The Living Landmarks ceremony honors “distinguished New Yorkers” for their contributions to the city. This year, the seven honorees in include Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, real estate developer and owner of the World Trade Center site Larry Silverstein and broadcaster Phil Donahue.

The event will be held at the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. Tickets start at $1,000 and tables at $10,000. To make reservations, contact Alex Diaz at The JFM Group at 212-921-9070 ext. 16, or by email at nylc@thejfmgroup.com.

The Landmark Preservation Commission will talk to property owners in Morningside Heights about a potential historic district in the area Monday Sept. 20.

This is a crucial but informal part of the landmark designation process, similar to a recent meeting of property owners about preserving West End Avenue buildings.

Walter South, who heads the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee, was miffed that the Landmarks Preservation Commission never notified the local community board on which he serves. Still, South was nonetheless pleased the commission was moving forward on a proposal he has pursued since 1996.

“We have a number of institutions in the area that have been expanding and insisting they need more space for so-called academic purposes,” South said, making a thinly veiled swipe at Columbia University.

Columbia already demolished brownstones on West 115th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive.

Another threat to the unique architecture of Morningside Heights buildings are owners that strip off ornamentation rather than make repairs, South argued.

“The area is losing a lot of its architectural distinction,” South said. “Cornices have been removed from buildings.”

The Sept. 20 meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Church, Room 10-T on the 91 Claremont Avenue entrance.

A real estate company that specializes in restoring historic buildings is again proposing to turn a landmark, six-floor residence into a private rental space—for a hefty price tag.

This century-old Beaux Art-style row house may become the city’s first residential club.

Last year, Fine Times, Inc., a luxury rental company with 26 buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn in its portfolio, proposed operating a private rental space in the Beaux Art-style row house it owns at 15 W. 68th St. and Central Park West. In exchange, the façade of the century-old building would be restored and maintained.

The private residential club would let the renter and up to 22 guests stay in the restored 10- to 12-unit building for anywhere from a week to 30 days. There would be garage space, a communal kitchen and a live-in manager with a hospitality background. Fine Times would also provide a private chef, if a guest didn’t already have one on hand.

The residential rental club would be the first of its kind in the city.

“We have many tenants in the Upper West Side area, and even referrals through tenants, where they may have a relative, they may have an occasion coming up, a big family gathering [and they’ll ask], ‘Do you have something we can rent for a week?’ But we don’t,” said Joseph Lopez, managing director at Fine Times.

When the project went in front of Community Board 7 last year, a lawyer representing the project, Mitchell Korbey of Herrick Feinstein, said that a week’s stay could be priced as high as $50,000 to $60,000. But Lopez now says that the price for the “upscale” establishment has yet to be determined.

Last year, Board 7 approved plans for adding a handicap-accessible door and some façade restoration. Fine Times still needs a special permit from the Department of City Planning to operate the club. At press time, the company was scheduled to appear at Board 7’s June 16 land use meeting.

The company is reaching out to the community to build support for the project. Lopez argues that such a club would have less of an impact on the neighborhood than a standard 12-unit rental building. And the clientele, he stressed, is nothing like tourists who use hostels when vacationing in the city.

“We’re going to gear it to the residential experience,” Lopez said, “which means not only having a residential experience by living in the house, but having things geared toward attractions and cultural activities in the neighborhood.”

Now, Rev. Robert Brashear and Council Member Gale Brewer are working to develop a proposal to raise enough cash to fix the crumbling exterior and allow church services to move back to the West 86th Street structure, at Amsterdam Avenue.

“The line that was constantly put out there was, allow it to get landmarked, we’ll review plans and we can move forward,” said Brashear, who called the Council’s decision disappointing. “Well, it’s landmarked.”

The landmark decision was a win for the preservation community and elected officials who wanted to protect the century-old Romanesque Revival-style church from developers. But Brashear saw the effort as an affront to the church’s autonomy and said the designation would make it even more difficult to find a development partner.

While both sides have the same goal of fixing the building so it can provide community services, Brashear says there is a narrow opportunity to deliver.

“By saving the exterior of the building you really like, [you might] lose heart and soul of a community,” Brashear said. “That would be very, very sad for everyone.”

Brewer, who was “delighted” by the landmark decision, said she will meet with congregants and church officials to devise a way to raise the money for the rehabilitation.

