BY YANNIC RACK | The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission this week voted to recommend a two-century-old townhouse on Sullivan St. for preservation, but dumped three other historic buildings in the area from its calendar after some of them have languished in landmarks limbo for decades.
As part of the agency’s initiative to address the 95 properties stuck in its backlog, L.P.C. fast-tracked designation of the 1816 Federal-style house at 57 Sullivan St., which was first considered for landmark status in 1970.
“It is deeply gratifying that, after nearly a half-century, the 200-year-old house at 57 Sullivan St. we fought for years to landmark will now finally receive the protections it deserves,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
At a public meeting on Tues., Feb. 23, the commission dealt with its entire backlog of buildings across the city, voting to either prioritize them for landmark designation by year’s end, permanently remove them from the list or issue a No Action Letter, which allows them to be placed back on L.P.C.’s calendar at a future date.
The commissioners voted not to recommend three other Downtown Manhattan sites — including two other Federal-style houses at 138 Second Ave. and 2 Oliver St., as well as the former James McCreery & Co. Store, known as “The Cast Iron Building,” at 801-807 Broadway.
“We are disappointed that the commission has chosen not to recommend these extraordinary historic buildings for landmark designation,” said Berman.
Without protection for the buildings, the owners are now free to apply to alter or demolish them — which has not been allowed since 1966 in the cases of 801-807 Broadway and 2 Oliver St., which were first considered for designation back then.
The L.P.C. meeting followed four special hearings last fall about the backlog, which gave preservationists and the public an opportunity to make a last plea to protect the calendared properties.
The agency originally planned to dispose of the entire backlog in 2014, prompting an outcry from preservation groups citywide.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who gave testimony on many of the buildings, said on Tuesday that the procedure was a success.
“Today’s votes mark a real achievement: the Landmarks Preservation Commission is clearing its backlog through a transparent, public, accountable process,” she said. “I thank the commission for working with me to devise this process and for diligently following through. Working together, we’ve proved the system can work.”
Items prioritized for designation will now be returned to the commission for a vote by the end of this year.
