Monthly Archives: April 2016

Help! Spot-zoning bringing towers to Inwood

Proposed 23-story tower from Ft. Tryon Park. 4650 Broadway visibility study by Saratoga Associates

Proposed 23-story tower from Ft. Tryon Park. 4650 Broadway visibility study by Saratoga Associates

The Historic Districts Council chose Inwood as one of the Six to Celebrate neighborhoods in 2011 for its historical, architectural and environmental attributes. Nearly half of the land in Inwood is public park space which preserves natural terrain and geological features of Manhattan, as opposed to the designed landscapes of many parks in New York City. Thus, Inwood’s distinctive development pattern and architecture was created in relation to the original landscape of Manhattan Island.

One of Inwood and Washington Heights’ treasured historical resources is Fort Tryon Park, a 67-acre park which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of only ten Scenic Landmarks in all of New York City.  Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. the park’s landscape is unrivaled in its romantic views of the Hudson River, the Palisades, and its rich topography.

However, the super-tall development found in other parts of the city has arrived above 200th Street in Manhattan in this low-scale neighborhood. Ft. Tryon Park and the Inwood community is currently threatened by two rezonings which will irreversibly alter the experience of the park and the neighborhood at large.  The proposed rezoning for 4650 Broadway will be a 27-story building abutting the park, four times taller than the surrounding buildings’ heights. The other proposal, 4566 Broadway, would allow a 19-story development (increase in FAR from 3.44 to 9.96).

Click here to send a letter saying “NO” to spot-rezoning and require an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) of the cumulative impacts of these projects, and undertake a comprehensive plan to develop appropriately scaled development, similar to the City’s InwoodNYC plan immediately to the north.

 

Yorkville: A Celebration of Home

Promo Image-sm

Scenes of Yorkville’s past (NYPL)

What was it like to live in Yorkville when 86th Street was known as German Broadway, when the smell of hops from the Ruppert and Ehret’s breweries filled the air, and when a stop at Paprika Weiss on 82nd Street preceded daily exercise at Sokol Hall? FRIENDS and the Historic Districts Council will celebrate Yorkville’s past while highlighting places that still offer a glimpse into this area’s rich immigrant history. The symposium will feature panels on Yorkville life and architecture, and cuisine from some of the neighborhood’s storied establishments.

Saturday, April 30th
10:00 a.m.

Bohemian National Hall
321 East 73rd Street

$15 friends / members, $20 non-members
To register, click here.

Performance by the Czech puppetry demonstration with the Czech American Marionette Theatre

Speakers include:

Majda Kallab Whitaker – Independent scholar and cultural historian contributing to the development of the Dvořák Room at Bohemian National Hall, a Board Member of the Dvořák American Heritage Association and the Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association

Alexandra Kelly – Manager of Outreach Services and Adult Programming at the New York Public Library, and developer and director of the NYPL’s Community Oral History Project

Edward Kasinec – Born and reared in the post-war Czech, Slovak and Rusyn communities of Yorkville, serves as a Research Scholar at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University and since 2015 as Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Thomas Pryor – A native Yorkville resident, storyteller and author of I Hate the Dallas Cowboys – tales of a scrappy New York boyhood

Peter Walsh – Longtime Irish resident of Yorkville, writer, and musician

Irene Mergl – A lifelong Yorkville resident and member of the Sokol Hall, where she serves as 1st Vice President and Historian

Vít Hořejš – Co-founder of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, who showcases traditional Czech marionettes, many of which were discovered in Yorkville’s Jan Hus Presbyterian Church

Gregory Dietrich – preservation consultant and proprietor of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting, graduate of Columbia University’s Historic Preservation program, and an Advisor to the Historic Districts Council

 

Co-Sponsored by the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Member Benjamin Kallos.