[UPDATE: A tipster has clarified that the community board gave its okay to the penthouse addition itself, and only advised against situating the mechanicals atop the bulkhead at an added height of 17 feet. The architect's penthouse addition has been okayed by the community board, but as per their recommendation, the architect will seek to move its mechanicals to a less-visible location. This post has been updated to reflect that.]
Surprising to no one, Community Board 7 has rejected Cary Tamarkin's proposal for mechanicals atop a penthouse addition to the former St. Agnes Boys School on West End Avenue at 87th Street. The proposal in full, which came before CB7 on Thursday, would convert the building into 15 apartments and add a 12-foot-tall recessed penthouse topped by 17 feet of mechanicals to the landmarked 107-year-old structure, DNAinfo reports. While the board and onlookers appreciated Tamarkin's effort to restore the building's exterior, they bemoaned the extra height added by the 17-foot-tall mechanicals, with some comparing it to a "LEGO block," and others saying that it was projects like this that are responsible for ruining the Upper West Side (insofar as the Upper West Side is ruined). "Part of the reason I moved into the 86th Street area was because of all the landmarks," area resident Naomi Safer said, "[Landmark alterations are] changing the whole neighborhood into not being what we moved here for."
Although the community board's opposition to the tall rooftop mechanicals was pretty unanimous, the feedback is only a recommendation. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote on the same proposalTamarkin said there was not enough time between the two meetings to redraft the planon Tuesday.
· Lego Block' Pentouse Atop St. Agnes School Rejected By Community Board [DNAinfo]
· First Look: Cary Tamarkin's UWS Catholic School Conversion [Curbed]
· All 555 West End Avenue coverage [Curbed]
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