The business committee of Community Board 7 voted last night 7 to 2 to recommend approval by the full board of a proposal by Greg Hunt to open a wine bar on the northwest corner at 62nd Street in the ground-floor retail space of the Century at 25 Central Park West.

"More than 100 people packed" the committee's small meeting room and about 18 people spoke in favor of the proposal and 35 in opposition, according to an article last night by Avi at westsideindependent.com.

The vote in favor of the proposal was a big surprise to people in the room, many of whom lived in 25 CPW and its neighbor to the South, 15 Central Park West. One opponent of the plan is Roberta Brandes Gratz, a resident of 25 Central Park West who is a member of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The sister of the Majestic apartment building several blocks to the north on Central Park West, the Century is one of the masterpieces of developer Irwin S. Chanin, who also built the great 56-story Chanin Building on East 42nd Street and many famous theaters around Times Square such as the Roxy, the Biltmore and the Majestic.

Like the Majestic, it was designed by Chanin's in-house architecture department headed by Jacques Delamarre and assisted by sculptor/designer Ren¿ Chambellan in a modified Art Deco style. While the twin-towered massing is similar to that of the Majestic, it differs in its vertical emphasis of six sets of bay windows and, most importantly, in its circular geometric elements on the west side of the tops of the towers.

The area around Columbus Circle once had many automobile showrooms and in 1908 the blockfront site was acquired by a civic repertory company that erected a theater designed by Carr¿re & Hastings that opened the next year. For a while, the elegant building, known as the Century Theater, served as an opera house, but was acquired in 1920 by the Shubert theater organization.

In his fine book, "Upper West Side Story, A History And Guide," (Abbeville Press, 1989), Peter Salwen noted that the Century Theater played host to performances by the Metropolitan Opera, Konstantin Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theater, Isadora Duncan, Eleanor Duse, Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, and Max Reinhardt and that its basement for a while had a nightclub hosted by Texas Guinan and that its roof garden also became a nightclub, the Coconut Grove, designed by Joseph Urban.

The Century apartment building opened in 1932, two years after the Majestic, and it was the last of the four great twin-towered apartments to be erected on Central Park West. Over the years, its residents have included agent William Morris, Lee Shubert, the theater magnate, and entertainers Ethel Merman, Robert Goulet, Ray Bolger, Fay Wray and Nanette Fabray.

Mr. Hunt agreed to make changes to appease some of his critics," according to the article, "in particular saying he would close the bar," shown in the rendering at the right, "down at 2 A.M. on Wednesday through Saturday and 1 A.M. Sunday through Tuesday. Community Board 7's business committee also asked him to shoo away patrons once they left the bar, so they won't hang around carousing and smoking. Those stipulations and a few others were enough to win the vote."

The proposed cafe and wine bar would be designed in Art Deco-style and would accommodate up to 74 people including staff. Its design by Glen Cobin would "include wood paneling, sophisticated Art Deco lighting, and portraits of some of the famous former residents of the Century." The cafe's website proclaims "we're targeting clients who are old enough to know who Ray Bolger, Ethel Merman and Fay Wray are!"

Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served on weekends, and lunch and dinner will be served during the week and the cafe will offer take-out service exclusively for the residents of the Century.

Mr. Hunt founded Amsterdam Billiards 17 years ago and his partner is William Zysblat.