of proposed exhibition space by Culturespaces/ Woods Bagot, courtesy of LPC

An art center with immersive art exhibitions has been proposed for a landmarked former banking hall in Lower Manhattan. Culturespaces, a French museum operator, presented its plan to adapt the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank into a center of digital art to the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday. The design proposal from Woods Bagot Architects includes alterations to the landmarked interior to accommodate a ticketing area and necessary audiovisual equipment for the art center, as well as modifications to the exterior of the building.

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Rendering by Gabellini Sheppard Associates courtesy of Tishman Speyer; via Landmarks Preservation Commission

A proposal to renovate Rockefeller Center’s public realm was approved on Tuesday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Led by Tishman Speyer and designed by Gabellini Sheppard Associates, the project aims to restore the connection between the concourse and the sunken plaza, an element included in the original plans for the historic Midtown site. The design, which was revised following a public hearing in January, focuses on the pools of the channel gardens, the sunken plaza, and new seating and planting to maintain the plaza’s well-defined edges.

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Rendering of the proposed cornice at Hotel Wales by Form4Design Studio and Higgins Quasebarth & Partners, LLC; via LPC

The Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved plans to retrofit Carnegie Hill’s historic Hotel Wales, which is set to be converted into luxury condominiums. The proposal from Form4 Design Studio and Higgins Quasebarth & Partners retains the hotel’s Beaux-Arts facade, terra cotta elements, and scroll-bracketed balconies, as CityRealty reported. But the biggest alteration planned for the Carnegie Hill Historic District building is the new cornice and rooftop addition, the design of which the LPC on Tuesday said needs to be modified.

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Photo by Cody Nottingham on Unsplash 

Just a few years after the demolition of the original Penn Station, the city founded the Landmarks Preservation Commission, in part, to make sure beautiful historic buildings were never destroyed again. When Mayor Robert Wagner signed the Landmarks Law on April 19, 1965, the commission was officially tasked with protecting sites that represent New York’s history and culture. During its 55 years in existence, the LPC has designated more than 37,000 buildings and sites. In honor of this anniversary, the commission this week released an interactive story map highlighting its work over the last five decades, from its first individual landmark, the Claesen Wyckoff House, to its first LGBT designation, the Stonewall Inn.

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Photo of One Centre Street by Alexander Lorenz on Flickr

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will resume its public hearings next week after being suspended for a month as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. As first reported by Brownstoner, the meetings and hearings will be held virtually on the video conferencing app Zoom, with the first happening on Tuesday, April 21.

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Renderings and photos by Madd Equities LLC, via LPC

In a public hearing on Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewed and approved an application to open a Trader Joe’s in the city-owned space underneath the Queensboro Bridge on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The cavernous space, known as Bridgemarket, is regarded for its 5,000-square-foot Guastavino-tiled arcade as well as its unique location. Former tenant Food Emporium moved out in 2015. The bridge and the space beneath it were designated a city landmark in 1974. The LPC applauded the proposal’s “sensitive approach” to the space.

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