Argument

1:
It is arbitrary and capricious to tell Tribeca Trust
in June of 2016 that a historic district extension
is not a priority due to a policy of diversifying
agency resources out of Manhattan, and then
to rush through the designation of the South
Village Extension in Manhattan in November of
2016 due to a deal the administration struck
with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic
Preservation not to fight the air rights transfers
to St. Johns Terminal in the Village, as was
widely reported in both the local and citywide
press.
 Background:

Before getting to additional arguments, here are general context

photographs of Tribeca and a proposition.

Many of the buildings shown are individually photographed

elsewhere in this presentation.

Proposition: a non-resident cannot state which ensembles shown in

the following sequence are in the historic district, and which are not,
without reference to a boundary map.
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 Argument 2:
There is a strong similarity between the pairs of buildings
shown - one in the historic district, one not

Similarity is defined as a physical resemblance in terms of several

variables: massing, height, building materials, method of
construction, period, and architectural style.
16
In: 113 Chambers Out: 21 Warren Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

17
 In: 134 West Broadway
Out: 86 West Broadway
(Tribeca South Historic District)

18
 In: 377 Canal Street Out: 59 Warren Street
(SoHo Historic District)

19
 In: 345 Greenwich Street
Out: 476 Greenwich Street
(Tribeca West Historic District)

20
 In: 27 Vestry Street
(Tribeca North Historic District) Out: 130-138 Watts Street

The architect of this building, Alexander Baylies,

designed many buildings that are within Tribecas
historic districts (ex: 96 Hudson, not shown). This
one shown above was rejected for inclusion,
although the district boundary is across the street.
21
 In: 239 West Broadway Out: 13-17 Laight Street
(Tribeca East Historic District)

22
 In: 146 Duane Street
Out: 96 Chambers Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

23
 In: 63 Lispenard Street
Out: 59 Franklin Street
(Tribeca West Historic District)

24
 In: 450 Greenwich Street Out: 79 Warren Street
(Tribeca North Historic District)

25
In: 339-41 West Broadway
Out: 1, 3, and 5 Lispenard Street
(SoHo Historic District)

26
 In: 379 Canal Street In: 10 Hubert Street Out: 92 Chambers Street
(Soho Historic District) (Tribeca West Historic District)

27
 In: 119 Chambers Street Out: 165 Chambers Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

28
 In: 135 Broadway Out: 435 Washington Street
Originally had a peaked roof - removed prior to
designation.
(Tribeca South Historic District)

29
 In: 112-114 Chambers Street Out: 61 Warren Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

30
 In: 49 Murray Street Out: 153 Chambers Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

31
 In: 310 Spring Street Out: 433 Washington Street
(a heavily altered individual landmark of
NYC, although not in a historic district)

32
 In: 325 Church Street Street Out: 77 Warren Street
(Tribeca East Historic District)

33
 In: 11 Vestry Street Out: 71 Murray Street
(Tribeca North Historic District) Carrre & Hastings, Architects

34
 In: 18 Harrison Street Out: 81 West Broadway
(Tribeca West Historic District)

35
 Out: 80 Lafayette Street
The Hallenbeck-Hungerford Vertical Factory
In: 377 Broadway
William B. Austin, Architect
(Tribeca East Historic District)

36
 In: 111 Chambers Street Out: 163 Chambers Street
(Tribeca South Historic District)

37
 In: 70-72 Reade Street
(Tribeca South Historic District) Out: 150 Chambers Street

38
 In: 460 Greenwich Street Out: 470 Greenwich Street
Architect Franklin Baylies Franklin Baylies, Architect
(Tribeca North Historic District)

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 Argument 3:
It is arbitrary and capricious to include parking lots and
taxpayer buildings of no architectural significance in the
historic district (on the assumption they may eventually receive
new construction) and then to reject parking lots and historically
significant buildings in the requested extension of the district.

40
 Out: 122 Duane
Shares a border with the Tribeca South Historic
In: SE Corner of Church and Canal Streets District
(Tribeca East Historic District)

41
In: NE Corner of White and Church Streets,
(Tribeca East Historic District) Out: 65 Vestry Street

42
In: Parking Lot in Tribeca West Out: Parking Lot less than a block away from the lot on the left. This one
Historic District, NE corner Worth is the NE corner of West Broadway and Worth Streets.
and Hudson Streets.

