The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission told Friedland Properties at its meeting Tuesday that its plan to demolish the two-story building at 746 Madison Avenue and replace it with a 14-story, mixed-use building was inappropriate but indicated it would consider a shorter development. It did not vote on the application.
The proposed building, which is between 64th and 65th Streets, has been designed by Page Ayres Cowley would have contained 12 residential condominium apartments and four floors of commercial space that connect to a townhouse designed in 1897 by Grosvenor Atterbury on the southwest corner of the avenue and 65th Street that is also owned by Friedland Properties.
The apartments would have had an entrance through the townhouse on 65th Street.
The proposed, red-brick building would have had a 15-foot setback above the 5th floor to honor the street-wall context on the avenue. It had oculi at some of its corners and would have utilized less than the site's available development rights.
Several preservation groups testified at the commission's first hearing on the project that they could not support the demolition of a "contributing" building within an historic district. All buildings in such districts are separated into "contributing" and "non-contributing" categories that relate to their architectural and historic significance.
"Although this application is proposing to salvage the storefront of the existing two-story structure and reincorporate it into the proposed building, what we will have is a new 14-story building with a historic remnant. This is not a 12-story rooftop addition; it is the demolition of a style building," declared the spokesperson for the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts at the commission's first hearing on the project.
The building originally was a four-story school erected in 1917 and its top two floors were removed in 1937.
"While we admire much about the architect's design," Roger Lang said at the earlier meeting, speaking on behalf of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, "this survivor deserves better than just a recycled storefront as mitigation. To be sure, the 1937 alterations were unfortunate; but they could just as readily be reconstructed instead of forgotten." Mr. Lang also said that "we think the height of the proposal is excessive and inappropriate."
The proposed building, which is between 64th and 65th Streets, has been designed by Page Ayres Cowley would have contained 12 residential condominium apartments and four floors of commercial space that connect to a townhouse designed in 1897 by Grosvenor Atterbury on the southwest corner of the avenue and 65th Street that is also owned by Friedland Properties.
The apartments would have had an entrance through the townhouse on 65th Street.
The proposed, red-brick building would have had a 15-foot setback above the 5th floor to honor the street-wall context on the avenue. It had oculi at some of its corners and would have utilized less than the site's available development rights.
Several preservation groups testified at the commission's first hearing on the project that they could not support the demolition of a "contributing" building within an historic district. All buildings in such districts are separated into "contributing" and "non-contributing" categories that relate to their architectural and historic significance.
"Although this application is proposing to salvage the storefront of the existing two-story structure and reincorporate it into the proposed building, what we will have is a new 14-story building with a historic remnant. This is not a 12-story rooftop addition; it is the demolition of a style building," declared the spokesperson for the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts at the commission's first hearing on the project.
The building originally was a four-story school erected in 1917 and its top two floors were removed in 1937.
"While we admire much about the architect's design," Roger Lang said at the earlier meeting, speaking on behalf of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, "this survivor deserves better than just a recycled storefront as mitigation. To be sure, the 1937 alterations were unfortunate; but they could just as readily be reconstructed instead of forgotten." Mr. Lang also said that "we think the height of the proposal is excessive and inappropriate."
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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