Westbeth Landmarking Affirmed; Time To Push for Other Outstanding Landmark Designations
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Westbeth image courtesy of Barry Munger. |
Today the City Council affirmed the landmark designation of Westbeth, designated a New York City landmark in October 2011. This is welcome news, as it means that the landmark designation will not be overturned by the Council, as has happened in a few other recent cases. GVSHP fought for many years to landmark Westbeth, a singularly important historic site which embodies not only New York's 19th and early 20th century industrial history, but its late 20th century transformation as the center of the art world and a home for working artists.
This is important progress in our ongoing efforts to honor and protect the history and character of our neighborhoods. It's important, however, to take this occasion to call upon the City to move ahead with other promised, and long-overdue, landmark designations.
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The new East 10th Street Historic District |
The designation of Westbeth was one piece of a package of two historic districts and eight individual landmarks the City promised to designate in 2005 in response to the campaign GVSHP helped lead to save the Far West Village. Both districts and five of the eight individual sites have been designated, but the City continues to refuse to act upon the remaining three sites.
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GVSHP's proposed South Village Historic District |
Earlier this month the City finally acted on the first of two promised historic districts in the East Village. Unfortunately, however, the designation came too late to prevent the defacement of one building which the designation was supposed to prevent. In the second, larger promised district, buildings continue to be lost while we push the City to move ahead with a promised hearing and vote.
In 2009 the City landmarked the first third of our proposed South Village Historic District, the largest expansion of landmark protections in the Village since 1969. But they have not yet moved ahead with the promised consideration of the remaining two-thirds of the proposed district, which was supposed to follow "soon after."
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128 East 13th Street |
But it's important that we persevere. Just this week the City's Landmarks Preservation Commission announced that they would move finally ahead later this year on landmark designation of 128 East 13th Street, a rare surviving horse auction mart (and former studio of artists Frank Stella) which GVGHP has fought to landmark since 2006 when we were able to prevent the building's demolition.
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