Saga Of Demolition Of 9 West Village Buildings Gets New Meeting

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The saga of the partial demolition of nine triple landmarked buildings on West 14th Street will soon continue as developers are set to meet with the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday to hear a revised plan for their development of an office building tower behind and attached to the rowhouses.

The developers will be petitioning the Preservation Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness, which is needed if the proposed work "affects the significant protected architectural features of a landmark property."

The triple landmark distinction for the buildings located at 44-54 Ninth Avenue and 351-355 West 14th Street means they are landmarked by the city, state, and federal government.

The city-ordered partial demolition of the nine buildings already took place after structural engineers discovered and reported dangerous pre-existing conditions within each of the nine building's structures that meant a "potential collapse" was imminent," the Landmarks Preservation Commission said in a statement.

The partial demolition came after a developer in 2020 received permission to construct a tower behind and attached to these landmarked buildings.

The partial demolition of the nine buildings was not part of the plan until the engineers found the "dangerous pre-existing conditions."

The new plan being presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission includes the already completed demolitions of some of the facades of the buildings, along with their future reconstruction and restoration.

While the restoration and reconstruction of the facades of the old buildings seem like a positive for community groups, preservation organizations such as Village Preservation are worried about the manner of how the reconstruction would take place. They believe that the entire project should be reconsidered and prior approval should no longer be considered valid since the developer's plan is now different than the initial one laid out in 2020.

Village Preservation is now calling for the following:

• "Approvals for the tower behind the structures, which was issued when the plan included much more robust preservation and restoration plan for the nine historic landmarked houses, to be rescinded.
• Requiring the developer to restore (using the original bricks) the intact 19th century painted signage on the buildings which were revealed when the non-historic stucco was removed.
• More stringent requirements than being offered by the developer for preserving and reusing dismantled brick from the facades of the buildings, to reconstruct them with historic material as much as possible."

A protest attended by multiple elected officials and community groups was held on Oct. 29, 2021, to stop the partial demolition of the nine triple landmarked 14th Street buildings.

It did not stop the partial demolition.

You can sign up here to participate in the public Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting on Tuesday about the new plan.

Read More:

• Demolition Of 9 Landmarked West Village Buildings Sparks Outrage
• Protest Held Against Demolition Of 9 Landmarked Village Buildings