The Hopper-Gibbons House on West 29th Street is Manhattan's only documented stop on the Underground Railroad, and it is landmarked and part of the Lamartine Place Historic District. But the actual preservation of the house has been controversial, with the house's owner, Tony Mamounas, fighting with the city over the legality of a rooftop addition. The Board of Standards and Appeals will consider Mamounas' application to keep his addition?which preservationists say wasn't finished until after the building was landmarked?next week, DNAinfo reports. The city already ordered Mamounas to take down the addition, where there are now apartments, in late 2010, but he simply ignored the order. Why it matters: according to the Friends of the Hopper Gibbons Underground Railroad Site, people fled the house by running from the rooftop to neighboring ones during the 1863 Draft Riots.
· Landlord Wants to Keep 'Illegal' Fifth Floor on Underground Railroad House [DNAinfo]
· Hopper Gibbons House coverage [Curbed]
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