[Click to expand! L-R: Japan Society, Engineers' Club Building, Neighborhood Playhouse, Greyston Gatehouse.]
We weren't kidding when we said it's March Madness up on the ninth floor of 1 Centre Street. After tackling a few high-profile projects earlier this month, today the Landmarks Preservation Commission tackled an enormous agenda on its annual "Spring Designation Day," headlined by the naming of four new landmarks. They are:
1) Japan Society: The Modernist five-story cultural center at 333 East 47th Street in Turtle Bay, designed by Junzo Yoshimura, was completed in 1971, making this the youngest NYC landmark of them all. Mazel tov!
2) Engineers' Club Building: The 12-story building at 32 East 40th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was built in 1907 to house the first social club in the U.S. for nerds. Excuse us, engineers. It's now a co-op residential building.
3) Neighborhood Playhouse: Now called the Harry DeJur Playhouse, this neo-Georgian at 466 Grand Street on the LES was completed in 1915.
4) Greyston Gatehouse: This Riverdale gatehouse was completed in 1868, which, in our book, makes it really effin' old. According to the LPC, "The gatehouse was constructed to house a caretaker for the Greyston Estate, the site of the noted c. 1864 Gothic Revival grey granite villa that was designed by the preeminent architect James Renwick, Jr."
But the commissioners were just getting warmed up, y'all. Civil servant power!
Public hearings were held on many more buildings and neighborhoods that still need to make pit stops on the road to landmarking. The list includes the 940-building Central Ridgewood Historic District in Queens, and the controversial Riverside-West End Historic District Extension I on the Upper West Side. Hearings were held on five proposed individual landmarks, including the Citizens Savings Bank at 58 Bowery near the foot of the Manhattan Bridge.
The LPC also calendared a whopping 16 sites, initiating the landmarking process. Instead of naming all of them, we'll point out or favorite: 70 Pine Street, the Art Deco skyscraper in the Financial District that is being partially converted to luxury condos.
· Landmarks Preservation Commission [NYC.gov]
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