More Oversight for New Windows on Landmarks?
The Brooklyn Paper has a story about how the city is looking to beef up restrictions on homeowners who want to put in new windows on the sides of buildings in historic districts, a move that comes after the stir caused by Norah Jones putting in windows on the side of her Cobble Hill house…
The Brooklyn Paper has a story about how the city is looking to beef up restrictions on homeowners who want to put in new windows on the sides of buildings in historic districts, a move that comes after the stir caused by Norah Jones putting in windows on the side of her Cobble Hill house and, perhaps, the controversy over 227 Clinton’s owner wanting to do the same. According to the article, the current law governing such alterations is “ambiguous,” and an LPC spokeswoman says there’s “a need for the Commission to set a limit on the number, size, pattern and placement of visible window openings on secondary facades.” Meanwhile, Roy Sloane, the president of the Cobble Hill Association, had this to say about the matter: “How can we preserve our landmarks when windows can be put in places where windows were never intended to go?”
City to Close ‘Norah’ Loophole [BK Paper]
Photo from Lost City.
BK- I know. But I’m talking about how spread out the stations are once you get out of the downtown area. I’m in Crown Heights- Usually I go to the A/C which is closer to me
what happens if you are in a landmark area and replace the windows (tastefully) anyway, without anyone’s approval (some free country this is)
what can they really do, send you to jail, not let you pass go, not collecting 200 dollars…..
I am in favor of a change in rules regarding side wall windows….the new rule should be that unless it is a party wall or otherwise dangerous – all homes should be forced to put in side wall windows.
benson is like rob, I think he loves nothing more than to be egged on. It’s a personality thing.
I recommend ignoring both.
Montrose nailed it. We must have preservation but need support to do it right.
Just a note to BXgirl – the 4 and 5 trains run from Franklin/Eastern Parkway directly no stop to Atlantic/Pacific. One of the longest uninterrupted runs in the entire system, landing at the biggest station. Plus 2/3 there…..
I’d second benson’s points.
The value of more windows to the homeowner is quite clear. To justify this on restriction on economic grounds, one would have to argue that there’s an ‘externality’ — that looking at windows on a side-wall makes so many people so ill that it should be prohibited.
I find this unlikely.
Benson, the LPC is the LANDMARKS PRESERVATION Commission. Their mandate and their job is to identify, designate, and protect our city’s architectural heritage. They are not empowered to do much else, and if left to people like Bloomberg and those in the real estate community, and people who feel as you do, they would be eliminated as a city agency. All that would remain would be a group of old patrician blue haired ladies and tweedy gay men who rally around protecting the Beaux-Art mansions of the Upper East Side.
Thank goodness the preservation movement in this city is much stronger than many think, and there are hard and fast city rules keeping the LPC in business. BUT, as BkRealestateVeteran says, they are underbudgeted, understaffed, and overworked. If people really want changes in the way the LPC does business, they need to pressure the city to fund them in a manner that would allow more staff, more money, and allow them the leeway to be pro-active instead of reactive to the needs of a changing city. If the city keeps starving them, they have no alternative but to stay the way they are, out of necessity. I’ve been to their offices many times, it’s obvious they are on the butt end of the city’s receiving line. Their office furniture is older than I am, and I’m not talking antiques, either.
Minard and BSM: I would not attend the hearing because I don’t believe in the present laws. My emphasis is to radically change the laws, not get involved in the LPC’s navel-gazing regulations.
LPC needs more staff!