The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission closed a hearing today on a proposed 11-story new building at 16 West 18th Street on a site now occupied by a former two-story stable building that was erected in 1867 and has undergone numerous changes over time.

The proposed building falls within the city's Ladies' Mile Historic District and the commission heard many speakers and organizations testify against the granting of a certificate of appropriateness to demolish the existing structure which has been described previously by the commission as "utilitarian."

The planned new building has a very impressive, if not remarkable, facade of fabricated glass fashioned to appear like a cross between a classic cast-iron 19th Century facade and modern masterpieces by Aldo Rossi, the architect, such as the Scholastic Building on Broadway.

The developer of the proposed project is Susan Ryan and she said that the glass scheme was decided upon to provide more light, visual interest and rich articulation to the side-street location. She said the building would have 9 full-floor condominium apartments with a duplex penthouse and a duplex "townhouse."

The glass elements of the facade, including curved column pilasters, would be sandblasted on their interior faces.

The existing building on the site is unremarkable architecturally and historically.

The proposed new building would most likely become a significant new architectural addition, if not a landmark, for the city.

The Municipal Art Society, one of the city's leading civic organizations, supported the new project. Lisa Kersavage, Kress/RFT Fellow for Historic Preservation, said that the society's Preservation Commission reviewed the proposed and found that "As tempting as it is to focus only on the new very interesting building, the demolition is the critical issue." "After a spirited debate," she continued, "the preservation committee remained divided on the issue, but voted in favor of the demolition and found the proposed new building to be an intelligent and thoughtful and appropriate [addition to the district."

"In terms of scale and massing, the proposed building is appropriate to the district. Furthermore, because the building rather literally takes its design cues from historic buildings in the district, it fits in well on the street and in the district. Despite the historic allusions, the building is not simply historicist. The design's inventive use of glass results in a contemporary and artistic intervention into the district. It's also an interesting play on transparency and translucency, and will add interest to the street especially as light moves across it through the day."

Robert B. Tierney, the commission's chairman, polled his commissioners on how they felt about the planned demolition and most indicated they had concerns about it, but some also declared that they found the new design "tantalizing," "a very tempting object" and "extremely alluring."

Morris Adjmi is the architect for the proposed new building.

Mr. Tierney noted that the commission might view the proposal differently if the site were a vacant lot or a parking lot.

Jack Taylor of The Drive to Protect The Ladies' Mile District said that "to be best our recollection in the 16 years since designation in which we have been monitoring the Ladies' Mile Historic District?there has been only one structure approved by the Commission for demolition and that was a taxpayer on an otherwise empty parking lot."

"About a year ago," he continued, "the rezoning of this portion of the Ladies' Mile Historic District took effect. Its intent was to make it easier for developers to use so-called 'soft sites' for as-of-right residential construction. In material prepared by the Department of City Planning..., 16 West 18th Street was not identified as a 'soft site.'"