These 5 Manhattan Skyscrapers Landmarked Ahead Of Rezoning

MIDTOWN, NY — As city officials advance a plan to rezone a 42-block portion of Midtown, the Landmarks Preservation Commission has just landmarked five different early-1900s skyscrapers that once housed the garment industry in the southern portion of Midtown.

On Tuesday morning, the Commission voted unanimously to designate each of the five buildings as an individual landmark.

Once a building is landmarked, the Commission must approve any alteration, reconstruction, demolition, or new construction affecting the designated space to protect the historical significance of the architecture and design.

The rezoning plan, called the Midtown-South Mixed-Use Plan, is currently in the public review process, and, if approved, would transform 42 blocks between 23rd Street and 40th Street from underutilized office buildings and vacant storefronts into a neighborhood with affordable housing and thriving business corridors, city planners in favor of the rezoning say.

The proposal's mandatory public review process, which began in late January, will wrap up on Thursday with a City Council vote at 1:30 p.m.

A decision by the City Council is final unless the mayor vetoes it, but the Adams administration has been supportive of the plan.

"Today’s designations are a successful example of planning and preservation working in concert to secure the future of Midtown South as a mixed-use neighborhood," said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Sarah Carroll.

"Designed by many of the city's leading architects of the time, the buildings designated today are some of the Garment District’s most impressive examples of early 20th-century commercial architecture, which tell the full story of the Garment District’s historic development, the people who worked here, the labor history that grew here and spread nationally, and the industry that has been one of New York City’s most important economic and cultural engines."

The five new landmarks are:

• The Barbey Building - 15-17 West 38th Street
• The Fashion Tower - 135 West 36th Street
• The Furcraft Building - 242-246 West 30th Street
• The 29th Street Towers - 214-226 West 29th Street
• The Lefcourt Clothing Center - 275 Seventh Avenue

The Barbey Building

The first building landmarked on Tuesday morning was the Barbey Building, which is the red brick and terra cotta building located at 15-17 West 38th St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The Barbey Building is a Renaissance Revival building built around 1908-1909 by the architectural firm Delano & Aldrich.

It is one of the earliest commercial and manufacturing buildings in the neighborhood, which was mostly residential at the time, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The 12-story building has loft-style rooms purpose-built for the garment industry, and was home to various garment companies, publishing houses and artist lofts over the years.

From 1985-2019, it also served as the headquarters of department store Lord & Taylor, a researcher from the Landmarks Preservation Commission said.

The Fashion Tower

The next building to get approved for landmarking was the Fashion Tower, located at 135 West 30th St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues.

The Fashion Tower is a 20-story building built in 1924-1925 by architect Emery Roth that fuses Medieval Revival style with Renaissance Revival and Art Deco.

The three floors at the top of the building gradually set back to allow for outdoor terraces, as part of a rezoning mandate to reduce the bulk of the buildings in the area to maintain sunlight at street level.

"Colorful blue peacocks, feathery symbols of fashion and vanity, crown the arched lobby and freight entrances, while the floors above display the building’s name flanked by winged angels that hold cutting shears and brushes, seated women clutching mirrors and spools of yarn, as well as rosettes draped with ribbon. The use of such symbols was rare in the Garment District," the report from the commission reads.

The Furcraft Building

At Tuesday's meeting, the commission also unanimously voted to landmark the Furcraft Building, which is located at 242-246 West 30th St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

The Furcraft Building is a 14-story building with a graduated facade and outdoor terraces, built in 1925-1926 by Henry I. Oser in a Neoclassical style.

The limestone building was made specifically for fur coat-makers, and its entrance is flanked by two stone foxes.

The top of the building features the facade of a Greek temple, with columns and a vaulted roof.

The 29th Street Towers

The commission also voted to landmark two more buildings designed by Oser, known as the 29th Street Towers, located at 214 and 226 West 29th St. between Seventh and Eighth avenues.

The 29th Street Towers, built from 1925-1926, include a 16-story building and a 14-story building connected by a four-story building in a Gothic Revival style. The skyscrapers, with several setbacks and balconies, were built for the garment district, with offices, showrooms, and factories above a commercial ground floor.

The towers, located in the former fur district, feature two notable stone sculptures at the entrance — one of a man feeding a beaver, and another man inspecting the beaver's pelt.

"With its intact façade and distinctive terra cotta decoration, the 29th Street Towers is a standout example of the manufacturing and commercial buildings built to house the fur industry in the Garment Center," the report from the commission reads.

The Lefcourt Clothing Center

The Lefcourt Clothing Center, an Art Deco building located at 275 Seventh Ave. between West 25th and West 26th streets, was built by the architectural firm Buchman & Kahn between 1927-1928, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The 27-story skyscraper, which has ornamental brickwork and decorative metal window frames on the second through fourth floors, was also a building purpose-built for the city's garment industry, with space for offices and showrooms, a Landmarks researcher said.

Its earliest tenants were manufacturing companies, but in 1935, the International Ladies Garment Workers — a union for women in the garment industry — leased a floor for its health center, the researcher said.

The union, which is now called Unite Here, today owns the whole building.

Watch Tuesday's meeting here.

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