In: 11 Worth Street Out: adjacent parking lot

Tribeca West Historic District

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 Argument 4:
It is arbitrary and capricious to include in the historic district a building that has been
subject to attacks on its architectural integrity for a combination of reasons:

1. dilapidation;
2. removal of a cornice;
3. inappropriate alterations and rooftop additions;

and then reject a new request to include a finer or more historically significant
building on the grounds that it has suffered a loss of its architectural integrity for the
same reasons. Why one and not the other?

These were the reasons staff at LPC gave Tribeca Trust for excluding 67 Vestry, 360
Broadway, and 88 White. We also note that these buildings have such significant
histories that staff at the New York State Preservation Office suggested that despite
the alterations, they merited listing on the National Registry of Historic Places

44
Buildings inside Tribecas Historic District with missing cornices,
.

45
Allowed: Inappropriate Rooftop Extensions/Accretions on Landmarks in Tribecas Historic
Districts

Longlines Bldg

55 Hudson Street

142 Reade Street

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79 Franklin Street
(Tribeca East Historic District)
Antique federal-era townhouse completely plastered over
In an inappropriate alteration.

In: 225-7 West Broadway
(Tribeca East Historic District)
Heavily modified and unrecognizably
altered federal houses, integrity lost
Out: 9 Lispenard Street
Federal-period houses conjoined, minor modifications,
integrity intact,a block away from the buildings on the left.
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 In: 325 Greenwich Street Out: 360 Broadway
With substantial and inappropriate alterations
(Tribeca West Historic District)

Thumbnail shows a side view

Of same building from Franklin St.

49
In: Out: 88 Walker Street
480 Greenwich Street
The two-bay federal house shown below with
substantial alterations was designated an individual
landmark of NYC in 1998.

This was a photo taken at the time of designation. Artist Frank Stella, inside his studio at 88
Walker in 1961. A retrospective of his work
No historically significant person or company used was recently held at the Whitney Museum.
this building. It was landmarked for its architecture
alone (see designation report).

88 Walker Then and Now

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Refused: 67 Vestry Street was refused admission to an extension of the historic district, on the
grounds that it has lost its architectural integrity. The cornice is missing, but the rooftop extension
here dates from 1910).

67 Vestry is the first purpose-built

food warehouse of
the A& P Company, founded nearby.

The New York State Preservation

Office staff informed Tribeca Trust
that the building is eligible for listing
on the National Registry of Historic
Places, if the owner is willing.

The red line indicates the border

With Tribeca North
Historic District

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 Argument 5:

The buildings shown in the following pairs are by the same

architect. The Tribeca buildings shown outside the historic
district (right side) have a degree of architectural merit for
historic district inclusion that is equal to or greater than that
of the building within the historic district (left side).

52
 In: 174 Hudson Street - Out: 459 Washington Street,
Louis Korn architect Louis Korn architect,
(Tribeca North Historic District)

53
 In: 80 Wooster Street
Out: 73 Warren Street
G. A. Schellenger, Architect
G.A. Schellenger, Architect
(Soho Historic District)

54
 In: 53 Crosby Street Out: 11 Lispenard Street
Horgan & Slattery, Architects Horgan & Slattery, Architects
(Soho Cast Iron Historic District)

55
 In: 661 Broadway Out: 360-384 Canal Street
Brunner & Tyron, Architects Brunner & Tyron, Architects
(Noho Historic District)

56
 In: 912 Fifth Avenue Out: 109 Lafayette Street, Tribeca North
(Upper East Side Historic District) Schwartz & Gross Architects
Schwartz Gross Architects

57
 Out: 137-139 Centre Street, twin buildings
In: 215 West 75th Architects Schwartz & Gross
Schwartz and Gross, Architects

(Upper West Side Historic District)

View of seam of
twin buildings

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 Out: The Gerken Building,
In: 253 Broadway 90 West Broadway
An individual landmark at the edge of Tribeca. Harding & Gooch, Architects
Harding & Gooch, Architects

entrance

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 Out: 66 West Broadway,
In: 334 Canal Street William Bloodgood, Architect
(Tribeca East Historic District) Building Details in thumbnail photos
William Bloodgood, Architect

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 Argument 6:

It is arbitrary to claim a previous historic asset

survey was comprehensive or that the original
boundaries of the district were carefully
considered, when obvious errors and gaps were
made. The boundary of the district is shown in
red in the photographs that follow.

