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Landmarks
230 Fifth Avenue (Madison Square North Historic District), application to install flagpole
WHEREAS, The applicant has applied to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a Certificate of Appropriateness to install a flagpole at 230 Fifth Avenue in the Madison Square North Historic District; and
WHEREAS, The application involves a twenty-story Beaux Arts style office building known as the Victoria Building designed by Schwartz & Gross and built in 1912-15; and
WHEREAS, While the building has street frontages on Fifth Avenue, West 27th Street and Broadway, the application concerns only the Fifth Avenue façade; and
WHEREAS, At the time of the designation of the Madison Square North Historic District in 2001, the storefronts of the building were non-historic; and
WHEREAS, While there was no flagpole on the original façade or at the time of designation, the applicant provided a photograph indicating that a flagpole displaying the United States flag was present on the building in the 1980s; and
WHEREAS, A visual inspection of the building showed filled-in pinholes in the limestone façade in the location of the former flagpole bracket and an existing flag tie below; and
WHEREAS, The applicant proposes to reinstall a 10 foot satin brass finish outrigger flagpole (with no side arms) at a 45 degree angle in the location of the former bracket using the existing pinholes and does not intend to make any additional insertions into the facade; and
WHEREAS, The applicant intends to permanently display a 4 foot by 8 foot United States flag from a 10 foot satin brass flagpole at a 45 degree angle; and
WHEREAS, The applicant proposes to install a discrete solar light fixture directly onto the flagpole so that no wiring or conduit will be required and the fixture will not disturb the facade; and
WHEREAS, Although there is no historic precedent for such a light fixture, the applicant has proposed the fixture in order to comply with the United States Flag Code, which states that although "it is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset . . . when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness" (4 USC § 6); therefore, be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the application for a Certificate of Appropriateness to install a flagpole at 230 Fifth Avenue with the strict provision that only the United States flag will be flown.
The above resolution passed by a vote of 34 in favor; 0 opposed; 2 abstaining.