The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday unanimously approved the West Chelsea Historic District as the city's 92nd such district.
The commission's press release maintained that "the creation of the district, which roughly stretches from West 28th to West 25th streets between Tenth Avenue and the Joe DiMaggio Highway (Twelfth Avenue), affirms the Commission's continued commitment to preserving significant reminders of the city's industrial heritage in all five boroughs."
The new district, it continued, is "a collection of 30 architecturally distinctive buildings that recall New York City's standing as the leading manufacturing center in the United States during the last half fo the 19th Century."
Commission chairman Robert B. Tierney said that "the buildings in this neighborhood convey a strong sense of place that clearly set West Chelsea apart from midtown to the north and Greenwich Village to the south, and is now one of five districts we've formed in the last five years that are tied to the City's industrial heritage."
"West Chelsea's streetscapes," he continued, "owe their cohesiveness and special character to the fact that the majority of the district's buildings, which are 75 years old or more, are still remarkably intact."
A number of buildings created around 1900 had red-brick facades and were constructed in the American Round Arch Style, an interpretation of the Rundbogenstil, a German style of architecture that is characterized by arches, elaborate brickwork and pilasters, the release said, citing the Reynolds Metal Company building at 521-537 West 25th Street) as an example.
Later buildings such as the warehouse at 259 Tenth Avenue designed in 1928 by Cass Gilbert for R. C. Williams Company, a grocery wholesaler, were made of reinforced concrete. The company consigned the very first carload of freight to use the High Line on August 1, 1933.
Other important buildings in the new district include the Otis Elevator Company building at 260 Eleventh Avenue, which is shown here; the John Williams Ornamental Brass and Iron Works building at 549 West 26th Street and 536 and 544 West 27th Street; and the Central Stores Building at 601 West 27th Street of the Terminal Warehouse Company, which was completed in 1891 and occupies the block bounded by 27th and 28th Streets and 11th and 12th Avenues.
At the same meeting, the commission designated Morningside Park as the city's 10th scenic landmark, the first such designation since 1983. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the 30-acre park extends along a rocky ledge between 110th and 123rd streets and Morningside Drive and Morningside Avenue.
Since its creation in 1965, the commission has designated 110 interior landmarks, 10 scenic landmarks and more than 25,000 buildings including 1,200 individual buildings and those in the 92 historic districts.
The commission's press release maintained that "the creation of the district, which roughly stretches from West 28th to West 25th streets between Tenth Avenue and the Joe DiMaggio Highway (Twelfth Avenue), affirms the Commission's continued commitment to preserving significant reminders of the city's industrial heritage in all five boroughs."
The new district, it continued, is "a collection of 30 architecturally distinctive buildings that recall New York City's standing as the leading manufacturing center in the United States during the last half fo the 19th Century."
Commission chairman Robert B. Tierney said that "the buildings in this neighborhood convey a strong sense of place that clearly set West Chelsea apart from midtown to the north and Greenwich Village to the south, and is now one of five districts we've formed in the last five years that are tied to the City's industrial heritage."
"West Chelsea's streetscapes," he continued, "owe their cohesiveness and special character to the fact that the majority of the district's buildings, which are 75 years old or more, are still remarkably intact."
A number of buildings created around 1900 had red-brick facades and were constructed in the American Round Arch Style, an interpretation of the Rundbogenstil, a German style of architecture that is characterized by arches, elaborate brickwork and pilasters, the release said, citing the Reynolds Metal Company building at 521-537 West 25th Street) as an example.
Later buildings such as the warehouse at 259 Tenth Avenue designed in 1928 by Cass Gilbert for R. C. Williams Company, a grocery wholesaler, were made of reinforced concrete. The company consigned the very first carload of freight to use the High Line on August 1, 1933.
Other important buildings in the new district include the Otis Elevator Company building at 260 Eleventh Avenue, which is shown here; the John Williams Ornamental Brass and Iron Works building at 549 West 26th Street and 536 and 544 West 27th Street; and the Central Stores Building at 601 West 27th Street of the Terminal Warehouse Company, which was completed in 1891 and occupies the block bounded by 27th and 28th Streets and 11th and 12th Avenues.
At the same meeting, the commission designated Morningside Park as the city's 10th scenic landmark, the first such designation since 1983. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the 30-acre park extends along a rocky ledge between 110th and 123rd streets and Morningside Drive and Morningside Avenue.
Since its creation in 1965, the commission has designated 110 interior landmarks, 10 scenic landmarks and more than 25,000 buildings including 1,200 individual buildings and those in the 92 historic districts.
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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