What better to pair up with your trip to the Guggenheim than a nice packaged portion of meat paste, or hot dogs, or whatever. Well, dream on carnivorous Kandinsky lovers, because the Landmarks Preservation Commission just denied the museum its Andre Kikoski designed food kiosk—a move that shocked Eater. According to the website—which posted these renderings earlier this week—"the commissioners said the tiny teardrop-shaped stand underneath the Fifth Avenue overhang was too intrusive and distracted from Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark." more ›

There's chatter of a portion of Vanderbilt Avenue in Fort Greene becoming a new historic district—meaning the strip of street would be immune to any more luxury high rise condos. more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously yesterday to approve the expansion of the Greenwich Village Historic District by 11 blocks. It was the district's biggest expansion in 41 years, and makes Greenwich Village the city's oldest and largest historic district. The expanded area is bounded roughly on the east and west by Sixth and Seventh avenues, and by West Fourth and Bedford streets on the north and south. more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission just awarded the former William Ulmer Brewery in Brooklyn landmark designation. The old brewery is at Belvidere and Beaver streets in Bushwick, and according to the Post is the first NYC brewery to get the LPC stamp of approval. A board member told the paper, "If it's the first brewery in the city of New York to become a landmark, it's appropriate that it's in Brooklyn," as the borough used to be the brewing capital of the Northeast. more ›

The Landmark Preservation Commission is making an example out of one Upper West Side homeowner. The 19th-century Queen Anne-style mansion at 12-14 West 68th Street is in an area that was landmarked in 1990, but sometime in 2005 the owner at the time, Polly Cleveland, received a permit from the Buildings Department to add one floor to the five-story structure. This was completed in 2007, but Cleveland has since moved out. Arthur Minerof is the current owner, and he's now been told the sixth floor has to be torn down. more ›

Is there a "Cow Tunnel" somewhere beneath 12th Avenue right now, just waiting for landmark designation? According to Edible Geography, historian Betty Fussel discovered that cattle traffic was so heavy in the 1870s that a tunnel was built to increase the flow to slaughterhouses along 12th Avenue and 34th Street. The underground passages were eventually made redundant when refrigerated train cars were introduced, but they're rumored to still be there! more ›

What does one do with an old, now landmarked, theater in Queens? That's the big question for the owners of Ridgewood Theatre—in January the facade was landmarked, but the interior can still be renovated—leaving a few options on their hands. more ›

Finally the Post's Andrea Peyser weighs in on Windowgate, the ongoing controversy starring Norah Jones—who had the audacity to install windows in her new Cobble Hill home. (Catch up here.) She got 7 of her 10 windows after fighting the Landmarks Preservation Commission regarding their archaic ways, and now the Grammy winner has her natural light. But Peyser says her win "is a warning to the aging Italian-American population that remains in gentrifying Carroll Gardens." more ›

Coney Island locals have been rallying to revive the shuttered Shore Theater (formerly the Loew’s Coney Island), which five years ago was nominated for landmark designation. Yesterday the group—led by Dick Zigun—made a plea to building owner Horace Bullard at the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing. According the NY Post, he told the owner: "Horace, cash out now, and we'll call it the Bullard Center for the Performing Arts!" more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Commission has deemed the art deco Brill Building, located at 1619 Broadway, worthy of landmark designation. The 11-story tower at the corner of Broadway and 49th Street has been churning out the hits since the early 1930s, becoming familiar stomping grounds for many music industry bigwigs and still housing the office of Mr. Paul Simon. more ›

Does the Landmarks Preservation Commission have a brownstone bias? Earlier this year the group revealed that they would be focusing their efforts on Park Slope while delaying landmark status designations in Ditmas Park and Beverly Square West. One Ditmas resident says, "The [LPC] has limited resources, but it shouldn't be to the exclusion of the Victorian neighborhoods. If it's worthy, they should fund it and do it." more ›

The latest city building to get landmark designation from the LPC is a 180-year-old Federal-style row house at 143 Allen Street on the Lower East Side. According to the Villager it was built, along with five others, in 1830 by ship captain George Sutton. more ›

Get out your historic maps and preservation buttons Queens aficionados; the Landmark Preservation Committee voted to hold a public hearing on March 23rd regarding a plan to turn Addisleigh Park into a historic district. Addisleigh Park, an upper-middle-class neighborhood in St. Albans, was home to a cavalcade of notable African-Americans, including Jackie Robinson, W.E.B. DuBois, Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane, Fats Waller and Count Basie. This would be Queens ninth historic district, and fourth largest. The Committee also voted to hold hearings on three other buildings in Jamaica, Queens, all built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite all the Queens-love, there's still no movement on Jack Kerouac's historic Queens literary trail. more ›

