Crain's Asks: Is LPC a Design Panel?

Yesterday, Crain's New York published an article that looks at the transformation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission from protector of historic buildings and neighborhoods, to modern architecture design panel and partner to private developers.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that Crain's is a business publication, both sides of the issue are treated relatively fairly. On one side, the article reviewed the opinions of Architects like Rick Bell, who noted in the article(in response to LPC's willingness to allow a modified glass structure in a historic Manhattan neighborhood) "It's very hard to imagine. Issues of scale, materials and proportion have become wonderfully negotiable." On the other side, preservation groups were given the opportunity to voice their frustrations with the "new" LPC. "At hearing after hearing, you can hear them (LPC) urging applicants toward design solutions when they should just be saying, `No, you can't build that in a historic district.' ", said Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council.

Even better, the efforts of preservation groups to fight the trend through lawsuits, emails, letter-writing, legislation and lobbying were presented as a new, unified front to bring fairness , independence and resources to LPC (CECPP was not mentioned by name, but our lawsuit and efforts to help plan a preservation lobby day were).

The issue is, of course, that the Landmarks Law did not create the commission as a design review board charged with advancing modern design but as a preservation commission charged with preserving our historical, architectural and cultural heritage. Even though our Mayor is in love with modern architecture (a fact that was highlighted in the article) the LPC Commissioners are sworn to uphold the landmarks law even if it means saying no to their "boss"--hence the importance of having independent commissioners. Last time we checked, some 97% of NYC was not under the review of the LPC and was wide open for wonderful modern architecture--the Mayor should focus his efforts there, not on the city's landmarks and historic districts.
The article is available in Crain's, on the new stands,or online at www.newyorkbusiness.com. A word of warning, the article is not available online unless you have a subscription. We'll keep our eyes out for free copies and post links as they come available.