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Landmarks

March 2013, Landmarks Committee

1780 Broadway, known as the B.F. Goodrich Building, application for construction of new partial cellar level and partial removal, stabilization and reconstruction of the rear of the building, including east and north secondary façades

At the scheduled monthly meeting of Community Board Five on Thursday, March 14, 2013, the Board passed the following resolution by a vote of 33 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:

WHEREAS, 1780 Broadway, is a 12 story building located between West 57^th and West 58^th Streets, which was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw and constructed in 1909 for the B.F. Goodrich Company; and

WHEREAS, Clad with mostly red brick and limestone, the west façade wall facing Broadway is "distinguished by abstract, stylized ornament that suggests the influence of Elizabethan and Jacobean sources, the English Arts and Crafts movement and the Vienna Secession"; and

WHEREAS, The north and east secondary façades are not constructed with the same caliber of stylized ornament that distinguishes the west façade, and these had been significantly damaged by a fire that began at 230 West 58th Street on January 2, 1948, and had subsequently been re-clad with newer masonry and windows; and

WHEREAS, Subsequent to B.F. Goodrich Company's eighteen years of occupancy, 1780 Broadway has had several owners, and was acquired by Extell Development Corporation in 2006; and on November 10, 2009, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the B.F. Goodrich Company Building at 1780 Broadway as an individual landmark; and

WHEREAS, Extell Development Corporation has filed an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the proposed removal and reconstruction two secondary façades, specifically:

• The north wall facing West 58^th Street
• The east wall facing Seventh Avenue; and

WHEREAS, This work is proposed in order to safeguard the structural integrity of 1780 Broadway while excavating an adjacent development site and constructing new below ground levels at the rear of the landmark building; and

WHEREAS, The secondary façade facing north toward West 58^th Street is constructed of ordinary red brick with some limestone banding and copings, with approximately 31'-2-/18" that may be publically viewable, and the secondary façade facing east toward Seventh Avenue is constructed of ordinary beige brick, which is minimally visible and has mostly been obscured by neighboring buildings; and

WHEREAS, The base of an adjacent new as of right building will envelope the entire east façade and approximately 11'-8" of the north façade of 1780 Broadway; and

WHERAS, Visible historic volume will be reconstructed on the north façade in red brick to match the existing, and salvaged limestone banding and copings, and new three over three sash windows which match the historic configuration; and

WHEREAS, In order to excavate in a manner that is most protective of the landmark B.F. Goodrich Company Building at 1780 Broadway, the applicant has consulted with experts which include Timothy Lynch of the Department of Buildings, and senior Landmarks Preservation Commission staff members Sarah Carroll and Mark Silberman, and the resulting consensus is that a portion of the rear of the landmark should be removed and partially reconstructed; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the application for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the proposed removal and reconstruction two secondary façades of 1780 Broadway.