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Five New Structures Get Landmark Status

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Earlier today the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to welcome five more structures into the elite family of New York City landmarks. According to City Room, the newly protected locations are:

  • The Tompkinsville pool in Staten Island (above left) and its modern L-shaped recreation center, one of five WPA-era pools opened in the summer of 1936. (The most famous of the bunch being McCarren Pool.)
  • The Betsy Head Pool and Recreation Center, located within a 10.5-acre park in Brownsville, Brooklyn, which also opened in '36. The commission's statement maintains that "the recreation center is noteworthy for the extensive use of recessed glass-block walls and a rooftop observation gallery with parabolic arches that support a cantilevered canopy on the roof."
  • Fire Engine Company No. 53 (above right) at 175 East 104th Street in East Harlem, which was finished in 1884 and now houses the Manhattan Community Access Corporation, a local cable television station. The four-story brick building is comprised of a cast-iron base with a wide entrance, with decorative motifs such as torches, terra cotta sunflowers and sunbursts.
  • The Public National Bank of New York building (1923) at Avenue C and Seventh Street, which the commission digs for its "Viennese-inspired, terra cotta wreath of fruit which originally held a clock, an eagle and decorative urns."
  • The former Wheatsworth Bakery, a seven-story brick factory located at 444 East 10th Street. Finished in 1928, the bakery was designed in the Art Deco and Viennese Secessionist styles by Williamsburg architect J. Edwin Hopkins for the cracker manufacturer that invented the Milk-Bone dog biscuit. It's now a storage warehouse. A landmarked storage warehouse.

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Comments [rss]

  • elbarriovive

    Actually MNN does not currently occupy the 104th street firehouse. They've owned it since 2006 but it remains vacant and unused. It was supposed to be finished in Spring 2008....wonder when it will open?

  • ides_of_march

    And Yankee Stadium gets the wrecking ball.

  • Snoopy

    I agree it is a burden for building owners to have their buildings landmarked, but historic buildings are eyesores? Are non-historic buildings sites of beauty?

    Only two of the three listed above appear to be privately owned.

  • babyhitler

    I hate landmark status. It makes renovation and upkeep impossible. It also makes for eyesores.

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