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Landmarks
1501 Broadway, The Paramount Building, an individual NYC Landmark, application to add signage to the 43rd, Broadway, and 44th Street level storefronts.
WHEREAS, The Paramount Building, located at 1501 Broadway in Times Square and granted landmark status in 1985, was built in 1926-27, and has made a significant contribution to the development of the Broadway theater district; and
WHEREAS, The building was designed by the firm of Rapp & Rapp, who were among the best-known and most prolific designers of elaborate movie theaters in the 1920s; and
WHEREAS, The Paramount Building first served as the Eastern headquarters for the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, the forerunner of Paramount Pictures; and
WHEREAS, The building's distinctive massing is exemplary of the innovative setback skyscraper type of the 1920s; and
WHEREAS, 1501 Broadway is a thirty-three story building with a clock tower and was the tallest structure on Broadway north of the Woolworth Building at the time of its completion; and
WHEREAS, The owners, Paramount Leasehold L.P., have applied to add another type of signage to an already very diverse list of pre-approved signs covered by the signage master plan approved by LPC in 2017 to the 43rd, Broadway, and 44th Street level store fronts; and
WHEREAS, The application proposes allowing retail clients to use interior lit logo signs while the pre-approved sign should have exposed light bulbs as their light source; and
WHEREAS, Signage rules for landmarked buildings require a master plan that has uniform font, size and color restrictions for street level signage; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial of the application until such time as the applicant makes a master plan that adheres to consistent and uniform rules.