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This garage building was cut in half by the Tribeca North Historic District Boundary

http://www.filedropper.com/tempversionofevidence

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In: 452 Greenwich
(Tribeca North Historic District) Out: 27 Desbrosses Street

63
 In: 259 West Broadway (Tribeca East Historic district).
Out: 261 West Broadway

64
In: Tribeca South Historic District Out: The buildings on the right, wrapping the corner
all of Murray southward along West Broadway.

This is Warren Street,

south side, between
Church and West
Broadway

65
In: Greenwich Street
Out: Greenwich Street from Watts to Canal
Hubert to Watts Street
(Tribeca North Historic District)

66
Google Earth image
of block bounded by Vestry,
Washington, Desbrosses, and
Greenwich Streets.

The red line shows the boundary of the

current Tribeca North Historic District.

The buildings to the right of the line

face Greenwich Street (see
thumbnail) are in the Historic
District).

Those to the left of the red line, were rejected for

Inclusion.

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 Argument 7:

It is arbitrary and capricious to refuse to consider inclusion into the historic district
stretches of Tribeca (shown on Chambers Street, Washington Street, or Murray Street in
subsequent photos), on the reasoning that the integrity of the context and sense of
place has been eroded by new construction and inappropriate alterations to old
buildings, while at the same time approve substantive faade modifications and non-
contextual new designs inside the historic district that clearly erode the same qualities
of integrity and sense of place. See photographs that follow.

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187 Franklin (inside Tribeca West Historic District): a renderings of a design shown at LPC

The Landmarks Commission voted 9-0 in favor of the design, using words like phenomenal, symphonic,
exciting, smart, and delirious. Tribeca Citizen, April 19, 2011

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31 Vestry Street (center):
Aggressively non-contextual design approved with great praise by the LPC
(Tribeca North Historic District).

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 170 Duane Street :
These are permitted alterations. LPC Approved them on the Same Building
(Tribeca West Historic District)

Building in 1991 when it Same building,2005, after

Original Building on the
Site, 1978 Entered Tribeca West Historic LPC approved alterations
District

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LPC approved this alteration within Tribeca West Historic District, calling it a rooftop addition. It is four additional
floors to the building.

174 Duane Street

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105 Franklin: New Construction Design Approved by the Landmarks Commission 9-0.

Commissioner Fred Bland praised the architect in the public hearing, you got around the tyranny of
the context.

Other adjectives individual landmarks commissioners used to describe this work at th public hearing are extraordinary and
exhilarating (F. Bland), brilliant (M. Devonshire), and captivating (E. Ryan). Tribeca Trib, Jan. 19, 2014

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How is the integrity of context not evident here? (South side of Murray Street)

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South Side of Warren Street, between Broadway and Church:
Integrity Intact

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South Side of Chambers between Greenwich and West Broadway:
Integrity Intact

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South Side of Chambers Street Between Broadway and
Church: Integrity Intact

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East Side of Washington Street:
Integrity intact

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West Side of West Broadway between
Murray and Warren Streets: Integrity Intact

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 Argument 8:
It is capricious and illogical to claim that the boundaries of the historic district
were already so well drawn so as to adequately maintain the sense of place of
the historic assets of the neighborhood and then ignore Tribeca Trusts data
that there is a steady pace of demolition of unprotected historic fabric in
Tribeca (some 30 buildings have been demolished, all just outside the
boundaries of the historic districts) and to pretend that such demolitions do not
affect the overall sense of place or integrity of the existing historic district
adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the demolition.

A photographic sampling of the many buildings torn down since Tribeca Trust
submitted its request for historic district extension to the LPC follows.
Demolished
In Tribeca
Demolished
In Tribeca
Demolished
In Tribeca
Demolished
In Tribeca
Demolished
In Tribeca
Demolished in Tribeca
Demolished
In Tribeca