<< Back
Landmarks
122 5th Avenue between 17th-18th Street
Re: 122 5th Avenue between 17th-18th Street, application for storefront alterations, a rooftop addition, landscaped roof at the existing building and a new building in the adjacent parking lot at 9 West 17th Street that will be an extension of the existing building
At the regularly scheduled monthly Community Board Five meeting on Thursday, December 10, 2020, the following resolution passed with a vote of 44 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining:
WHEREAS, 122 Fifth Avenue (“The Applicant”) is a ten-story T-shaped neo-Renaissance store and loft building with three discontinuous facades, at 2 West 18th Street, 3-7 West 17th Street, and 122-24 Fifth Avenue in the Ladies Mile Historic District; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is proposing to construct a new building as an annex to the existing building to fill the empty lot at 9 West 17th Street; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is proposing to add a one-story rooftop pavilion to the existing building; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is proposing a new ground floor storefront masterplan for the facades on Fifth Avenue, West 17th Street and West 18th Street; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant is proposing to add flagpoles at various locations, including two flagpoles on the Fifth Avenue façade of the building; and
WHEREAS, The new building would occupy a vacant lot on the north side of 17th Street, at 9 West 17th Street, adjacent on the west to the existing wing of 122 Fifth Avenue; and
WHEREAS, The materials to be used for the façade of the new building would include granite for the street level base, cast stone to mimic limestone for the ground to third stories, buff brick for the window heads and shaft, aluminum painted dark bronze for the window frames and the cornice, aluminum painted dark bronze for the perimeter of the canopy and aluminum painted brass for the underside of the canopy perimeter; and
WHEREAS, The color of the materials to be used for the façade of the new building would be similar in color to the materials of the façade of the existing historic building; and
WHEREAS, The new building would serve as the main entrance to 122 Fifth Avenue replacing the current main entrance on Fifth Avenue that would be converter to retail space; and
WHEREAS, The new building would have a canopy measuring 24 feet in width, and extending 13 feet from recessed doors and extending 10 feet from the lot line; and
WHEREAS, The one-story rooftop pavilion would be recessed and not be visible from the street; and,
WHEREAS, The existing non-historic storefronts on Fifth Avenue would be reconfigured under a master plan with three possible options and would be sympathetic to the building articulation; and
WHEREAS, The existing historic storefront entrances on 18th street and 17th street would be upgraded, glazing would be re-introduced and historic metal frames would be preserved and restored; and
WHEREAS, The new storefront infills would not replace any existing historic materials; and,
WHEREAS, Other proposed changes to the roof include a terrace, a new mechanical enclosure and new bulkheads, none of which would be visible from the street; and
WHEREAS, While the color of materials of the new building are similar to the colors of the existing building, and other design elements are intended to reference elements of the façade of the existing building, the proposed physical texture of the cornice, the windows, the façade and the canopy are flat and very modern, and could maintain a modern style but be be more contextual and compatible with the existing building if they incorporated a more variegated texture; and,
WHEREAS, The size and protrusion of the canopy is massive and out of proportion to the new building and not contextual for the Ladies Mile Historic District; and
WHEREAS, The proposed addition of flagpoles to the building is not contextual for the Ladies Mile Historic District, especially on Fifth Avenue, one of New York exceptional visual corridors; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial of the application for 122 5th Avenue unless
- the protrusion of the canopy is drastically reduced; and,
- the flagpoles are removed from the proposal.