LPC Gives St. Vincent's Buildings "Own Day In Court"

May 12, 2008 By Lisa Kersavage

Last week, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC)held another hearing on the St. Vincent’s Hospital redevelopment plans and their proposal to demolish of nine buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District. At the hearing, the LPC took a strong stance to protect the integrity of the city’s historic districts and ultimately the Landmarks Law.

In its testimony, MAS had urged the Commission to determine the appropriateness of demolition for each individual building before considering the planned development, which is exactly what the commission did. MAS had written, “each of these buildings deserves their own day in court,” and last Tuesday, the Commission gave them that day.

MAS had been particularly concerned about the fate of the modernist O’Toole Building (36 Seventh Avenue), a distinguished example of mid-century modern architecture. The Commissioners indicated that it would not be appropriate to demolish that building. Among many other buildings, Commissioners indicated that they would not approve the demolition of the Spellman (143-147 W. 11th Street) and Nurses (148-158 W. 12th Street) buildings, which the Municipal Art Society had also highlighted for their significant architecture. To see a slideshow of all of the buildings, click here.

Of increasing concern is the demolition of perfectly sound and reusable buildings, which is not only wasteful but does not help us achieve the sustainability goals the mayor put forth in PlaNYC 2030. The environmental impact of such a large demolition is enormous. While the loss of embodied energy is but one measure to understand the environmental impact, it gives us the order of magnitude of this level of waste. The amount of energy lost and the waste generated in demolishing these building is equivalent to 9,755,624 gallons of gas (1121896800 MBTU, calculations from http://www.thegreenestbuilding.org/). We hope the hospital and developers rethink this application, so we don’t inflict that damage on our environment.

The writer is Director of MAS Advocacy & Policy.

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