Preserving History, Culture and Community
Photo: J Blough
Cultural and Historical Preservation Team Proposals
The Bowery ca. 1750, site of Domingo’s farm at the left,
Catelina’s at the right.
The neighborhood we know as Chinatown began in 1643. Two farm lots extending
from Baxter Street past Chatham Square, on either side of a double wagon road -today’s Bowery -- were given to Domingo Antony and Catelina, widow of Jochem
Antony, free Africans. The neighborhood soon became New York’s first African
village, the Bouwerij Village.
In the 19th century, it was known as Five Points, the home of German, Irish,
Italian and Jewish immigrants. To house and rent the immigrant refugees,
landowners created the first multiple dwelling: the tenement.
These soon
became the
tallest
buildings in
New York,
the
skyscrapers
of the day;
only church
steeples
were taller.
Five Points, ca. 1850
- Oliver Street -
Before
tenements,
New Yorkers
lived in
single-family
row houses.
At first,
tenements
were simple
like most
townhouses
and early
American
architecture.
- 65 Mott Street oldest tenement
in New York
7 stories, c.1820
During the
1860’s and ‘70’s,
tenements
followed the
English fashion
for Italianate
ornaments.
-Eldridge Street ca. 1865
By the 1880’s,
tenements were
elaborate and
ornamented,
ranging in style
from the
classical,
Palladian and
distinguished
- 66 Bayard -
to the fanciful and unrestrained, covered with terra cotta and
multiple architectural
materials:
stone,
concrete,
terra cotta,
molded and
delicately
tinted brick.
-162 Henry Street Renaissance Revival
Herter Bros., Architect
-86 Madison Street Eclectic
Rundbogenstil
…frequently with Italian Renaissance models,
but sometimes with Nordic, Wagnerian themes
or imitating the Parisian
Academie des Beaux Arts
- Eldridge Street at Division ca. 1900
During the
‘City Beautiful Movement’
-- and after a sweeping
housing reform law in
1901 --
tenements expanded
in scale and grandeur.
- 253 Grand Street at Chrystie Beaux Arts - Art Nouveau
New Law tenement
New
S. Vill
Most of CD1
and CD2 are
protected and
preserved by
special zoning
or landmark
districting.
Here are the special zonings
(the four zones in CD3 are projected 2nd Avenue subway stations, not preservation zones)
and historic districts in white
the South Village District proposal (black outline) has been partially designated
New
South Village
District
Community Districts 1 and 2 are almost entirely protected
with landmarking
and special
zoning.
CD2
New
South Village
Hist Dist
Second
Avenue
subway
Second
Avenue
subway
CD1
Second
Avenue
subway
CD3
Community
District 3 the Lower
East Side has only one
preservation
area,
Stuyvesant
Street
Over the last
two years,
the Culture &
Preservation
Team has
been
surveying
Chinatown
buildings
and streetscapes
Photo: Amy Chin
The Team defined Chinatown as
streets with 90% Chinese storefronts
excluded
We walked through every
street on the map and
catalogued every building.
Here’s an example of our spreadsheet from our walk-through
This is one sheet from our Chrystie Street walk-through
For each address, we recorded:
the number of stories
the condition of the building
estimated date of construction
kind of storefront business
whether the building would not
contribute to a historic district
and a detailed description of the façade.
And whether the building merits individual landmarking
We divided this “greater Chinatown” into four areas:
Five Points Chinatown
Two Bridges Chinatown expansion
Lower East Side Chinatown expansion
Little Italy Chinatown expansion
Little Italy
Lower
East
Side
Five Points
Two Bridges
Bowery
East
CAPZBAN
Also, the Team
includes the
CAPZ-Bowery
Alliance of
Neighbors
preservation plan
for the east side of
the Bowery.
Lower
East
Side
Five Points
Two Bridges
(The west side of
Bowery is already
protected in the
Special Little Italy
District and the
NoHo Historic
Districts)
We have no proposals
regarding Little Italy
For the other four areas we
propose these preservation
tools:
contextual zoning
special purpose zoning
landmark districting
Historic
District
And
Special
Purpose
Zoning
Excluded from landmark district
Historic District and Special
Purpose
Zoning
The Team
proposes that, to
preserve the
history and
character of
Chinatown and
its community, all
four districts be
designated as
one or more
New York
Historic
District,
except
Division Street
and East
Broadway.