Last year there was some lobbying to get the longest-running movie house in the nation landmarked after word got out that it would reopen under new ownership. Now, the 91-year-old Ridgewood Theatre in Queens has had its facade granted landmark status. There was not a lot to save of the interior, so as the new owners renovate the space into a theater/retail hybrid, that will likely change significantly — though 1010Wins does report that they "envision a historically sensitive plan." Yesterday it was announced that another old theater, the Loews in Chinatown, would also get a new lease on life — albeit a non-landmarked one. more ›

First Norah Jones got criticized for a nouveau-Tuscany vibe in the kitchen of her new Cobble Hill home—now the songstress is moving right along with her renovation and allegedly sweet-talked the LPC into letting her have a little bit more light. Beautiful, warm, embracing light. Sounds innocent enough, but the NY Post reports that "neighbors don’t want a window into her soul — or home." more ›

Queens has been long ignored by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but the 160-year-old St. Saviour's in Maspeth has gotten a lot more attention than the likes of Jack Kerouac's old stomping grounds. In fact, Curbed recalls that at one point, "a deal was worked out to save the main church building and relocate it to a nearby cemetery, while the Parks Department works on a potential deal to acquire the land and turn it into a much-needed park." Here's a complete timeline of the saga. more ›

Following the 40th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's death (which was yesterday), a fan of the author is speaking out again about the lack of recognition the beat gets in his one-time home borough of Queens. more ›

There has been talk in the past of saving the Sylvan Court mews, with some questioning why the Landmarks Preservation Commission has ignored them, when all other historic mews districts are preserved and landmarked in the city. Located on 121st Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, one neighborhood blogger notes that "mews are typically former 19th century stable yards that end abruptly in an alley-like layout." more ›

The landmark Corn Exchange Bank Building on 125th Street in Harlem used to be a picturesque structure, but now it's one of the most visible eyesores in the neighborhood. The building, "an 1883-84 Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival structure," according to the Times, will soon lose its top two floors; a decision recently made by the Department of Buildings who found it unsafe. A "fire caused by homeless folk" already aided in the roof collapsing, and there are trees growing inside, according to one neighborhood blogger. more ›

Brownstone Brooklyn, you never cease to amaze us. Long story short: Man buys brownstone in recently landmarked district of Prospect Heights from old woman. Old woman continues to live in the garden apartment. Man decides he wants to put a garage in there. LPC says they have no applications for Landmark approval for the address. more ›

The New York State Pavilion, just one part of the decaying 1964 World's Fair in Queens, won state landmark approval! A designation that the Daily News says "opens it to desperately needed rehab grants." (Plans to do something with the site have been in the works for years.) It's also been nominated as a national landmark. In related news, Jenny 8. Lee pens a breathless piece on city landmark status granted to 100 middle-class residential buildings in Queens and on Staten Island; "The bulk of these buildings, 96, are modest century-old three-story buildings in the Ridgewood North Historic District." It looks like everything is coming up Queens today! Perhaps they'll take another gander at Kerouac's old house. more ›

The owner of what many consider an historic house in Bayside, Queens is sparring with some locals over a landmark status for the home. The Daily News reports that the 19th-century villa was built by farmer Robert Bell in the 1870s for his daughter and son-in-law. Members of the Bayside Historical Society and ther advocates are urging the Landmarks Preservation Commission to save the structure on 213th Street, but owner Robert Bell says it too "inelegant" to get such a status (which would make it difficult for him to make any major changes). Reportedly he declared, "We're not saving something that doesn't need saving!" at a commission hearing earlier this week. His opponents say that the Bell family can be credited with establishing the local water system as well as creating area streets, and their Second Empire style home with a mansard roof deserves to be saved. Of course, one nearby landmark in Fort Totten is currently suffering demolition through neglect. more ›

Yesterday the Landmarks Preservation Commission declared some new places worth saving. First up is the Prospect Heights Historic District, which includes 850 historic buildings, including single-family brownstones, commercial buildings and more dating back to the 1850s. Curbed reports that "There were also three individual landmarks designated: 94 Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan, Mount Olive Fire Baptized Holiness Church at 304 West 122nd Street in Harlem and the John Peirce Residence at 11 East 51st Street in Midtown." Meanwhile, the much talked about South Village Historic District is scheduled to be discussed at a later date. Related: Queens Crap looks at the city's university/college presidents that live in landmarked areas (the president of Brooklyn College resides in a 1918 neoclassical home in the Prospect Heights historic district). more ›

