The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a three-hour-and-forty-five-minute public hearing this afternoon on a proposed residential addition to 980 Madison Avenue opposite the Carlyle Hotel, the most prominent skyline landmark above 61st Street on the Upper East Side west of Third Avenue.
The proposed addition has been designed by Lord Norman Foster for Aby J. Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building and Lever House. He is shown at the right looking at a model of the building just before the opening of the hearing, which was not held at the commission's offices in the Municipal Building, but in a large room nearby in the Surrogates' Court building.
The existing building at 980 Madison Avenue is a five-story, limestone-clad structure that extends from 76th to 77th Streets and is known now as the Carlyle Galleries Building.
Last week, Community Board 8 last night voted 20 to 13 with 2 abstentions to recommend that the Landmarks Preservation Commission not grant a certificate of appropriateness for the project.
980 Madison Avenue was acquired in 2004 for about $120 million from the Peter Sharp Foundation by RFR Holdings Inc., of which Mr. Rosen is a principal.
The proposed plan for 980 Madison Avenue would remove the top floor, which was added in 1987, and erect a reflective glass tower at the northern end. The tower would have 22 floors with only 18 condominium apartments and its plan is two interlocked ellipses for most of its height.
Mr. Rosen's plans call for the creation of a 10,000-square-foot, publicly accessible, rooftop sculpture garden and 24,000-square feet of gallery space on the third and fourth floors for art exhibitions.
Several leading figures in the art world such as William Ruprecht, the CEO of Sotheby's, and art dealers Larry Gagosian and Larry Salander have spoken in support of the proposal and Jeff Koons, the artist, supported the project and said opponents of it are sending a message that "if you like Modern Art, don't live on the Upper East Side."
Opponents of the project include the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Historic Districts Council and Landmark West!, a major civic organization on the Upper West Side, and residents of the 960 Fifth Avenue. Ross Markowitz, an attorney, told the commission that the owners of the Carlyle are still studying the proposal, but added that the residents of the Carlyle House apartment building at 50 East 77th Street are against the project.
Teri Slater, co-chair of the Defenders of the Historic East Side, a civic organization, warned the commission not to be beguiled and "distracted" by Mr. Rosen's attempt to "alter the debate's focus from one of appropriate additions to the historic district, to one of a discussion of the merits of this single design by an internationally known architect."
"The approach is clever, and the design is not without merit," Ms. Slater continued, but "the changes requested today dwarf even this 'environmentally green,' oversized, ovoid, glazed conceit of a project." "To put this in perspective, the LPC normally reviews visibility issues where a few feet of blocked views are called into question," she maintained, adding that if the commission approves the plan to "effectively to pass this elephant through the eye of a needle - then the whole rationale of defining scale as an integral ingredient of character in an Historic District is 'up for grabs.'"
980 Madison was built in 1950 to house the Parke-Bernet auction house and as a "light-protector" by Robert Dowling, who also then owned the Carlyle Hotel.
Robert Tierney, the commission's chairman, said there was "no rush to judgment" and that the public record would be kept open for 14 days and then the applicant will have a chance to respond at a public hearing "in the not too distant future."
The proposed addition has been designed by Lord Norman Foster for Aby J. Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building and Lever House. He is shown at the right looking at a model of the building just before the opening of the hearing, which was not held at the commission's offices in the Municipal Building, but in a large room nearby in the Surrogates' Court building.
The existing building at 980 Madison Avenue is a five-story, limestone-clad structure that extends from 76th to 77th Streets and is known now as the Carlyle Galleries Building.
Last week, Community Board 8 last night voted 20 to 13 with 2 abstentions to recommend that the Landmarks Preservation Commission not grant a certificate of appropriateness for the project.
980 Madison Avenue was acquired in 2004 for about $120 million from the Peter Sharp Foundation by RFR Holdings Inc., of which Mr. Rosen is a principal.
The proposed plan for 980 Madison Avenue would remove the top floor, which was added in 1987, and erect a reflective glass tower at the northern end. The tower would have 22 floors with only 18 condominium apartments and its plan is two interlocked ellipses for most of its height.
Mr. Rosen's plans call for the creation of a 10,000-square-foot, publicly accessible, rooftop sculpture garden and 24,000-square feet of gallery space on the third and fourth floors for art exhibitions.
Several leading figures in the art world such as William Ruprecht, the CEO of Sotheby's, and art dealers Larry Gagosian and Larry Salander have spoken in support of the proposal and Jeff Koons, the artist, supported the project and said opponents of it are sending a message that "if you like Modern Art, don't live on the Upper East Side."
Opponents of the project include the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Historic Districts Council and Landmark West!, a major civic organization on the Upper West Side, and residents of the 960 Fifth Avenue. Ross Markowitz, an attorney, told the commission that the owners of the Carlyle are still studying the proposal, but added that the residents of the Carlyle House apartment building at 50 East 77th Street are against the project.
Teri Slater, co-chair of the Defenders of the Historic East Side, a civic organization, warned the commission not to be beguiled and "distracted" by Mr. Rosen's attempt to "alter the debate's focus from one of appropriate additions to the historic district, to one of a discussion of the merits of this single design by an internationally known architect."
"The approach is clever, and the design is not without merit," Ms. Slater continued, but "the changes requested today dwarf even this 'environmentally green,' oversized, ovoid, glazed conceit of a project." "To put this in perspective, the LPC normally reviews visibility issues where a few feet of blocked views are called into question," she maintained, adding that if the commission approves the plan to "effectively to pass this elephant through the eye of a needle - then the whole rationale of defining scale as an integral ingredient of character in an Historic District is 'up for grabs.'"
980 Madison was built in 1950 to house the Parke-Bernet auction house and as a "light-protector" by Robert Dowling, who also then owned the Carlyle Hotel.
Robert Tierney, the commission's chairman, said there was "no rush to judgment" and that the public record would be kept open for 14 days and then the applicant will have a chance to respond at a public hearing "in the not too distant future."
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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