What Makes a Landmark?

On Wednesday the 13th, I attended the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative’s (L.E.S.P.I.) community meeting at the Henry Street Settlement. The guest speakers of the evening were Margaret Herman, Director of Research at the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC), and Simeon Bankoff, preservation consultant and former executive director of the Historic Districts Council, for a presentation on what makes a landmark.

While I waited for the meeting to get underway, I met and spoke with a few members of the board of directors of L.E.S.P.I., first about the embattled church on the Upper West Side one of my colleagues is helping fight to protect, then about the shortcomings of various building projects going on around the city, including the failed residential construction downtown on Maiden Lane. (In short, the project failed due to the use of an unstable foundation, the building now leans three inches to one side, and all means of righting the building have failed, so it sits like an ugly skeleton on the eastern waterfront in FiDi.)

First up was Margaret from the LPC. She sped through a PowerPoint presentation about the functions of the LPC – review of applications for landmark status, make designations, and regulate changes to existing landmarks – and the process any building or site must go through to be designated as a landmark.

Since its inception, the LPC has protected 38,500 buildings and sites across the five boroughs. These are broken into categories: individual landmarks, which are the exteriors of individual structures; historic districts, like the Hunters Point historic district, two blocks in Long Island City with rows of gorgeous brownstones; interior landmarks, which must be open to the public, like the Red Room inside the Printemps department store at 1 Wall Street (which I photographed last year for Open House New York), and scenic landmarks, like the Coney Island boardwalk.

The framework of the LPCs designations is dependent on many factors, which are distilled into two areas of classification: the architectural and/or cultural significance of a building or site. How old is the building? Does it represent an important period of history or an important style of architecture? How was the building used? Is the building tied to any person of significance? What is the integrity of that person of significance? And as for the evaluation of historic districts: what are the boundaries of this district, and does it have a strong sense of place?

A few recent Lower East Side designations with both architectural and cultural significance were the Eldridge Street Synagogue (12 Eldridge Street), the S. Jarmulowsky Bank Building (9 Orchard Street), and the former Loew’s Canal Street Theater (31 Canal Street). The last is a building I have photographed myself.

Former Loew's Canal Street Theater, 31 Canal Street © Chelsea Pathiakis

As it turns out, the Lower East Side once had the city’s highest concentration of movie theaters in the country. Yet another reason I wish time travel were possible.

Margaret also mentioned the LPC’s dedication to equity in landmarks, noting an effort to include diversity and inclusion in the framework of their designations. Notably, in this category, are 935 St. Nicholas Ave, former residence of Duke Ellington, and the Stonewall Inn.

Simeon Bankoff was an animated speaker, and his topic was “What Is a Landmark?” He began by exclaiming “Culture is everything!” before delving into the finer points. Landmarks change the way we interact with the city. More specifically, they stabilize and improve property values; foster civic pride in the beauty and notable achievements of the past; enhance the city’s attraction to tourists and visitors and therefore strengthen the economy of the city; and promote the use of historic places for the education, pleasure, and welfare of the public.

“No one is born knowing about buildings. Education is an ongoing and persistent grind, and people need to keep being reminded why [history of the city] is important. All landmarks should fulfill the purpose of being educational.” – SB

I came away from this community meeting with a much better understanding of the landmarking process, and with renewed vigor to help in whatever way I can to protect the history of this city. One of my favorite quirky little spots, The Hess Triangle, is not an individual landmark itself, but sites in front of Village Cigars, which is itself landmarked, and lives within the landmarked Greenwich Village Historic District.

Hess Triangle © Chelsea Pathiakis