“I’m very conscious of [the church’s] mission, very conscious of the building and I’m conscious of the community,” Brewer said. “All of these groups need to be represented.”

—Dan Rivoli

The message “Stop Gale Brewer’s Forced Landmarking” was painted on the sidewalk shed that hugs West Park Presbyterian Church, on West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

Brewer, the Council member for the West Side, has been a supporter of landmarking. All she would say about the situation is, “We’re all working to come up with a solution.”

This is the second time that message has appeared on the sidewalk shed. One member of the church’s governing body, Hugo Meneses, was arrested for writing on the shed during an April 17 protest at the church. But Rev. Robert Brashear thinks that teenagers at the church may be responsible for this new, more artistic version of the message.

Graffiti on the sidewalk shed surrounding West Park Presbyterian Church. Photo by Dan Rivoli.

“We have a number of young people in the church for whom this is the only home they’ve ever known,” Brashear said. “There’s an anxiety and concern that if full landmarking goes through without any assured assistance, that a very likely result could be a sale.”

The City Council’s subcommittee on landmarks is expected to vote May 12 on the designation of the century-old church.

Brashear has long protested the plan because he argues that the added regulation would prohibit developers from funding expensive, but much needed, restoration work. He is looking for a compromise that would provide funding for church maintenance.

Meanwhile, preservation groups insist that the church needs protection to prevent a developer from building on it.

Meneses was collared for attempting to paint “Stop Gale Brewer’s Forced Landmarking” on the sidewalk shed around the church. Police prevented him from finishing the final word.

“It’s something that is [supported] by outsiders of the community of the church and by Council Member Brewer,” Meneses said in a phone interview April 19. “I don’t think it’s fair for a minority church to go through this because the neighborhood’s rich people want it.”

A member of West Park Presbyterian Church’s governing board was arrested last weekend for spray painting on the sidewalk shed around the church; the graffiti was later removed (inset). Photo by Dan Rivoli, inset photo by Andrew Schwartz

The church’s leader, Rev. Robert Brashear, has long insisted that the regulations accompanying landmark designation will make it difficult to work with a developer on needed renovations. The building cannot host congregants or provide services to those in need because of its deteriorated state.

“This building was created by our forbearers to extend their mission in their neighborhood in their city,” said Brashear in an interview a day before the hearing. “Our hope is that [the subcommittee members] realize there are more constituents to be respectful of than the preservation community. Nobody loves and respects [the church] more than we do. For people in the neighborhood, it’s an aesthetic amenity.”

At the April 20 hearing, landmark opponents brought signs saying, “YES to religious freedom, NO to forced landmarking,” and framed the preservation  efforts as an attack on religious freedom. Supporters of landmarking, who have included State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, argued at the hearing that such protections were necessary to preserve a building that would otherwise languish.

“The question here is mission,” Brashear said at the hearing. “Who has the right to determine the mission of our church?”

The subcommittee will not vote on the designation until its next meeting, but the outcome seems preordained. The Council often defers to local members’ wishes when it comes to landmarking, and Brewer has been an avid supporter of protecting the church from the beginning. She will cast a vote on the matter if the proposal moves out of the Land Use Committee to the full Council.

While Brashear said that “no one” has come up with a plan to maintain the church’s architecture and allow the congregation to return and provide services, Brewer insisted that a strategy will be devised.

“That is upsetting to me. I tried to help. When I say I had 100 meetings on this topic, I’m not kidding,” Brewer said in a separate interview. “I’m confidant that people understand the importance of landmarks. The landmark community will have to make their case and I’m sure the ministers will make their case.”n

—
With additional reporting by Megan Finnegan.

The City Planning Commission voted unanimously March 9 to make the century-old church a landmark. The City Council will now hold a public hearing on the designation and will have a final vote in the matter. But that seems to be a formality.

Council Member Gale Brewer, whose support is crucial for a full Council vote, has advocated for landmark protection for the church.

But Rev. Robert Brashear has opposed granting the church landmark status. He told West Side Spirit in January that he feared landmarking would have a “chilling effect” on negotiations with developers to help restore the aging, deteriorating building.

But if that plan falls through, Brashear may put the church up on the market, possibly turning the historic building into a commercial space.

“If there are no other possibilities of restoring the building and reopening it for the congregation in some form, then there will be no choice but to see what could be gained on the market,” Brashear said. “Once again it would be a very sad change for the community.”

