More on Landmarks Preservation
Posted on July 3rd, 2006 by Kip
“Honey, what landmarks should we visit while we’re vacationing in New York?”
“Well, let’s see — the Empire State Building, Central Park, the New York Public Library … oh, and of course the Pippen Building!”
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission today unanimously voted to landmark the former New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company building at 360 Third Avenue, a pioneering example of concrete construction in the United States. The 2 ½-story, Italianate-style structure on the corner of Third Avenue and Third Street in the Gowanus section of [Brooklyn] was designed by William Field and Son and built between 1872 and 1873 to house the concrete manufacturer’s main office. The building is adjacent to the future site of a Whole Foods supermarket.
“This mysterious, elegant, small building commands the attention of everyone who passes by it,” said Commission Chairman Robert B. Tierney.
No, the Addams Family’s house was “mysterious.” The Fortress of Solitude is “mysterious.” The Pippen Building is a square slab of concrete, the exact opposite of “mysterious.” It is about as intriguing as a plastic Monopoly house.
And it now, by force of law and in defiance of property rights, will remain standing — forever and ever…
(Incidentally, one wonders whether that gaudy radiator sign was also declared a landmark.)
It is an insult to the legacy of Penn Station and to New York’s true (i.e., objectively demonstrable) landmarks to afford that status to structures like the Pippen Building. That alone is reason enough for the LPC’s landmark mania (23,000 structures and counting) to be reined in. The economic cost, both to individual property owners and to the City as a whole, is undisputed.
(Via Gothamist.)
Similar Posts:
- Can a “Rickety Shack” be an “Historic Landmark”?
- Not in My Back(ward) Yard
- A Property Rights Saga in the East Village
- The Ugliest Building in New York?
- Two Anniversaries
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It looks kinda fake.
I like it. And I haven't heard anything about the current owners objecting to the landmarking. Most times a building is landmarked at the REQUEST of the owners.
Here are five buildings that have NOT been landmarked.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/nyregion/thecity/02demo.html
Again – I don't think the landmarks commission in New York is overzealous at all.
How often do you hear about owners who object to a landmarking? Of the few cases I know about, the buildings have ended up being destroyed (i.e. the Kent Warehouse in Williamsburg, the school in the East Village, 2 Columbus Circle).
The photo reminded me of Batteries Not Included.
Oh there are so many ways around "not knocking the thing down" that it isn't funny. You can just build over it
There has to be a reason it was registered. Someone famous probably stayed there once.