Community Board 3 voted last night to urge the city¿s Department of Buildings not to issue a building permit to Hudson Companies Inc., of which Alan Bell and David Kramer are principals, for a 23-story residential tower it wants to erect on the site of the partially demolished St. Ann¿s Church at 110 East 12th Street.
The proposal utilizes air rights acquired from the nearby Cooper Station Post Office on Fourth Avenue and 11th Street.
The board¿s resolution requested that city officials and the developers appear at its Housing, Land Use and Zoning committee hearing next month, noting that ¿numerous community residents¿ have expressed concerns that the proposed project ¿is out of context,¿ that the neighborhood ¿cannot sustain additional large scale development, and that the ¿remaining fa¿ade and tower of this significant historical structure are presently at risk for demolition.¿
The resolution also stated that ¿the absence of open communication between Hudson Companies and community residents has heightened community concern.¿
The church was built in 1847 as the 12th Street Baptist Church. It was acquired in 1856 by Temple Emanuel-El, which used it until 1870 when it moved to Fifth Avenue and 65th Street and the 12th Street building was acquired by St. Ann¿s, a Roman Catholic parish on Astor Place. St. Ann¿s commissioned Napoleon LeBrun to demolish and rebuilt the interior in French gothic style and in 1929 it was declared the National Shrine of St. Ann, dedicated to the Virgin Mary¿s mother.
In 1977, however, the shrine was transferred to site in Metarie, Louisiana., and in 1983 the 12th Street building became the permanent ¿seat¿ of the Armenian Catholic Church in North America, but it eventually moved out in February, 2004. The archdiocese subsequently sold the property for $15 million to Hudson Companies and removed some of its interiors last February.
The proposal utilizes air rights acquired from the nearby Cooper Station Post Office on Fourth Avenue and 11th Street.
The board¿s resolution requested that city officials and the developers appear at its Housing, Land Use and Zoning committee hearing next month, noting that ¿numerous community residents¿ have expressed concerns that the proposed project ¿is out of context,¿ that the neighborhood ¿cannot sustain additional large scale development, and that the ¿remaining fa¿ade and tower of this significant historical structure are presently at risk for demolition.¿
The resolution also stated that ¿the absence of open communication between Hudson Companies and community residents has heightened community concern.¿
The church was built in 1847 as the 12th Street Baptist Church. It was acquired in 1856 by Temple Emanuel-El, which used it until 1870 when it moved to Fifth Avenue and 65th Street and the 12th Street building was acquired by St. Ann¿s, a Roman Catholic parish on Astor Place. St. Ann¿s commissioned Napoleon LeBrun to demolish and rebuilt the interior in French gothic style and in 1929 it was declared the National Shrine of St. Ann, dedicated to the Virgin Mary¿s mother.
In 1977, however, the shrine was transferred to site in Metarie, Louisiana., and in 1983 the 12th Street building became the permanent ¿seat¿ of the Armenian Catholic Church in North America, but it eventually moved out in February, 2004. The archdiocese subsequently sold the property for $15 million to Hudson Companies and removed some of its interiors last February.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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