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Landmarks
18 West 27th Street, application for the installation of windows
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, September 12, 2019, the following resolution passed with a vote of 41 in favor; 1 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, 18 West 27th Street, located between 5th & 6th Avenues in the Madison Square North Historic District is a Beaux Arts, 12 stories loft and office building constructed in 1908 and designed by the architectural firm Neville & Bagge, and features three bays of windows, limestone, terra-cotta, wrought-iron railings and a metal cornice; and
WHEREAS, The original building windows from floors 3 to 12 are large wood sash, pivot windows pivoting along a centrally located vertical axis; and
WHEREAS, The original windows at the 2nd story were wood sash pivot windows surmounted by a transom; and
WHEREAS, Over time some windows have been replaced with aluminum frame double-hung windows; and
WHEREAS, The applicant proposes to replace all windows from floors 3 to 12 with an aluminum frame inward opening casement windows surmounted by a transom, and
WHEREAS, The transom element is not original, nor is it historic and would alter the appearance of the primary façade; and
WHEREAS, The aluminum frame is not historic and would diminish the historic integrity of the façade; and
WHEREAS, The casement opening mechanism is not historic, does not relate to the original pivot windows opening mechanism; and
WHEREAS, Pivot windows were a strong architectural feature of our manufacturing and commercial historic districts that have been lost over the years and are close to extinction today and the loss of yet another nine of these historic windows would be detrimental to the overall historic fabric of the district, therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial of the application unless the applicant removes the added transom element from their design, restores the existing original windows, and replaces the non-original windows with new pivot windows.