Statement of The Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission In Opposition to the Proposed Construction at 20 Henry Street
Statement of The Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission In Opposition to the Proposed Construction at 20 Henry Street
October 18, 2005
Good afternoon again, Chairman Tierney and Commissioners,
I submitted my testimony to you seven months ago at the March 29 hearing in opposition to the proposed new construction at the 20 Henry Street Studios building complex as it was out of context and inconsistent with the historic neighborhood's scale and character and would obstruct views in this historic district. I submit further testimony today, and it, like the applicant's proposal, has changed little. I am still opposed and fail to see how the applicant's small changes warrant another hearing when the LPC has already made its views known.
I feel that the process here needs to be re-examined. How is it that the applicant is allowed to come back before the full board with such minor alterations to the plan?
As mentioned in my March testimony, my involvement with this building goes back to the expiration of the Mitchell-Lama program which resulted in tenants facing eviction. Though the tenant effort is over and 42 units of affordable housing lost, and though the new owners attempts at overbuilding the historic site was rebuffed, to my surprise, we are here again revisiting the site, fighting for the fabric of the neighborhood. The community and I should not have to revisit the 20 Henry Street issue over and over and to testify at repeated LPC hearings for the preservation of this site in the neighborhood.
Again, in addition to still obscuring the north façade of the historic building, this proposed new construction would wipe away the sculpture garden with its terracing, amphitheater, and seventeen mature trees, and replace it with a small courtyard hidden from public view. The proposed structure would still be inappropriate in scale to the historic district neighborhood's north end.
I will say it again, having a "preservation purchaser" buy a building should not be the only way to preserve its integrity in a historic district. I ask not only that the Commission does not approve this tweaked plan as it is clearly still inconsistent with the character of this Historic District and destroys architect Lee Pomeroy's award winning ensemble of adaptively re-used loft building and adjacent open space, I further ask that we not all have to revisit this same issue again and again. Let us set some clear limits.
Thank you for your consideration on this matter.
Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez
http://www.house.gov/velazquez/Statements/101805.htm