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10 Buildings Possibly Endangered by a Midtown East Rezoning

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The city is hoping to upzone the area around Grand Central Terminal, allowing taller buildings and additional special projects in a 74-block area between 37th and 57th streets. Among the people not happy about this: historic preservationists, who worry that the plan could endanger some historic but un-landmarked buildings in the area. The New York City Landmarks Conservancy has come up with a list of 15 possibly endangered buildings around Grand Central that were built between 1911 and the late 1920s, and the Journal reports on a few of the properties in question. We went through the conservancy's list to find 10 of the most notable endangered buildings, and we collected 'em all on a map.

· Proposed Midtown East Rezoning Targets Historic Buildings Near Grand Central [NYCLC]
· Preservationists Fret Over Midtown Rezoning [WSJ]
· Midtown East Rezoning coverage [Curbed]

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125 Park Avenue

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This York and Sawyer-designed building was built in 1922 and has since been modernized. For anyone who wants to go on a York and Sawyer kick as a result of their inclusion on this list, Columbia has a collection of their architectural drawings.

Lincoln Building

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This 1930 building on East 42nd Street was designed by James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr. and finished in 1930. Wikipedia teaches us that it's currently the 49th tallest building in New York City, which is a fun claim to fame.

51 East 42nd Street

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The New York Landmarks Conservancy lists the Vanderbilt Avenue facade of this building as endangered by the proposed rezoning. The property changed hands at the end of last year, and new owner SL Green was already eligible to buy unused air rights and expand the building.

Graybar Building

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The Art Deco Graybar Building was built c. 1926, and it has some funky detailing, including reliefs of Promotheus and cables in the shape of a ship's ropes.

Yale Club of New York City

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James Gamble Rogers designed this building in 1915, one of the architect's many Yale-related commissions. The New York Landmarks Conservancy has identified the entire Vanderbilt Avenue area outside of the Yale Club as potentially endangered by the Midtown East rezoning.

Roosevelt Hotel

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This 1925 building was designed by George B. Post. Even after an extensive renovation in the 1990s, the building has retained its original facade—one of the few hotels in the Terminal City area, the Journal explains, to have done so.

Postum Building

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This 21-story building was built by Cross & Cross, the designers of Tiffany & Co. and the General Electric Building, in 1925. Building manager Dan Bradley tells the Journal that the management company, AEW Capital Management, is "studying the proposed language" of the rezoning plan very carefully to figure out how it will affect the property.

The Lexington

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This hotel, designed by Schultze and Weaver, opened in 1929. (Schultze, as it happens, also worked on the design for Grand Central Terminal during his previous employment at Warren & Wetmore.)

New York Marriott East Side

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What's now a Marriott at 525 Lexington Avenue used to be the Haloran House, and before that, the Shelton Towers Hotel. The Arthur Loomis Harmon-designed building, finished in 1924, was, as the one and only Carter B. Horsley points out, one of the first buildings to comply with the zoning resolution of 1916. Harmon received a gold medal from the Architectural League of New York and the American Institute of Architects for the design.

The Benjamin Hotel

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This Emery Roth-designed 1925 building was once the Beverly Hotel. It's now the Benjamin Hotel, with the name change having followed a makeover and reopening in 1999. (Here's what the building looked like circa 1930.)

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125 Park Avenue

This York and Sawyer-designed building was built in 1922 and has since been modernized. For anyone who wants to go on a York and Sawyer kick as a result of their inclusion on this list, Columbia has a collection of their architectural drawings.

Lincoln Building

This 1930 building on East 42nd Street was designed by James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr. and finished in 1930. Wikipedia teaches us that it's currently the 49th tallest building in New York City, which is a fun claim to fame.

51 East 42nd Street

The New York Landmarks Conservancy lists the Vanderbilt Avenue facade of this building as endangered by the proposed rezoning. The property changed hands at the end of last year, and new owner SL Green was already eligible to buy unused air rights and expand the building.

Graybar Building

The Art Deco Graybar Building was built c. 1926, and it has some funky detailing, including reliefs of Promotheus and cables in the shape of a ship's ropes.

Yale Club of New York City

James Gamble Rogers designed this building in 1915, one of the architect's many Yale-related commissions. The New York Landmarks Conservancy has identified the entire Vanderbilt Avenue area outside of the Yale Club as potentially endangered by the Midtown East rezoning.

Roosevelt Hotel

This 1925 building was designed by George B. Post. Even after an extensive renovation in the 1990s, the building has retained its original facade—one of the few hotels in the Terminal City area, the Journal explains, to have done so.

Postum Building

This 21-story building was built by Cross & Cross, the designers of Tiffany & Co. and the General Electric Building, in 1925. Building manager Dan Bradley tells the Journal that the management company, AEW Capital Management, is "studying the proposed language" of the rezoning plan very carefully to figure out how it will affect the property.

The Lexington

This hotel, designed by Schultze and Weaver, opened in 1929. (Schultze, as it happens, also worked on the design for Grand Central Terminal during his previous employment at Warren & Wetmore.)

New York Marriott East Side

What's now a Marriott at 525 Lexington Avenue used to be the Haloran House, and before that, the Shelton Towers Hotel. The Arthur Loomis Harmon-designed building, finished in 1924, was, as the one and only Carter B. Horsley points out, one of the first buildings to comply with the zoning resolution of 1916. Harmon received a gold medal from the Architectural League of New York and the American Institute of Architects for the design.

The Benjamin Hotel

This Emery Roth-designed 1925 building was once the Beverly Hotel. It's now the Benjamin Hotel, with the name change having followed a makeover and reopening in 1999. (Here's what the building looked like circa 1930.)