As The Villager reported last week, Community Board 5 voted unanimously to deny a proposal to replace the former Tammany Hall’s slate mansard roof with a 30-foot-high dome evoking a turtle shell.
Here are images from the project architect, BKSK, showing the shell-top addition.
Built in 1927 as Democratic Party headquarters, 44 Union Square East, at E. 17th St., was designated a city landmark only last year.
The proposed turtle-top dome is part of a gut renovation and facade restoration, planned by BKSK Architects, that would add 27,000 square feet and two stories to the Colonial Revival-style building on the east side of Union Square. With the rooftop addition, the building would be about 85 feet tall at its highest point. (Last week’s article incorrectly reported that the addition itself would be eight stories.)
The turtle-shell concept was inspired by a statue in a niche on the building’s north side depicting Chief Tamanend standing on a turtle, a reference to a Native American creation myth, according to BKSK partner Harry Kendall. Also called Tammany, the chief helped establish peace between the native Lenape and the European settlers, for his efforts becoming an iconic figure.
Community board recommendations are advisory, however, and the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission will make the final decision.
Kendall said the plan, in fact, has previously been shown to L.P.C., where “staff members were comfortable with removal of the mansard roof. They didn’t seem to feel it was a significant architectural feature,” he stated.
But the mansard roof was important to the committee.
“Removal of original architecture protected by landmark designation is a major problem,” a committee member objected.
