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Landmarks
3 East 17th Street and 5th Avenue, Ladies Mile Historic District, application for a new storefront
WHEREAS, 3 East 17th Street is located on the north side of 17th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway in the Ladies’ Mile Historic District; and
WHEREAS, The building was constructed in 1904 as a nine-story building and the top seven floors were demolished around 1941; and
WHEREAS, The present two-story building has a retail tenant for the ground floor and has a single residence on the second floor; and
WHEREAS, The applicant has been unable to locate a photograph showing the original storefront; and
WHEREAS, The existing storefront of black anodized aluminum was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1998; and
WHEREAS, The existing entrances to the retail space and the residential space are located side-by-side at the eastern-most portion of the storefront and are recessed from the street wall; and
WHEREAS, The proposed storefront would include a fixed awning made of deep purple fabric with the name of the retail tenant on the skirt; and
WHEREAS, The proposed storefront would be constructed of clear anodized aluminum and clear glass, extending to the full height of the top of the awning, with a perforated aluminum grill on the lower portion of the storefront and with acrylic and steel handles; and
WHEREAS, The proposed storefront would relocate the retail space entrance to the center of the retail space, with such entrance recessed from the street wall, resulting in jigsawed storefront with separate indentations from the street wall for the retail and residential entrances; and
WHEREAS, The applicant has represented to Community Board Five that at this time there will be no security gate installed, no signage on either the slope of the awning or on the building façade and incandescent lighting will be used on displays behind the glass of the storefront; and
WHEREAS, The materials and configuration of the proposed storefront do not serve the architecture of the building and are not appropriate for the Ladies’ Mile; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five believes the building would benefit from a less jagged and less conspicuous façade constructed of more traditional materials; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That Community Board Five recommends denial of the application to replace the storefront at 3 East 17th Street.
The above resolution recommending denial by a vote of 31 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstention.