BY SEAN EGAN | On July 26, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved plans to renovate 404 W. 20th St. — widely recognized as the oldest dwelling in the Chelsea Historic District. This news represents a defeat for the coalition of preservationists and elected officials who have spent months engaged in a very public, and very intense, back and forth with the home’s new owner, British banker Ajoy Kapoor.
Kapoor’s team asserted that in order to construct the family house he wished to build, extensive reconstruction must take place due to the building being structurally unsound, citing issues such as tilted stairs, sloped floors and cracked walls. Critics describe the proposed renovation as a near total demolition of the house. Since the house falls within the Cushman Row of the Chelsea Historic District, any alterations had to be approved by the LPC.
Built from 1829 to 1830 on land leased from Clement Clarke Moore, the property served as home to the Doyel family for more than 40 years. In 2015, Kapoor purchased it for $7.4 million, from Lesley Doyel — who, at the time, was president of Save Chelsea (a position she no longer holds, Doyel currently sits on that preservationist group’s Board of Directors).
Local groups, led primarily by Save Chelsea (savechelseany.org), have been vocal about their concern for the house, claiming that any structural issues the owner was facing were self-created and/or fixable. They also insisted that the alterations wouldn’t preserve anything beyond the façade, and that the structure would be a “megamansion” that would be at odds with what the house is now and the neighborhood’s character. It would, essentially, destroy most of the back of the house as it currently stands, resulting in accusations of “façadism.”
For their part, the owner’s team countered that they were dealing with long-term structural damage that stemmed from neglect on the part of the previous owner, making such extensive work necessary. The project had come before the LPC in both April and June, during hearings which the Commission decided to take no action. This time, however, the plans were approved.
The new plans represent another scale-down in scope from earlier renderings. While it would still include an additional floor, and a significant extension in the backyard area, the height and size of them, respectively, were reduced. The plans would also get rid of the side yard, an area of particular interest to advocates, notable for its use of clapboard siding — though the wall to be added would use a clapboard-type material as an homage to the feature. The roofline was also altered from previous plans to better maintain the existing height, and restore the façade.
“We are delighted with this approval. Throughout this robust public process, the LPC’s worthy recommendations have guided us toward achieving a design that will enhance West 20th Street,” read a statement from the project’s architect, William Suk. “We remain committed to following principles of respectful restoration and sound engineering to ensure structural integrity, code compliance and modern functionality for family life in today’s Chelsea Historic District.”
Community activists, however, remain dismayed, as the house is just one of many preservation-related issues facing the neighborhood. As reported in this paper in June, amongst these groups, there seems to be an increased disappointment in the city’s preservation methods.
“It’s very disappointing that the LPC decided the way they did,” noted Bill Borock, president of the Council of Chelsea Block Associations and vice president of Save Chelsea, in a phone interview following the LPC hearing. “Someone’s coming in, buying an historic house, and then asking to change the whole footprint of it, the backyard and stuff like that. It seems like Landmarks is doing that all over — the Village and other places — allowing these old historic houses to really be changed from the way they are, and people are kind of upset,” he commented, noting that in this particular instance the Community Board, elected officials, and preservationist groups in the community all spoke out against the 404 W. 20th St. project.
“Both me and Save Chelsea are very, very unhappy about the situation,” echoed Laurence Frommer, the recently installed co-president of Save Chelsea, noting that the decision increases worry about similar situations occurring when properties navigate the preservation system.
Citing 404 W. 20th St. and other troubling cases, like the efforts to preserve Hopper-Gibbons House (339 W. 29th St.), a local underground railroad site, he noted “[They] do raise very serious questions about something being wrong, and I think people need to look at that and say, ‘Is it the weakness of the law itself; is it weakness of enforcement; is it a problem in the process — what is it?’ They certainly need to ask if it’s one of those three things.”
