Any of you fellas in "the city" know what this stink is all about?  Does
the Historical Society own Central Park?  I thought it belonged to the
pidgeons.  Ruth





The New-York Historical Society



The most talked-about proposal to come before LPC in March was New-York
Historical Society’s proposal to alter its Central Park West and West 77th
Street facades, modify the entrances to create barrier-free-access and
install “kiosks” on Central Park West. As many readers have no doubt heard,
this proposal has not gone over well with the neighbors. In three packed
community board meetings, the plan was vehemently turned down. There are
very real issues in this plan (“phase 1” as N-YHS calls it), but the main
concern is what is not being presented;
<http://www.plannyc.org/project-91-New-York-Historical-Society-Tower>the
residential tower the Society announced last fall it wanted to build on
76th Street. The Society continues to be adamant in their presentation that
the two phases are not linked, and the Phase 1 proposal is necessary for
their growth. Exactly why these building alterations are necessary, though,
seems to be a moving target.



Each time the proposal is presented, N-YHS seems to come up with a new
rationale In an article in
<http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30E14F7395B0C728CDDA80994DE404482>The
New York Times in November, the society characterized their building “to a
mausoleum, a very forbidding building that is hardly welcoming.” “The
proposal would symbolize the institution’s new public face,” said Dr.
Louise Mirrer, president of the society. Then at the community board
meetings in February, the society stressed the need for alterations in
order to provide access for disabled patrons, despite an existing
ADA-compliant entrance on West 77th Street. Finally, at the Landmarks
Commission hearing, they stressed the need for egress, especially for
handicapped visitors (granted they don’t mention what’s happening to the
76th Street façade or the back where theoretically more emergency exits can
be placed.) There was also a lot of talk about leaking windows – certainly,
not good for the collection, but one imagines they can be fixed without
enlarging the entrance. Most in opposition recognized problems with the
society’s interior, but noted that the proposed alterations would not solve
them. And most could not ignore the “elephant in the room,” the tower.



The hearing began at 3:00 and lasted until 7:30 PM.  It was standing room
only in the hearing room, and a large group was also in the waiting room.
The totals, by HDC’s count, for speakers: 26 in favor (including 7 people
who identified themselves as N-YHS staff or volunteers, 4 neighbors, 7
academics and 2 architects), 34 spoke against (including the community
board, 5 elected officials, 1 former elected official, 15 neighbors, 8
preservation groups, 2 academics and 2 architects), and about 20 speakers
had already left by the time they were called. The applicants did not reply
to the testimony and the Commissioners did not discuss (unfortunately,
three commissioners needed to recuse themselves because of conflicts of
interest), but there will be “extensive rebuttal in the very near future”
according to Chairman Robert Tierney.
-- 
Ruth Barton
[log in to unmask]
Dummerston, VT

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