The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved an application for a certificate of appropriateness this week by the country's oldest Jewish congregation, Shearith Israel, which is located at 8 West 70th Street, for a new 10-story, mid-block building immediately to the west of its landmark structure that faces Central Park West.

About three years ago, the congregation proposed a 15-story building for the site that met with considerable opposition in the community and from civic groups like Landmark West. The plans were revised downward, but still did not quell opposition and the land-use, parks and preservation committees of Community Board 7 voted unanimously recently to oppose the granting of the certificate of appropriateness.

The project still needs to get zoning variances from the city's Board of Standards & Appeals for exemptions from height and setback requirements.

Landmark West issued a statement following the commission's decision that it remained opposed to the project, which, it said, will be "taller than any other building on the midblock, twice the height of what is allowed on this site."

"Is it a victory that the community was able to raise enough substantive issues to bring the building down from 15 to 10 (remember that 20 years ago the original proposal was 40+ stories cantilevered over the individual Landmark Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue)?," Landmark West asked.

"Yes and no," it continued, adding that "On the positive side, this project brought preservationists and other concerned citizens together, with few exceptions, from across the city form a unified front against the (now sadly routine) practice of allowing overdevelopment-by-special-exemption in neighborhoods that everyone believed wee protected?..On the negative side, this overwhelming public support for upholding the landmark and zoning protections didn't convince the LPC. So, although the building is smaller by a few stories, it will still set a precedent for overreaching development elsewhere in the Upper West Side/Central Park West historic District and throughout the city."

The congregation's building facing Central Park West was completed in 1897 to designs by Brunner & Tryon. In his fine book, "Glory in Gotham, Manhattan's Houses of Worship, a Guide to Their History, Architecture and Legacy" (A City & Company Guide, 2001), David W. Dunlap, a reporter for The New York Times, wrote that "Like towering architectural counterpoints to the oaks across the street, four great Corinthinian columns dominate the facade of this elaborate Orthodox synagogue."

Mr. Dunlap observed that "the neo-Classicism is more than skin-deep," noting that "Even the Ark, carved in tawny Siena marble and framed by butter-yellow Tiffany windows, has the broad pediment and Corinthian columns of Greco-Roman architecture."

The congregation originated with 23 Jews, mostly Spanish and Portuguese, who came to New York from Recife, Brazil, in 1654. Its earliest synagogue was erected in 1730 on Mill Street, which is now South William Street, and until 1825 it was the only one in the city, according to Mr. Dunlap. The congregation moved to Crosby Street in 1834 and to West 19th Street in 1860.

The new design by Platt Byard Dovell White was considerably under the allowable bulk allowed under "average weighted zoning" for the site, which falls in two zoning districts. The site could sustain a 8.38 F.A.R. (floor-to-area ratio), but the design only creates a 6.98 F.A.R.

The proposed new building would provide disabled access to the synagogue and various classrooms and offices for it on the second through the fourth floors.

The 5th through the 8th floors would be full-floor condominium apartments. Including a duplex penthouse apartment, the building would have 5 residential units.