Watch-Blog
The future of a NYC treasure is at stake
Dear Neighbor: With so many critical, big-picture policy issues facing our neighborhood and city (eroding zoning protections, weakening the landmarks law, the list goes on), it's all too easy to lose sight of the trees for the forest. A specific example of a landmark...
City Planning shows Stamina, Hopefully ZQA and MIH Won’t!
First the Good News: December weather is finally upon us! Now the Bad News: If you were like us, you were stuck freezing outside the City Planning Commission! 48-degree weather (felt like 44-degrees at the foot of Broadway!) greeted a long line of preservation and...
Celebrating former Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Gene A. Norman
Thanks to all who joined us on December 14, 2015, at the Fourth Universalist Society (76th Street & Central Park West, a.k.a., "Landmark on the Park") to honor former Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Gene A. Norman. Together, we also celebrated LW!'s 30th...
Born a Landmark?
While buildings in NYC seem to come and go--and with increasing expedience--it is very rare for major alterations to take place within an historic district. The Upper West Side has 12 such districts, and when word first came of demolition plans, our Certificate of...
It’s not every day the mail brings a letter from a four-star U.S. General…
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gene A. Norman testifying in 1984 to protect the NYC Landmarks Law. Credit: Albany Press, January 1984 It's not every day the mail brings a letter from a four-star U.S. General... let alone a former Secretary of State! Do join us for...
Celebrating former Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Gene A. Norman
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Gene A. Norman testifying in 1984 to protect the NYC Landmarks Law. Credit: Albany Press, 1984. In 1988, Gene presided over a 16-hour marathon public hearing at the Fourth Universalist Society, which led to the 1990 designation of over...
Exploring the Lettering of the Upper West Side
Enjoy a beautiful fall weekend outdoors! Join LW! for a walking tour with typography expert Alexander Tochilovsky* The Texture of the City: Exploring the Lettering of the Upper West Side November 22, 11am-1pm $15 for LW! members**; $25 for non-members; $10 students...
Central Park West Skyline: Potential Futures
Are there new towers in the future of this skyline? This is the important and pressing question LW's study by WXY architect Claire Weisz seeks to answer. .. The urgent need to study Central Park West emerged out of a series of proposals to alter the avenue’s iconic...
Protect the future of Gansevoort Street
In 2001, a New York which seems to have existed an eternity ago, a much different New York Times addressed a much different Gansevoort Street in what was then a running column called "One Street at a Time". Author Michael Cunningham described the stretch as "a dark...
BFJ Comments on Zoning for Quality and Affordability
LANDMARK WEST! asked BFJ Planning to review Mayor De Blasio's City Planning proposals "Zoning for Quality and Affordability" and "Mandatory Inclusionary Housing". Click here for a copy of their full critique. Below are some of their key findings: Both ZQA and MIH...
