<< Back
Landmarks
1182 Broadway, application for a report pursuant to Z.R. 74-711 for modification of use; Certificate of Appropriateness for storefront design and Certificate of no effect for restoration work
WHEREAS; The building at 1182 Broadway, between West 28th and West 29th Streets, known as the Centurion Building, was designed by the architect William Rouse of Rouse & Goldstone, and constructed in 1908; and
WHEREAS; 1182 Broadway is a brick structure ornamented with stone and terra cotta, with 17 inhabitable floors, plus a mechanical penthouse and bulkhead; and
WHEREAS; 1182 Broadway is located within the Madison Square North Historic District; and
WHEREAS; The application has been filed for a report pursuant to Zoning Regulation 74-711 for a modification of use, a Certificate of Appropriateness for storefront design, and a Certificate of No Effect for restoration work; and
WHEREAS; In exchange for the execution of cleaning and repairs to the façade, the applicant seeks to change the usage of the sixth through seventeenth floors from manufacturing to residential and will appear before the Board at a later date to present the Land Use portion of the application; and
WHEREAS; The ground through fifth floors are proposed to remain in commercial use; and
WHEREAS; In 1920, two central Marble columns had been removed, and the ground and second floor façade was altered to create a double height storefront opening; and
WHEREAS; After 1920, the remaining Marble columns and masonry details of the ground through third floors had been painted, and portions of the storefront were covered in a non-distinguished corrugated aluminum cladding; and
WHEREAS; At the ground level, the applicant proposes to install contemporary glass and metal entrances and storefront infill; and
WHEREAS, The applicant proposes to clean and restore the marble columns and masonry details, remove the aluminum, and restore whatever remains of the 1920 storefront, including replicating what may have been removed; and
WHEREAS; The applicant proposes to clean and restore the fourth through twelfth floor brick façade, retaining the existing copper clad windows, and to patch the deteriorated marble window sills; and
WHEREAS; The façade of the thirteenth through seventeenth floors is heavily ornamented in terra cotta that has become deteriorated, and is proposed to be cleaned and patched; and
WHEREAS; The applicant has proposed to remove the existing, badly deteriorated terra cotta cornice and balustrade, and replace it in fiberglass; and
WHEREAS; Community Board Five believes that much of the work that the applicant has described may be a worthy restoration of floors two through seventeen, however, there is great concern that the building restoration must include replication and replacement of the cornice and the balustrade manufactured in either terra cotta or masonry, as opposed to fiberglass, which we deem unacceptable; therefore be it
RESOLVED; That Community Board Five recommends denial of the application for a modification of use, based on a Certificate of Appropriateness and a Certificate of No Effect for restoration work.