There are at least three distinct historic districts,
Five Points, the Lower East Side Chinatown and
Two Bridges.
CB3
CD3
CD2
The Bowery
LES
Chinatown
5 Points
Two
Bridges
CD3
The Team also proposes that all three districts be
designated Special Purpose Districts by the City Planning
Commission to encourage local community businesses and
preserve the local character and vitality. The Team
proposes the following principles:
Aspects to preserve:
Scale -- heights (height caps)
Scale -- bulk (FAR limits)
Lots -- (prohibit combining storefront lots or big box chains)
Street patterns (e.g., Doyers' bend)
Masonry (brick)
Contextual fenestration
Contextual projecting decorative cornices
Contextual window surrounds (often stone)
Contextual entryways (often stone)
Contextual decorative façades (stone, brick, terra cotta)
Fire escapes
Early 20th century signs in Chinese characters
Contemporary projecting signs
We identified several consequences of a Landmarking:
Property rights (air rights/development rights) are preserved for the owners
Air rights can be transferred further to violate the context nearby
Alterations require LPC permission, an inconvenience for ground floor commerce
Street use and commercial use are not restricted
Buildings are positively protected
The context is positively protected (new buildings in a landmark district must pass through
LPC)
Protections inconvenience developers
New signs are usually required to conform with either current styles or historic styles
New repairs or renovations may have to conform to historic models
LPC does not require renovation or restoration
LPC offers financial assistance for some repairs and restoration
Landmarks Conservancy offers financial assistance for maintenance
Also, we identified several consequences of a Special Zoning:
Property rights (air rights/development rights) may be lost to owners
Air rights are severely restricted or obviated, protecting the context
Height caps cannot be modulated to buildings that are lower than the
85% compliance DCP usually requires
Street use, commercial use, future development all may be restricted
Alterations may require only at most DoB permission
Development disincentive helps to protect buildings (though not
positively protected)
Disincentive to develop helps to protect the context (though not
positively protected)
Protections inconvenience developers.
Finally, we considered their conjunction:
Landmarked air rights may be lost
Aggregation of air rights may be prevented
Buildings are positively protected
Streets and uses positively protected
If one application (landmarks or special zoning) is rejected, the
other may still succeed -- so applying both should be considered
and considered as if they might be approved alone (e.g., with
special consideration for what happens under each tactic).
To facilitate both these preservation tools, the
Team proposes that
a Historic Trust Fund be created for Chinatown,
administered by a Chinatown Conservancy.
A Chinatown Conservancy and
Historic Trust Fund would assist
owners and tenants of historic
properties with compliance issues.
This entity could be financed with
assessments on new construction and
development in the planning area.
The City also uses contextual rezonings - zones that preserve the context of a
neighborhood by limiting bulk and height
and the street wall of new buildings.
So the Cultural and Preservation Team
proposes contextual zonings for each of
the three areas.
For Five Points, we propose a C4-4A rezoning
C4-4A:
FAR 4
80 foot height caps
•
•
•
•
Current zone: C6-1
FAR 6 commercial
FAR 6.5 community facility
FAR 3.44 residential
The current zone encourages out-of-scale
hotel development at the expense of
housing, and threatens eviction for
demolitions and redevelopment.
Current zoning does not allow large residential buildings,
but does allow large hotels. So current zoning encourages
many more big hotels, like Hotel Mulberry --replacing residents:
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Current zoning allows even larger dormitories
The East
Village/LES
rezoning prevents
any further
community
destruction from
out-of-scale
dormitories in the
residential blocks
of the Lower East
Side.
Delancey Street
Today, Five Points buildings still have an average FAR of
only 4.2, and 90% of the buildings are lower than 75 feet tall.
The Team proposes that Five Points should be rezoned exactly as the
Lower East Side was rezoned, to prevent out-of-scale hotels and
dormitories.
In Five Points-Chinatown, identical rezoning from C6-1 to C4-4A will
prevent out-of-scale development and will allow underbuilt structures to
be expanded or redeveloped for housing.
For Two Bridges Chinatown, the Team proposes an R8B zone
for residential Henry, Madison and Monroe; C4-4A on
commercial Division and East Broadway
C4-4A:
FAR 4
80 foot height caps
C4-4A
R8B
R8B:
FAR 4
75 foot height caps
Currently, Two Bridges-Chinatown is divided into three zones:
•
Division and East Broadway to Pike: C6-1G
commercial FAR 6
residential FAR 3.44
community facility 6.5
Pike to Rutgers, Division to East Broadway: C6-2
no height limits
Commercial FAR 6
Community facility FAR 6.5
Henry, Madison, Monroe: R7-2
Residential up to 6.02
residential FAR 3.44
No height limits
community facility FAR 6.5
no height limits
C6-2
C6-1G
R7-2
R7-2
Most buildings in
Two Bridges
Chinatown are
less than 70 feet
tall, FAR 3.5, yet
the current zoning
allows
FAR 6 for hotels,
6.5 FAR for
dormitories,
and unlimited heights.
Madison Street at Pike, 12 stories
The C6-1G zone carries all the dangers of out-of-scale hotel
development as C6-1.
Rezoning to C4-4A / R8B would be consistent with the Lower
East Side rezoning and will protect the neighborhood from
out-of-scale hotel development while allow for new housing in
soft sites.
C4-4A
R8B
For the Lower East Side Chinatown area, the
Team proposes a C4-4A zone, exactly the same
zone as the recent LES protective rezoning.
CB3
CD3
CD2
LES/
Chinatown
CD3
The Lower East Side
area of Chinatown is
divided in 7 zones.
Part of the LES area was already
rezoned as C4-4A to protect the
neighborhood from out-of-scale hotel
development.
The areas that were not rezoned
have no protection
unless they are rezoned now
Tenement
Museum
Historic
District
(CB3
approved)
LES
Chinatown
The Team
proposes to
extend the
recent LES
rezoning to the
LES area of
Chinatown so
that out-of-scale
hotels do not
move into the
Chinatown
neighborhood
displacing the
local community.
In the recent LES rezoning, the City Planning
Commission upzoned Chrystie Street to C6-3A,
which allows FAR 7.52 and 145' heights.
During the rezoning process, CB3 passed a
resolution objecting to the upzoning, which they felt
was excessive.
At Community Board 3, it was suggested that a
proposal to rezone Chrystie Street would give the
community an opportunity to revisit that upzoning.
Bowery
East
CAPZBAN
Lower
East
Side
Five Points
Two Bridges
The
East
Bowery
Plan
The current zoning on east Bowery is C6-1 and
C6-1G, with no height caps.
The East Bowery Plan does not propose any
change in the zoning designation, except adding
height caps of at 85 feet, or eight stories,
conforming to the west side of the Bowery.
The Bowery Plan also proposes protections for
buildings of special significance.
East Bowery Preservation Plan Goals
* Preserve low-rise historic context of the entire Bowery
* Preserve Bowery’s low-rise context in relation to
adjacent historic Chinatown, Little Italy, NoHo,
East Village, and Lower East Side
* Prevent out-of-scale, out-of-context developments
* Protect low-rise buildings of special significance
* Allow controlled, responsible development, including
community facilities, while maintaining low-rise
character
* Promote retention of mixed socio-economic
populations, affordable housing, social services &
artists’ live/work spaces
* Protect small businesses, including long-established
lighting, jewelry, and restaurant supply districts
These proposals were conceived as goals and
principles, not demands. They are intended to
offer a guide -- if the CWG endorses them -- for a
planning consultant.
The narrow scope of the boundaries were limited
by the CWG decision to plan for “Chinatown and
surrounding neighborhoods” and the participation
of local constituencies.
Photo: Amy Chin
Addendum
Three remaining unresolved comments from the August presentation:
1. Review Canal Street west of Baxter and consider keeping it in the
Chinatown map.
2. Consider the new city plan to require individual permits for hotels.
3. Work with the Economic Team to locate affordable housing bonus areas
and consider their scale and context.