The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing this afternoon on whether to designate as landmarks two buildings on First Avenue between 64th and 65th Street whose landmark designation had been overturned by the Board of Estimate in 1990.

The buildings are part of the 15-building, full-block development known as the City and Suburban Homes Company, First Avenue Estate and some members of the public testified today that decorative elements of their facades were being removed as the hearing was proceeding.

The designation of the rest of complex as a landmark was not overturned by the Board of Estimate. Another, very similar, full-block model tenement development by City & Suburban on the block bounded by 78th and 79th Streets, York Avenue and the FDR Drive was the subject of a major landmarks controversy and eventually was designated a landmark.

Chairman Robert B. Tierney said the commission would keep the hearing open and make a decision next Tuesday. Later in the day the commission held a hearing on the Dakota Stable building at 350 Amsterdam Avenue that the Related Companies wants to demolish and replace with a new residential condominium building and the commission decided, with considerable outrage, to remove the item from its calendar because the building was recently stripped of its ornament legally because it had a permit from the Department of Buildings.

The First Avenue Estate buildings are located at 429 East 64th Street and 430 East 65th Street and were built in 1914 and 1915 and designed by Philip H. Ohm and are very similar to the earlier buildings on the block that were designed by James E. Ware.

These two buildings are owned by the Stahl York Avenue Company and Paul Selver of the law firm of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, which represents the owner, told the commission that "No one can honestly claim that they are by themselves exceptional or standout buildings....designation of these buildings does not do justice to the legacy of City & Suburban homes....It is best remembered by allowing the private sector to redevelop this property so as to create on the balance of the block, high quality affordable housing for the 21st Century."

Seri Worden of the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts told the commission that despite "an outpouring of community and political support for the designation of these buildings, the current owners have begun erecting a scaffold to fulfill existing permits to stucco over the brick of the exterior of 429 East 64th and 430 East 65th Street and sadly they have also begun to demolish the parapet. This is an unconscionable attempt of unsympathetic owners to thwart the reinstatement of the rightful designation of these very worthy buildings?.stuccoing the buildings, while an egregious action, is simply not enough to render these structures unworthy of designation. The shape and massing of the buildings, including the important light wells can not be altered under the existing building permits."

Mr. Selver said that Stahl Real Estate had shown City Councilperson Jessica Lappin Levine a few months ago preliminary plans for a residential condominium building of about 28 stories that it wanted to develop on the site of the two buildings. The plans were designed by The Polshek Partnership and Mr. Selver said that Stahl Real Estate indicated it would make substantial upgrades to the other properties on the block and assure that about 200 units of affordable housing would be guaranteed there.

Councilperson Lappin told the commission today that a 28-story tower "will not only destroy these buildings, but destroy the meaning and validity of the landmark designation of the other thirteen buildings in the complex....This will go from being a light court tenement to a dark court tenement. We can't let that happen. So, I ask today that the Commission do the right thing - again."