As a long time Village resident I know you will recognize the little house in the photo attached. I lifted the photo from Google Earth, fortunately before it was too late.
If you walk by the building has been completely torn down. I took a guess that its number was 258 West 11th.
Is this something that can happen in a landmarked district? I assumed no changes were possible to the exterior. I have lived with leaky windows for years because my landlord says it would be too costly to rebuild wooden windows and the Landmarks Preservation folks would not approve of the new metal ones.
If I can’t change my windows how did they get away with knocking down this unique and very charming little house on West 11th?
Thanks again for your time.
It is so good to have somebody that cares to write with these concerns.
—Lisa Yapp
This is actually a rear structure attached to the adjacent homes on West 4th Street, which are being renovated. In the course of the work on the houses and the rear structure, the Department of Buildings found that the small rear structure became structurally unsound. So for safety reasons, they and the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) agreed that it needed to come down and rebuilt. So it will be reconstructed, with some changes approved previously by the LPC.
We are always somewhat skeptical when a supposed emergency situation while work is being done requires a structure to come down. In this case, the Department of Buildings did make the call, and there is no particular advantage to the owner since what will be reconstructed there will be very similar to what was there before. This was an early 20th century addition to the house which had been altered over time.
Andrew Berman
Executive Director, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation
