Landmarking & Historic Preservation

Since 1980 USCC has been instrumental in getting 12 individual buildings landmarked. USCC also participated in earning landmark status for more than 400 additional buildings by helping to organize the campaign to create the Ladies' Mile Historic District in the Union Square area in 1989.

Later, in 1998, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the 10-building East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District as the result of strenuous lobbying and research by USCC, the Gramercy Neighborhood Associates, and the Historic Districts Council. Among the occupants of these properties, between Union Square East and Irving Place, have been Washington Irving, Elsie de Wolfe, and Oscar Wilde.

What you can do to speed the designation process: Letters from the public at large, individually composed in support of landmark designation, are a key element in the Commission's consideration of any property for protected status. To learn more about the process, go to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Individual Buildings USCC has successfully Helped to landmark

Former Century Publishing Building (1880) (now Barnes & Noble) 33 East 17th Street (Union Square North) Architect: William Schickel Designated in 1986 The Lincoln Building (1890) 1 Union Square West Architect: R.H. Robertson Designated in 1988 Download a PDF of the Landmarks Commission Designation Report on this building Former Bank of the Metropolis (1903) 31 Union Square West Architect: Bruce Price Designated in 1988 The Decker (formerly Union) Building 33 Union Square West Designated in 1988 The Everett Building 200 Park Avenue South and East 17th Street Designated in 1988 Download a PDF of the Landmarks Commission designation report on this building

Century Association Clubhouse (1869) Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson 109-111 East 15th Street Designated in 1993 Union Square Savings Bank (now Daryl Roth Theatre) Architect: Henry Bacon 20 Union Square East Designated in 1996 Police Athletic League headquarters (formerly a courthouse) 34 1/2 East 12th Street Designated in 1997 Former Baumann Brothers Store (1881) 22-26 East 14th Street Architects: D. & J. Jardine Designated in 2008 Former Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Building (1911) (now the W Union Square Hotel) 201 Park Avenue South Architects: D'Oench & Yost Designated in 1988 Guardian Life Insurance Company of America Annex (1963) 105-117 E. 17th Street, 108-116 E. 18th Street Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Designated in 2008 Consolidated Edison Building (formerly Consolidated Gas) (1910 -1929) 2-12 Irving Place, 121-147 East 14 St., 120-140 East 15th St. Architects: Henry Hardenbergh, Warren & Wetmore, D. & J. Jardine Designated in 2009 Landmarks Commission's Designation Report: Con Edison Building

Buildings we are currently Advocating for landmark Designation

Former Tammany Hall Building (1928)
Northeast corner of Union Square

Apartment House
129 East 17th Street
Architect: Napoleon Le Brun
Believed to be oldest remaining apartment house in NYC.

Carriage House (circa 1854)
121 East 17th Street

Midblock Row House (1850 - redesigned by Herter Brothers in 1889)
134 East 16th Street

Former Horse-Auction Mart (1903)
126-128 East 13th Street
(between Third and Fourth Avenues)
Later the studio of artist Frank Stella

Two-story pressed-metal facade (1889)
141 East 17th Street
Behind the elaborate tinwork, Henry
Luce concieved Time magazine in 1922.

Related Landmarking Links
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
Historic District Maps
What Makes an NYC Landmark? - NYC architecture.com
Historic Districts Council
New York City's Remarkable Landmarks Law - WNYC - March 11, 2008
Related Articles from NY Times Archives Times Topics
Loving Ladies' Mile - NY Times Editorial - September 8, 1986
The Missing Landmarks Commission - NY Times Editorial - October 17, 2008
Improving the Landmarks Process - NY Times Editorial - December 6, 2008
Preservation Push to Landmark Last Tammany Hall - The Villager - July 15-21, 2009