Brooklyn, you are thisclose to gaining access to Bacon Cheddar Roastburgers™, Bronco Berry Dipping Sauce®, and other assorted food stuffs that will lead to your eventual heart attack. That's right, Arby's is officially opening after many obstacles in setting up shop at the landmarked 372 Fulton Street space. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 7-1 in support of the newly revised Arby's design plan, even if it does include a giant menu board they aren't so thrilled with. The LPC's Roberta Washington stated, “The sign is the one thing that prevents this proposal from being fantastic.” However, project architects countered, declaring that "some kind of large menu board is necessary because Arby’s diners are accustomed to ordering from wall-mounted menu boards." C'mon Arby's customers, class it up a little! In the meantime, look for a late summer opening. more ›

What is it about dilapidated hospitals that are make them so beautiful? Today the Kingston Lounge's Richard Nickel, Jr. posted photos from a trip to one within the Fort Totten landmark district near Bayside, Queens. A little history lesson: "Built in 1864, the year in which the primary purpose of the Fort shifted from defense of the mouth of the East River to casualty support and hospital care, the facility served the Army in various capacities until 1974, when it was emptied and abandoned. Sometime before 1920 a cafeteria annex was added to the rear of the structure; at some point prior to abandonment, the hospital appears to have been repurposed for office and administrative use, and the basement for storage." more ›

This morning there was a rally to save the historic Underground Railroad site in Chelsea, which like everything else in this city is being threatened by a building owner's "remodeling" project. Students, activists, local officials and preservationists held the rally and teach-in at the building's site, the Hopper-Gibbons House at 339 West 29th Street, which was a hiding place for runaway slaves. The Landmarks Preservation Commission is actively considering designating it a protected landmark, but meanwhile the current owner continues to receive building permits. One local told the NY Times last year, “Being one of the few African-Americans on the block, I have an emotional connection to this history. You have a lot of cultural history in New York that money seems to want to push out of the way.” more ›

Are Queens and Kerouac getting overlooked by the Landmarks Preservation Commission? Preservationists are making some noise about the Ozone Park walk-up where Jack Kerouac started On the Road. He lived with his parents at the 133-01 Cross Bay Blvd home starting in 1943, after being let out of a Navy psychiatric ward with an "Honorable Discharge With Indifferent Character." The apartment is something locals would like to see preserved and honored, and this Sunday the Queens Historical Society will run a guided trolley tour past not only the home, but seven other sites. more ›

The Landmarks Preservation Committee discussed the proposed renovations to 347 Fulton Street in a meeting this week, as Arby's works towards turning the historic Gage & Tollner space (previously a T.G.I.Fridays) into their standard fast food chain restaurant. Brownstoner reports back, saying, "A majority (six) of the LPC commissioners voted to send the Arby's team back to the drawing board, taking particular exception to their plans for a light-colored floor and the size and structure of the booths and ordering counter; in addition, the commissioners didn't care for the proposed removal of a portion of the mirrored arcade and the addition of certain illuminated signs." The LPC hopes that the Arby's folks will stray from their franchise aesthetic—and after all, isn't that the point of moving into the space anyway? While you wait to sink your teeth into a roast beef sandwich or 1040-calorie sausage gravy biscuit, read Lost City's comparison between the new and the original establishment. more ›

The Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously yesterday to make Fillmore Place in Williamsburg a historic district. The one-block street holds 29 mid-19th-century rowhouses, including Henry Miller's boyhood home, which will now be protected from any major alterations. The LPC's chairman told the Brooklyn Paper they were “Constructed for working class-tenants, the architecture of the buildings in this district has more in common with fashionable middle- and upper-class single-family rowhouses than the tenements that were typically built to house them. The district is an evocative reminder of this period in Brooklyn’s history.” Last year there was a machete attack on the block, but hopefully this designation will shine a positive light on what Miller himself once called “the most enchanting street I have ever seen in all my life." more ›

It's been over two years since the Landmarks Preservation Commission received a proposal for the creation of a new South Village Historic District, and preservationists are frustrated with the alterations made to the historic landscape they've been trying to save. The NY Times reports that "owners of buildings in the area began filing for permits to alter or demolish their properties." From townhouses circa 1835 to a strip of 1861 houses that included Le Figaro Cafe, facades are being destroyed and buildings are being gutted. There may be some progress now, however, as the LPC is holding a community meeting tonight "to discuss the designation of the district: a swath of the city extending south from Washington Square Park and West Fourth Street to Broome Street, and bordered by La Guardia Place to the east, and Seventh Avenue South to the west." Are the recent efforts too little, too late? Will the landmarking process move forward? Stay tuned! But as Curbed points out, keep in mind that even the designation goes through, "a historic district does not mean there won't be casualties." more ›