Landmarks Preservation Commission<\/a> to reject the proposals, whose advocates were not in attendance.<\/p>\nAt least two of the plans represent efforts to build much larger than zoning limits allow in the landmarked district. This includes a 19-story, more than 195-foot-tall development on the site of a parking lot at 375 Lafayette St., at Great Jones Street; and a proposed nine-story, 105-foot-tall building at 27 East 4th St., adjacent to the Merchant\u2019s House Museum. Both sites lie within the NoHo Historic District Extension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen the deterioration of the character of the neighborhood by large buildings,\u201d NoHo resident Jeffrey Weinstein said of approvals that he said already diluted the landmark district.\n<\/p>\n
Some residents, however, believed the community should support projects or efforts to modify them to welcome more housing, while citing the need for rents that more tenants could afford.\n<\/p>\n
A building too tall for NoHo?\u00a0
\n![\"community](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Landmarks-and-Public-Aesthetics-Committee-Vice-Chair-Susan-Gammie-IMG_0465-rotated.jpg\" "\\"Just")
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that this is one of the first applications to come to us after the expansions of the zoning,\u201d Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee Vice Chair Susan Gammie said of the historic district extension. \u201cIt has particular import because of that.\u201dPhoto by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n
Twenty-four board members voted in favor of a resolution to oppose 375 Lafayette, while 10 opposed to the resolution, citing the need of more housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that this is one of the first applications to come to us after the expansions of the zoning,\u201d Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee Vice Chair Susan Gammie said of the historic district extension. \u201cIt has particular import because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee had voted previously to recommend opposing the request for a \u201cvastly oversized building\u201d unless it reduced its bulk and altered materials and detailing to create a \u201cmore harmonious appearance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHistoric district designation is not an abstract title, but something that many of us who live here many years have learned to experience as a saving grace of city living,\u201d said area resident Dino Buturovic.<\/p>\n
Ellen Fanning said she would prefer \u201ca less bulky and more harmonious design for 375 Lafayette.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Robert Becker said the NoHo historic district is comprised primarily of five- and six-story buildings, so a 19-story structure would \u201cphysically and visually overwhelm Great Jones Street.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Great Jones Street resident Cecilia McGuiness called the 375 Lafayette plan \u201cout of scale and out of step with its surroundings, likening it \u201cto a cruise ship docked in a quaint harbor.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Yvonne Young also said the 19 floors would \u201cvisually overwhelm the block,\u201d calling for a plan that \u201cneeds to be scaled down and broken up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI recognize the urgent need for more housing in New York City,\u201d Young said. \u201cIt\u2019s clear from evidence I\u2019ve seen that this development will not provide this kind of housing. Even the least expensive apartments will not be affordable to most New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryder Kessler, on the other hand, believes building housing in a parking lot, is an appropriate use of the space.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it really frustrating,\u201d Kessler said. \u201cI hope we can change our frame to how we think about what is preserving the character of our neighborhood.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
An effort to preserve history<\/p>\n
Turning to the West 4th Street site, the nine-story building proposed there could endanger the survival of the Merchant\u2019s House Museum, the institution\u2019s director told the board.<\/p>\n
Built in 1832, the Merchant\u2019s House Museum is the city\u2019s only 19th-century family home preserved intact with original furnishings, according to Pi Gardiner.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not a reconstruction. Its value lies in its historic integrity. It cannot be recreated, repaired or replaced. It is a landmark of national historic significance,\u201d Gardiner said, noting the building could easily be damaged by work nearby. \u201cIt is publicly owned. The city has an obligation to protect and preserve it for the citizens of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should construction begin on the West 4th Street site, Gardiner said the museum could be forced to move 3,000 items to safeguard them and close for more than two years.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe museum will close its doors to the public for more than two years,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s $4 million. Who pays?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
There was overwhelming opposition to building next to the Merchant\u2019s House museum, which Board members and residents feared could be damaged during construction. A spokesman for Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said he opposed any construction that could damage the Merchant\u2019s House.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is an individual landmark,\u201d said Landmarks and Public Aesthetics Committee Chair Chenault Spence. \u201cThe committee and commission are responsible for it. The protection of the house is of overwhelming concern.\u201d
Village Preservation President Andrew Berman said \u201cthe Merchant\u2019s House Museum is a treasure and we do not want to see it in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ashley Semrick, a licensed tour guide who volunteers at the Merchant\u2019s House, testified online that huge construction adjacent to it would put it at risk.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give our time to this historic landmark. There are no spaces like the Merchant\u2019s House in New York, pretty much in the country,\u201d she said. \u201cLet\u2019s fight for the Merchant\u2019s House.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Cantilever idea voted down, too<\/p>\n
The board also recommended denial of plans for a cantilever deck attached to a 25-story, more than 275-foot-tall building at 56 Great Jones St.\/354 Bowery, located just outside the NoHo Historic District extension. The cantilever would extend into the district\u2019s boundaries.<\/p>\n
Gammie, the board\u2019s Landmark and Public Aesthetics Committee chair, said the extension of the as-of-right building would intrude into the district itself.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis cantilever intrudes into the historic district,\u201d she said before the vote against the proposal. \u201cWe\u2019re concerned about the precedent of cantilevered, modern buildings into historic districts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The committee, in its recommendation, called the cantilever an \u201cunwelcome intrusion\u201d from a building that is itself outside and not designed to blend with the district.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building made no effort to be harmonious with the district,\u201d Gammie added.\n<\/p>\n
Mitchell Grubler, chair of the landmarks committee for the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, said the 25-story building is \u201cout of context\u201d in color, materials, and size.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three building proposals for landmarked areas of NoHo, including two buildings far taller than most nearby structures, were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[59299,59300,59301,59302,59303,8315,6167,75,59304,59305,84,83,14408,9,24,59306,59307,63,59308,59309,59310],"class_list":["post-140363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-27-east-4th-street","tag-375-lafayette-street","tag-bowery-alliance-of-neighbors","tag-cantilever-proposal","tag-great-jones-street","tag-historic-preservation","tag-landmarks-preservation-commission","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-borough-president-brad-hoylman-sigal","tag-manhattan-community-board-2","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-merchants-house-museum","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-noho-historic-district","tag-noho-historic-district-extension","tag-nyc","tag-nyu-gould-welcome-center","tag-village-preservation","tag-zoning-limits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"renderings](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Courtesy-of-Village-Preservation-375-Lafayette-27-East-4th-354-Bowery.jpg\" "\\"Just")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n