West Park Presbyterian Church would like to work with a developer to refurbish the crumblng building. Photo by Andrew Schwartz.

Council Member Gale Brewer, whose support is crucial for a full Council vote, has advocated for landmark protection for the church.
But Rev. Robert Brashear has opposed granting the church landmark status. He told West Side Spirit in January that he feared landmarking would have a “chilling effect” on negotiations with developers to help restore the aging, deteriorating building.
Brashear’s “deepest desire” is to have a developer work with the church so the congregation can return and services can be offered.
West Park Presbyterian Church has not hosted any services since 2008; the congregation currently meets at the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew United Methodist Church on West 86th Street and West End Avenue.
But if that plan falls through, Brashear may put the church up on the market, possibly turning the historic church into a commercial space.
“If there are no other possibilities of restoring the building and reopening it for the congregation in some form, then there will be no choice but to see what could be gained on the market,” Brashear said. “Once again it would be a very sad change for the community.”

Rev. Robert Brashear, however, now faces complicated restrictions as he seeks ways to finance restoration of the aging building, at 165 W. 86th St. and Amsterdam Avenue.

Preservations had long urged the city to protect the historic church, with Upper West Side groups, elected officials and Community Board 7 arguing that the church is a beautiful example of religious architecture.

Robery Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, called the church “one of the best examples of a Romanesque Revival-style religious structure” in the city.

“Its deep red sandstone cladding, broad round-arch openings and soaring tower endow a prominent intersection of the Upper West Side with an unmistakable sense of place,” Tierney said in a statement.

Previously, the church had been a refuge for the homeless, who continued to gather outside even though the congregation had moved and services were no longer offered. But at the request of nearby residents, business owners and Community Board 7, church officials erected metal gates around the four entrances to keep people from sleeping and congregating there.

Council Member Gale Brewer, who supported protecting the church, said the commission’s decision saved the building.

“We’ve also preserved a spiritual and everyday landmark for our neighborhood, protecting not only architecture, but history, heritage and quality of life,” she said in a statement.

For years, the crumbling exterior was in need of expensive maintenance. Scaffolding had to be erected to stop chunks of stone from falling down, according to Brashear.

The reverend has tried to work with a developer to finance such work, but the landmark designation will have a “chilling effect” on such a deal, he said.

“Designating it as a landmark doesn’t necessarily mean it’s protected,” Brashear said. “The question is, where does the money come from, the resources come from, to not only preserve, but restore?”

Assembly Member Rosenthal, who got the city to pull demolition permits on the church, wants to help find a partner that will preserve the structure and be a benefit to the congregation.

“I don’t think that’s an impossible chore,” Rosenthal said. “There are worthy groups out there that do need more space and are of a similar philosophical attitude.”

Brashear said that he has heard similar comments from landmark proponents in the community, but he is waiting for a solid proposal.

“Words are one thing, reality is another and we have to move toward reality,” Brashear said. “I’m open to any proposals discussions. But we need to talk in concrete terms.”

Rev. Robert Brashear, however, now faces complicating restrictions as he seeks ways to finance restoration of the aging building, at 165 W. 86th St. and Amsterdam Avenue.

Preservations had long urged the city to protect the historic church, with Upper West Side groups, elected officials and Community Board 7 arguing that the church is a beautiful example of religious architecture.

Robery Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, called the church, “one of the best examples of a Romanesque Revival style religious structure” in the city.

“Its deep red sandstone cladding, broad round-arch openings and soaring tower endow a prominent intersection of the Upper West Side with an unmistakable sense of place,” Tierney said in a statement.

Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Council Member Gale Brewer, who supported protecting the church, said the commission’s decision saved the building.

“We’ve also preserved a spiritual and everyday landmark for our neighborhood, protecting not only architecture, but history, heritage and quality of life,” she said in a statement.

For years, the crumbling exterior was in need of expensive maintenance, estimated at $10 million, which includes interior work as well. Scaffolding had to be erected to stop chunks of stone that were falling down, according to Brashear.

The reverend tried to work with a developer to finance such work. But the landmark designation will put a “chilling effect” on finding a developer, he said.

“Designating it as a landmark doesn’t necessarily mean it’s protected,” Brashear said. “The question is, where does the money come from, the resources come from, to not only preserve, but restore?”