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Landmarks
46 West 56th Street (Between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas) - Proposed Designation
WHEREAS, 46 West 56th Street is a splendid example of a redesigned facade on a former brownstone row house by the notable architect Harry Allen Jacobs, who was commissioned in 1907 by the clothing merchant, Samuel Kridel, to remodel the brownstone, a common practice among the wealthy in the early 1900's; and
WHEREAS, Jacobs, trained at Columbia University and then went to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and was awarded the Prix de Rome by the American Academy in Rome; and
WHEREAS, Jacobs became a very successful architect in New York designing several hotels in NYC including the Marseilles at 103rd and Broadway, a designated Landmark, and a similar townhouse on the same block, 26 West 56th Street, also a Landmark; and
WHEREAS, 46 West 56th Street is a four story classically composed limestone-fronted townhouse featuring a decorative cartouche and relief panels and an imposing cornice and ballustrade at the roof; and
WHEREAS, The 1907 transformation included a centered entrance with concave surrounds at street level and a dormered mansard roof, both of which have been removed; and
WHEREAS, The ground floor currently houses a cafe, the second floor a hair salon with apartments above; and
WHEREAS, 46 West 56th Street was listed in the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission December 1979 Midtown West Survey as a possible individual Landmark; and
WHEREAS, The West 54 - 55 Block Association proposed that Community Board Five recommend this building for LPC designation; and
WHEREAS, The although ground floor has been significantly altered and the fifth floor removed, this still is a very stylish building with a great deal of character; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends designation of 46 West 56th Street as an individual New York City Landmark and recommends that the fifth floor mansard roof be eventually restored if the owner ever decides to renovate the building.
The above resolution passed by a vote of 28 in favor; 6 opposed; 1 abstaining.