The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously today to designate two late 19th Century commercial buildings on 14th Street as landmarks.

One is the former Baumann Bros. store that is now part of the New School for Social Research at 22-26 East 14th Street.

In its September 16, 2008 testimony before the commission in favor of the proposed designation of the Baumann Brothers Furniture and Carpets Store, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation noted that its architects, David and John Jardine, "created a building that is at once prototypical and extraordinary," adding that "the store stands out in the ways in which its design playfully draws from late 19th Century architectural trends." "It features inventive, and at times opulent, ornamentation which combines elements from neo-Classical, neo-Grec, and Queen Anne styles. Included in this unusual array of ornaments are sunflower motifs and striking bas-reliefs, which combine to create, as stated in the AIA Guide to New York City, 'a rich embroidery of cast iron.' At the same time, the building maintains a vibrancy, boldness, and depth seen only in the finest examples of cast-iron architecture."

The society's statement hailed the building as a "striking statement in cast-iron and an important homage to the heyday of 14th Street."

The building was completed in 1881 and for several years housed McCrory's, a well-known store, and a few years later would be occupied by one of the city's largest F. W. Woolworth stores. In 1999, it was taken over for use by Parsons Institute of the New School for Social Research, which is based on 12th Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americans and which is contemplating an expansion of the low-rise former retail building on the southeast corner of 14th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Robert Tierney, the commission's chairman, described the building as "obviously significant."

The other 14th Street commercial building that was designated a landmark today is the steel-frame structure 144 West 14th Street, shown above, that was designed by Brunner & Tryon in 1896. The architectural firm also designed the New York Public Baths on East 23rd Street and Congregation Shearith Israel on Central Park West.

In its October 28, 2008 testimony in support of its designation, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation noted that the industrial building was "one of a series of impressive loft structures built by the firm," adding that it was "constructed when manufacturing facilities on 14th Street played a crucial role in maintaining the retail epicenter around Ladies' Mile and Union Square."

"In its early years, 144 West 14th Street housed a notable collection of tenants, including the textile firm Deering, Milliken & Co., Macy's, fine art collector Frederick Hill Meserve, and Epiphone, a leading manufacturer of stringed instruments and creator of the first solid-body electric guitar, which was invented in the building." Mr. Tierney remarked that Les Paul fashioned his famous solid-body guitar in this building in 1941.

The building was restored in 2002 by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects for use by Pratt Institute as its Manhattan campus.

"These buildings convey the grandeur and aspirations of Gilded Age New York. With recent restorations and now with landmark designation, we can rest assured that these monuments of our past will survive for future generations of New Yorkers to appreciate," said GVSHP executive director Andrew Berman.