Village Preservation has received the incredibly disturbing news that the City has ordered the near-complete demolition of nine city, state, and federal landmarks on the northeast corner of 14th Street and 9th Avenue in the Gansevoort Market Historic District.

In 2020, a developer sought permission to demolish all but the facades of these buildings to allow a tower to be built behind and attached to these buildings, which Village Preservation vociferously opposed. After significant pushback, the Landmarks Preservation Commission required that a larger portion of the exterior of the buildings be preserved, and reduced the size and modified the design of the proposed building behind the historic 1840s houses.

Apparently once work began on the project, the developer and the City decided that the nine landmarked buildings were in dangerous, unsafe condition, and needed to be dismantled — a stunning loss of landmarked, historic properties. Village Preservation has challenged this decision, and questioned the actions of the developer, Department of Buildings, and Landmarks Preservation Commission which led to and allowed this tragic situation to unfold — read our letter here.

Village Preservation is demanding that these buildings be allowed to remain standing if at all safely possible, and that if they are so severely compromised, as much of their historic fabric as possible to be preserved and used for reconstruction of the buildings. We are also demanding that the city agencies and the developer be held to account for their responsibility in either allowing or causing this to happen.

TO HELP: