At long last, a victory for preservationists hoping to protect Amsterdam Avenue's West-Park Presbyterian Church: the building was landmarked today along with five other properties, according to the folks at the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The long-running controversy over the church's fate included a few serious demolition-nearly-in-progress scares and often pitted preservation cheerleaders in lengthy hearings against church officials, who hoped to add some kind of money-making residential development to the building. Nor is landmarking an absolute guarantee that the building's future is secure, since West-Park, like many houses of worship, lacks the cash it needs for serious restoration. Still, we're betting the UWS preservation-happy crowd will be partying tonight.
And they won't get to have all the fun -- five other city properties joined West-Park on the new landmarks roster today. In Manhattan, there's 311 Broadway, a commercial building modeled on an Italian palazzo. In the Bronx, the Dollar Savings Bank's former headquarters at Third Avenue near 148th Street was crowned a landmark, as was an 1844 residence at 63 William in Staten Island. In Queens, the Ridgewood Theater was designated, and so was P.S. 66. The folks at LPC tell us the principal of P.S. 66 even turned up with notes from her students to thank the LPC for landmarking their school. Cute, and we're guessing not the kind of treatment the LPC usually gets.
· West Park Presbyterian coverage [Curbed]
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