Roseland Property Company of Short Hills, New Jersey, is planning a through-block building in Chelsea on two parking lots and a site now occupied by a one-story structure.
The proposed building will consist of a 16-story structure at 35-41 West 21st Street and an 8-story structure at 38 West 22nd Street.
The buildings will be connected by a 15-foot-high one-story structure at their rears, which are separated by 60 feet. Both buildings will have their own entrances and elevators.
SLCE is the architectural firm for the project, which is within the Ladies' Mile Historic District. James Davidson of SLCE, shown at the right, made a presentation of its application for a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission last night at a meeting of the land-use committee of Community Board 5.
The project will contain 113 rental units, seven of them full-floor two-bedroom apartments in the 22nd Street structure, whose handsome and rather modern facade does not have bay windows.
Mr. Davidson described the design as "quiet" and one whose scale, cornice lines, and facade composition was in context with its neighbors. The 21st Street building will have three vertical sections. The outer two have large bay windows and the middle one has slightly receded windows and expends to a 15th floor center "dormer." The facade consists of a champagne-colored cast stone and clear glass. The base of the ground floor would be Laurentian green granite, Mr. Davidson said, adding that the 22nd Street structure would have no retail space. The 21st Street building would have a metal, skylit entrance marquee and wall lanterns.
Jack Taylor, a member of the committee and the head of the Drive to Protect the Ladies Mile District, disapproved of the dormer, emphasizing the district's generally flat rooflines. The proposed building is setback at the 15th floor except for the "dormer," which serves as a central crown or accent. Mr. Taylor also maintained that the decision to have no retail uses on 22nd Street was "historically questionable."
The building would contain 113,447 square feet of space, including 8,909 square feet of retail space on 21st Street and its permissible size under existing zoning is 121,000 square feet, Mr. Davidson said.
Several residents of neighboring buildings complained about the size of the building and its impact on their fire escapes. Mr. Taylor, however, noted that the building's size was consistent with zoning.
The committee voted 4 to 2 to recommend denial of a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Three major projects were presented and denial was recommended for all three.
Earlier, it had voted against granting of a certificate for plans by Hampshire Hotels to convert the former Lambs Club near Times Square into a luxury hotel.
That plan, designed by Thierry Despont, called for the creation of an angular skylit entrance marquee, the creation of a new entrance for the disabled, and the replaced of wooden entrance doors with "slump" cast aluminum panels that were very silvery and spectacular and stylistically not too dissimilar to the widely acclaimed "organic" designs by Herzog & Meuron's "grafitti" gate planned for 40 Bond Street in NoHo and Peter Som's elaborate lobby staircase at 485 Fifth Avenue.
The proposed building will consist of a 16-story structure at 35-41 West 21st Street and an 8-story structure at 38 West 22nd Street.
The buildings will be connected by a 15-foot-high one-story structure at their rears, which are separated by 60 feet. Both buildings will have their own entrances and elevators.
SLCE is the architectural firm for the project, which is within the Ladies' Mile Historic District. James Davidson of SLCE, shown at the right, made a presentation of its application for a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission last night at a meeting of the land-use committee of Community Board 5.
The project will contain 113 rental units, seven of them full-floor two-bedroom apartments in the 22nd Street structure, whose handsome and rather modern facade does not have bay windows.
Mr. Davidson described the design as "quiet" and one whose scale, cornice lines, and facade composition was in context with its neighbors. The 21st Street building will have three vertical sections. The outer two have large bay windows and the middle one has slightly receded windows and expends to a 15th floor center "dormer." The facade consists of a champagne-colored cast stone and clear glass. The base of the ground floor would be Laurentian green granite, Mr. Davidson said, adding that the 22nd Street structure would have no retail space. The 21st Street building would have a metal, skylit entrance marquee and wall lanterns.
Jack Taylor, a member of the committee and the head of the Drive to Protect the Ladies Mile District, disapproved of the dormer, emphasizing the district's generally flat rooflines. The proposed building is setback at the 15th floor except for the "dormer," which serves as a central crown or accent. Mr. Taylor also maintained that the decision to have no retail uses on 22nd Street was "historically questionable."
The building would contain 113,447 square feet of space, including 8,909 square feet of retail space on 21st Street and its permissible size under existing zoning is 121,000 square feet, Mr. Davidson said.
Several residents of neighboring buildings complained about the size of the building and its impact on their fire escapes. Mr. Taylor, however, noted that the building's size was consistent with zoning.
The committee voted 4 to 2 to recommend denial of a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Three major projects were presented and denial was recommended for all three.
Earlier, it had voted against granting of a certificate for plans by Hampshire Hotels to convert the former Lambs Club near Times Square into a luxury hotel.
That plan, designed by Thierry Despont, called for the creation of an angular skylit entrance marquee, the creation of a new entrance for the disabled, and the replaced of wooden entrance doors with "slump" cast aluminum panels that were very silvery and spectacular and stylistically not too dissimilar to the widely acclaimed "organic" designs by Herzog & Meuron's "grafitti" gate planned for 40 Bond Street in NoHo and Peter Som's elaborate lobby staircase at 485 Fifth Avenue.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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